Daily Message From AHAM (The Association of Happiness for All Mankind)

[ramana_maharshi]

Thanks a lot for this info subramanian garu.

[ramana_maharshi]

40. Question: Sometimes there is meditation, at other times there are worldly activities. What is the difference between the two?

Bhagavan: To be in meditation and to be in activity are both the same. It is like calling the same object by its name in two different languages; like the crow only having one eye but seeing in two different directions; like the elephant using the same trunk for the two activities of breathing and drinking water; like the cobra using its eyes for the two functions of seeing and hearing.

[ramanaduli]

Dear sirs,

Like meditation all other things like doing puja, chanting japa, holy dips, visiting temples are also activities. Is not it? Because for all these, we need mind. If we do meditation  without mind, it will not be activity.  That is thoughtless state.


Ramanaduli

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Ramanaduli,

All pujas, japas, meditation on a god's form are all activities only. But they
 if properly done, become one pointed activity, which gives ekakrita -
single purpose activity and this in turns makes self inquiry easy.
What to do? Only with the mind, the mind should be destroyed, as
mentioned in Ashtakam, verse 5 by Sri Bhagavan.
 


Arunachala Siva.
Arunachala Siva. 

[ramana_maharshi]

41. Question: Bhagavan, I have been meditating in your presence for some months, and now I am overcome with fear. Why?

Bhagavan: It is the ego that is experiencing the fear; it is due to the feeling that it is gradually losing its grip. It is dying and may resent it. [Ask yourself the] question, "To whom is the fear?" It is all due to the experience of identifying the Self with the body. Repeated experience from non-separation will make one familiar with the state, and the fear will automatically vanish.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear prasanth,

It is a nice question and a nice answer by Sri Bhagavan.

All of us, or at least most of us, when we start self inquiry or self surrender, develops immense
fear. Why?  Because, we are not able to conceptualize a personality without ego.  The ego
does not leave us and it holds with an iron grip.  Because of this fear, which is caused by
the ego which is afraid of losing its identity, we get immense fear. Again, we come back to our
own self and this is a victory for the ego.  The ego does not want us to lose it so easily. It is
an unwanted and much dreaded cancer.



Arunachala Siva.

[ramana_maharshi]

well  said sir.


42. Question: What is a mind, which has a form and a mind without form?

Bhagavan: Pure mind is a space of emptiness. Immediately on waking from sleep, a clear awareness arises, without exception in all people. That is formless mind. Thoughts such as "I am the body," "This is the world," arise only after that, which is the mind with form. In a cinema show the light appears first, and the forms appear on the screen only after the light. Likewise, the light of the Self comes first and provides space for everything that follows.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear prasanth,

Nochur Venkataraman says:  As soon as one wakes up, before the I-thought comes, for a small
fraction of a second, the pure "I" is experienced by everyone. This Pure "I", the state of Pure
Mind or Suddha Manas, if realized permanently, that is Self Realization.  Pure Mind is another
name for the Self. Muruganar has covered this aspect of Pure Mind in some of his verses in
Guru Vachaka Kovai.



Arunachala Siva.

[ramana_maharshi]

43. Question: What you say seems to contradict the statements that the Self is beyond the mind, that the mind cannot know Brahman (the absolute) that it is beyond thought and speech.

Bhagavan: That is why they say that mind is two fold; there is the higher pure mind as well as the lower impure mind. The impure mind cannot know this but the pure knows. It does not mean that the pure mind measures the immeasurable Self, the absolute. It means that the Self makes itself felt in the pure mind, so that even when you are in the midst of thoughts you feel the One Presence; you realize the truth that you are with the deeper Self and that the thought-waves are there only on the surface.

[ramana_maharshi]

44. That means "mano nasha" or "anankara nasha" (the destruction of the mind or ego) you speak of is then not an absolute destruction?

Bhagavan: Yes. The mind gets cleared of impurities and becomes pure enough to reflect the supreme truth, the real Self. This is impossible when the ego is active and assertive.

[ramana_maharshi]

45. Question: Even when you clarify the truth, doubts come back.

Bhagavan: Doubts never end. If one doubt is removed, another takes its place. It is like removing the leaves of a tree one by one. Even if all the leaves are chipped off, new ones grow. The tree itself must be uprooted.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear prasanth,

That is why Sri Bhagavan used to ask: Doubt the doubter.  The doubter is the ego.
Investigate the ego and you find that there is no ego, once you start investigating.



Arunachala Siva.

[ramana_maharshi]

46. Question: Why is there no progress in my spiritual practices?

Bhagavan: Why distress your mind by thinking that knowledge has come, or that such tendencies have not disappeared? Don't give room to any thoughts.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear prasanth,

Yes. This distress is again for the little I. One should go past it.



Arunachala Siva.

[ramana_maharshi]

47. Question: What is the way to reality? Please show it.

Bhagavan: The work Ulladu Narpadu (Truth Revealed) imparts pure truth; it deals with it and explains it. You should go on reading it verse by verse. In course of due time the words of the verses will vanish and pure truth alone will shine like a snake relinquishing its skin and coming out shining. This itself is sadhana (spiritual practice).