Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Bhagwan is enough

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Yes.  Only so long as a person thinks that he is aware of the non-
Self will the delusion, 'Oh, I do not my nature!' exist.  If this thought
[that he is aware of the non-Self] is removed, through the knowledge that one's nature is eternally realized, that lamentation will ceasse,
becoming essentially false.

Sri Bhagavan also says in ULLadu Narpadu, Verse 33:

To say 'I do not know myself' or 'I have known myself' is an
occasion for ridicule.  Why so?  Are there two selves, with one
making the other its object, when it is the experience of everyone
that they are one?

Muruganar says in Padamalai:

Verse 3036:  Ignorance is an erroneous superimposition.  The
infinite, blissful consciousness is alone the one existing reality.

Verse 317: No other consciousness exists to know or make known the Self, the Pure Consciousness.

Verse 2190: Only consciousness is the life of the Self.  The life associated with forms and attributes, which are defective, is the play of delusion.

Sri Bhagavan has also said:

The Self is not something hat is either known or not known.  The Self is knowledge [Jnana] itself....Knowledge and ignorance can only pertain to objects, the non-Self.  They are not appropriate to the Self, whose form is pure consciousness.

About attainments of siddhic powers, Sri Bhagavan says as to what is real siddhi.  In Verse 35 of ULLadu Narpadu, He says:

To discern and abide in the ever present Reality is true attainment [siddhi].  All other attainments [siddhis] are like powers enjoyed in a dream.  When the sleeper wakes, are they real?  Those who stay in the state of Truth, having cast off the unreal -- will they ever be deluded?



Arunachala Siva.             

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Your post (Re-510) exhilarated me so much. I wish to add a few words of my own to some of your observations and brilliant citations as follows :

“ If the thought that one is aware of the non-Self is removed , through the knowledge that one’s nature is eternally realized, that lamentation will cease, revealed to be essentially false.”
   I wish to say that the awareness of the empirical forms, objects and the world is a mere thought which rises simultaneously with the deluding and ridiculous thought that I do not know my nature.   

Verse 33, ULLadu Narpadu
“ I do not know myself or I have known myself is an occasion for ridicule. Why ? Are there two selves in order to make one’s self the object ? The experience of all is that it is one.”
   Sri Bhgwan says that Self is not something either known or not known. Self is Knowledge (Jnana) Itself. Therefore, it follows that both assertions that ‘I know myself’ as well as ‘I do not know myself’ are ignorance. Truth of one’s existence is Pure Knowledge “I Am” which neither says ‘I Am’ or ‘I Am not’.

Verse 317, Padamalai
“No other consciousness exists to know or make known the Self, the Pure Consciousness”.

Verse 2190, Padamalai
“Life associated with forms and attributes, which are defective, is the play of delusion.”

Nothing can cause fragmentation in Sat- the Blissful Existence Consciousness which is One-Integral Whole. There exists no fragmented consciousness apart from the Supreme Consciousness to assert to know the Supreme as an object.

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil     

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

If one abides in Self-attention without any vagaries of mind, permanently, he attains the bliss of the Self.  The Self is
Sat Chit Anandam.  It is only Real Substance, All-Knowing, and
Blissful.  A Brahma Jnani thus becomes ever blissful since the world
and its happiness and miseries do not upset his balance.

Buddha also went in search of this only.  After vanquishing the ego,
he found that there was only Void.  He therefore called it Anatma.
He never expressed bliss about his realization, since he was content with this Void. 

Vivekachoodamani also speaks about the interrugnum of Void.
When the disciple asks Guru:  O Master, I am only experiencing
Soonyam.  Nothing else is experienced.  Then the Guru says, you
abide in that Void for some time.  You shall soon experience Bliss of the Self.



Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sir, Ji. Yes. Thank you so much. Will you kindly ellaborate on 'interrugnam of Void' and this observation that Lord Budha was 'content with this Void' ? Regards. Anil
 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Void is the state of emptiness., that one sadhaka who has vanquished his ego experiences as an interim gap till the appearance of Swarupam within.  This is called Soonyam.  Immediately after this soonyam, the Self is revealed as Sat Chit Anandam.  The realized person experiences total anandam or sukam.  Sukam and the Self are the same.  This bliss is the characteristic of the Self within. This sukam is not comparable with any other happiness that one enjoys in the world.  While the worldly happiness is trivial the Atma Sukam is something only to be experienced.  It is indescribable and it is the state of a self realized Jnani.



Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Question regarding Void materialized in my mind on account of your observation that Lord Budha was content with this Void. For, in my view a seeker encounters a void or a blankness as an interim experience as you said. Although when a seeker reaches this stage, Realization is not far away, this is still a stage in one’s sadhana. Sri Bhagwan teaches at this stage to ask ,” Who sees this blankness or this void ? ”

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Returning back to the tenacious ego, to further scorch and fry it, I wish to cite a verse from GVK as follows :

Since the other two impurities (karma and maya) grow only by depending upon the ego (anava), the root attachment, when the ego is destroyed the other two by no means can survive.
                                                                Verse 733, GVK, Tr. Sri Sadhu Om

Sri Sadhu Om says that the three impurities are anava, karma and maya. The word ‘anava’ means ego and is derived from the word ‘anu’ meaning atom. Why the ego is called ‘anava’ has been explained by the sage-poet , Sri Muruganar  himself as follows :
“ The delusion of identifying the body, which is not-Self, as  ‘I’ is the inner or the first attachment. Since this delusion makes us feel Self, which is in truth the unbroken consciousness, as an atom-like thing in the body, it is called ‘anavam’. “

So, the delusion of identifying the body as the Self or as ‘I’, which in truth is Sat,Chit, and Anand Swarupam Supreme Reality, is the inner or the first attachment. This attachment with the body makes us feel the Self as an atom-like entity within the limit of the body.

Thus, the Supreme, Unbroken and Infinite Consciousness is felt like an infinitesimal atom like entity that is the ego within the body. However, we should, at the same time, not forget that there exists neither even infinitesimal atom nor the dot-like ego. Self is the only Reality and Existence.

Sri Bhagwan says, “ The eternal, blissful, and natural state has been smothered by this life of ignorance. In this way the present life is due to killing of the eternal, pristine Being. Is it not a case of suicide ? So, then everyone is a suicide.”
                                                                                          Talk 53
Moreover, Sri Bhagwan has repeatedly said that the very birth of the ego is the greatest sin.

Thank You,
    Anil
     

[eranilkumarsinha]

 Philosopher's stone. What is meant by a philosopher's stone ?

Thank you. Anil

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Philosopher's stone is the one which when touched will confer grace
and make you also a philosopher.  This is from old Greek puranas.
In our scriptures also, we have got Chintamani, which shall confer
what we want.  Muruganar says in one verse, that Sri Bhagavan
is more than a Chinatamani that He makes you not only self realized, if sought seriously, but also make you a Guru to teach others this self inquiry.



Arunachala Siva.
   

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Thank you so much for pointing about the philosopher’s stone. I found a mention of the philosopher’s  stone in verse no. 406 of the Guru Vachaka Kovai.

“ By contact with the philosopher’s stone –proper and unceasing enquiry-the ghostly Jiva will lose the rust of mental impurities and will be turned into the Supreme Shiva.”
                                                                                Verse no. 406, GVK

In the cited verse, philosopher’s stone is described as the proper and unceasing enquiry. As the base material is turned into Gold by the contact with the philosopher’s stone, so also the ghostly Jiva looses the rust of the mental impurities and is turned into the Supreme Shiva by proper and unceasing enquiry. This is how I understood the cited verse.

So, the philosopher’s stone is like the Chintamani which grants all the wishes of its owner.

Dear sir, Sri Bhagwan is certainly infinitely more than the concept that is called Chintamani. Sri Bhagwan abides in our Heart as our own true Self. He is mankind’s Sadguru and, therefore, there is nothing greater than Him in all the three worlds according to the Guru Gita. Besides, Sri BHagwan has said that Chintamani signifies the real nature of the Self ( Talk no. 406 ). So the concepts of ‘Drik’ and ‘drishya’ merge in Him.

Regards
   Anil       

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Chintamani is described in some other devotee's reminiscences also.
Sri Bhagavan, he says, is Chinatamani, and makes the devotees gold [i.e making them pursue self inquiry and attain realization].  But more than Chintamani is Sri Bhagavan.  Because, Chintamani will make a piece of iron into gold but that gold will not act like Chintamani to make another piece of iron into gold.  But Sri
Bhagavan makes others lose the ego and attain self realization
and they in turn makes others also lose their ego and attain self
realization!  That Sri Bhagavan who is a Chintamani makes others a Chintamani and not merely a piece of gold!




Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

I experienced 'Atma tripti' , as Dr. Murty of Sri Ramanasramam once said to me, by reading your post. 

Sri Bhagwan is 'LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE', SRI ARUNACHALA HIMSELF. There is no doubt that, by His Grace, His devotees and seekers from all over the world transcending geography and civilization, will be Self-Realized. For, this is exactly what for Sri Bhagwan appeared in this relative world of phenomena.
 
But, nevertheless, the Guru or Sadguru is One and the only One. Sri Bhagwan is Mankind's Guru, or the Sadguru.     

Thank you so much sir.

  Regards,
     Anil                 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

There are some wonderful conversations between devotees and
Sri Bhagavan, on Guru:

Q: What is Guru's Grace?  How does it lead to Self-realization?

Sri Bhagavan:  Guru is the Self.  Sometimes in his life, a man becomes dissatisfied and, not content with what he has, he seeks the satisfaction of his desires through prayer to God.  His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain his grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then God's grace begins to manifest.  God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association, [Sat Sangh].  The devotee's mind gains strength and is then able to turn inward.  By meditation it is further purified and it remains still without the least ripple.  That calm expanse is the Self.   

The Guru is both external and internal.  From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to turn it inwards.  From the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in quietening of the mind.  That is Guru's Grace.  There is no difference between God, Guru and the Self.

Q: What are the marks of a Sadguru?

Sri Bhagavan:  Steady abidance in the Self, looking at all with an equal eye, unshakeable courage at all times, in all places, and cirucumstances.

Q:  There are a number of spiritual teachers teaching various paths.  Whom should one take for one's Guru?

Sri Bhagavan:  Choose that one where you find you get shanti [peace].



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sir,

ji. Very nice. Grace manifests only when a devotee reaches a stage when he begins to seek to know God Himself rather than worldly things. When the ordinary seeking, seeking and more seeking ends.

Dear sir, Sri Bhagwan has said that the Source of the mind, breath and the sound of mantra are the Self. However, He laid emphasis on seeking the Source of the mind rather than that of breath and the mantra sound. This is because , in my view, mind is said to be closer to the Self than the other two. (to continue)

Thank you so much sir.

 Regards,
     Anil 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

In the beginning, the devotee prays to God for getting riches, good
health, a good job, or a good wife or a child.  Later, all these things
would stop, and he would only ask for shanti and grace from God.
Only at this stage, the Guru comes into picture, to guide him in the path of total surrender or self inquiry, so that he can get the bliss of
the Self whose another name is Peace, Shanti.

Question:  I long for bhakti.  I want more of this longing.  Even
realization does not matter for me.  Let me be strong in my longing.

Sri Bhagavan:  If the longing is there, realization will be forced on you even if you do not want it.  Long for it intensely so that the
mind melts in devotion.  After camphor burns away, no residue is left. The mind is the camphor.  When it has resolved itself into
the Self, without leaving even the slightest trace behind, it is realization of the Self.



Arunachala Siva.