Saturday, February 23, 2013

In the old days, when we had the benefit of regularly receiving personal instructions from Sri Bhagavan, one of them was that we should get into a meditative state before going to sleep. If this was done, Sri Bhagavan said, sleep overtook one as a natural sequel to fatigue and was not induced or preceded by lying down. Also, we were advised to go into meditation first thing in the morning, immediately after getting out of bed. This ensured a serenity of mind and also a feeling of tirelessness throughout the day. If this was done, he said, the state of mind experienced immediately before sleep is resumed on waking.

-- Kunju Swami

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

There is a verse from Kaivalya Navaneeta that Bhagavan often quoted. It speaks of the need for vigilance even after the Self has been experienced for the first time. In the verse the disciple is speaking to his Guru:

D: 'Lord, you are the reality remaining as my inmost Self, ruling me during all my countless incarnations! Glory to you who have put on an external form in order to instruct me. I do not see how iI can repay your grace for having liberated me. Glory! Glory to your holy feet!'

The Guru replies:
'To stay fixed in the Self without the three kinds of obstacles [ignorance, uncertainty and wrong knowledge] obstructing your experience, is the highest return you can render me'

The Guru knows that without vigilance, an initial experience of the Self may slip away.
Drop the body-mind idea and you will discover that you don't have any likes or dislikes

--


Keep your body in good condition if you want to, but don't ever believe that it is you. You can keep your car in good working order without ever believing that you are the car. 


--


When you identify with transient things that pass away or perish, you too will pass away and perish, but when you identify with the Self, you will not pass away or change in any way. The Self has no birth, no death, no bondage, no misery, no youth, no old age, and no sickness. These are attributes of changing bodies and minds, not the Self. Be the Self and none of these things will ever happen to you


--


As long as vasanas continue to exist they will rise and cover the reality, obscuring the awareness of it. As often as you become aware of them, question, 'To whom do they come?' This continuous enquiry will establish you in your own Self and you will have no further problems. When you know that the snake of the mind never existed, when you know that the rope of reality is all that exists, doubts and fears will not trouble you again.

--


Grace is always present, always available, but for it to be effective, one must be in a state to receive it and make full use of it. If you want to take a full cup of water from a lake, you have fully to immerse the cup first. If you want to fill your mind with grace, submerge it fully in the Self. In that place the grace will manifest in you as peace and happiness.


-- 


Whatever kind of thought arises, have the same reaction: 'Not me; not my business.; It can be good thought or a bad thought. Treat them all the same way. To whom are these thoughts arising? To you. That means that you are not the thought.


You are the Self. Remain as the Self, and don't latch onto anything that is not the Self.


--


Your thoughts arise on a moment-to-moment basis because of your vasanas, but it is a mistake to think that you can do nothing about them. You can be interested in them, or you can ignore them. If you show interest in them, they will persist and you will get caught up in them. If you ignore them and keep your attention on the source, they will not develop. And when they don't develop, they disappear.


--


Your vasanas are all the sideshows in your head that can drag your attention away from your main business, which is being aware of the Self. If you have no interest in them, you will walk straight to your goal. If something temporarily distracts your attention, bring yourself back by asking yourself, 'who is interested in all this? Who is getting interested in this distraction?' This will deflate the distracting desire and it will bring you back to an awareness of your true purpose. 


Remember, nothing that happens in the mind is 'you', and none of it is your business. 


--


If you can withdraw energy from your worldly attachments and instead focus full-time on the Self, you will soon get results


If you are having trouble with enthusiasm for Sadhana, just tell yourself, 'I may be dead in seven days'. Let go of all the things that you pretend are important in your daily life and instead focus on the Self for twenty-four hours a day.


--


If you spend your life with worldly thoughts, these will be the thoughts that fill your mind at the moment of your death. But if your life is devoted to sadhana, to attaining an inner peace, then, at the moment of your death, this will be the state that you die in. 


--

I ask you to put all your attention, all your interest on realising the final teaching: 'I am ot the body or the mind. I'm Self. All is the Self.'. This is Bhagavan's final teaching. Nothing more needs to be added to it. Keep good company while you pursue this knowledge and all will be well

--

The Ribhu Gita advises us to remember at all times, 'I am the Self; all is the Self'. The entire universe is 'I'. If you can keep this permanently in your mind, millions and millions of punyas will come to you.

I advise doing japa to the Self, either by repeatedly thinking about it or by repeating the affirmations such as 'I am the Self'. This affirmation is the greatest mantra of all. If you can do it continuously, without interruption, you will get results very quickly. There is no greater japa, no greater sadhana than this. 

The one who is seeking is also that which is sought. The seeker and the sought are both Self. If you are not able to find this Self within yourself, you will not find it anywhere else. Searching on the outside and visiting holy places will not help you.

--

Your most important objective must be realising the Self. If you have not done this, you will spend your time in ignorance and illusion. You, your mind, this world - they are all maya. Don't become a slave to this maya. Instead, realise the Self and let maya become your servant.

--

If you completely avoid attachment to your body and mind, then all other attachments will vanish. Identify with That which is neither body nor mind, and all your attachments will go. You can put your attention on one thing at a time. While it is on the mind or the body, it cannot be on the Self. Conversely, if you put attention on the Self and become absorbed in it, there will be no awareness of mind and body.

--

If you want to discriminate at all, avoid bad company and bad thought.

--

The Self is always present. Nothing obstructs your awareness of it except your self-inflicted ignorance. Our efforts, our sadhana, are directed towards removing this ignorance. If this ignorance is removed, the real Self is revealed. This revelation is not part of destiny. Only the outer bodily activities are destined.

--

You have to go on making an effort until the point where you become totally effortless. Up till that moment your effort is needed. The mind only gets dissolved in Self by constant practice. At that moment the 'I am the body' idea disappears, just as darkness disappears when the sun rises.


-- Final Talks

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Non-duality is jnana; duality is samsara. If you can give up duality, Brahman alone remains, and you know yourself to be that Brahman, but to make this discovery continuous meditation is required. Don't allocate periods of time for this. Don't regard it as something that you don when you sit with your eyes closed. This meditation has to be continuous. Do it while you are eating, walking, and even talking. It has to be continued all the time. 

-- Final Talks.

PS: meditating = meditation on the Self (Atma Dhyana)

Bhagavan on Guru's feet

Only the Supreme Self, which is ever shining in your Heart as the reality, is the Sadguru. The pure awareness, which is shining as the inward illumination "I", is His gracious feet. The contact with these (inner holy feet) alone can give you true redemption. Joining the eye of the reflected consciousness (chidabhasa), which is your sense of individuality, to these holy feet, wich are the real consciousness  is the union of the feet and the head which is the real significance of the word asi (verb in tat tvam asi, "That thou art"). As these inner holy feet can be held naturally and unceasingly, hereafter, with an inward-turned mind, cling to that inner awareness which is your real nature. This alone is the proper way for the removal of bondage and the attainment of the supreme truth.

The benefit of performing namaskaram (prostrating) to the Guru is only the removal of the ego. That is not attained except by total surrender. Within the Heart of each devotee the gracious Guru is giving darshan in the form of consciousness. Since to surrender is to offer fully, in silence, the subsided ego, which is a name-and-form thought, to the aham sphurana (the effulgence of "I"), the real holy feet of the gracious Guru. Since this is so, Self-realisation cannot be attained by a bowing of the body, but only by a bowing of the ego

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Self-inquiry must be done continuously. It doesn't work if you regard it as a part-time activity. You must have a lifelong commitment to establish yourself in the Self. Your determination to succeed must be strong and firm, and it should manifest as continuous, not part-time, effort.

Ignorance is ignorance of the Self, and to remove it Self awareness is required. When you come to an awareness of the Self, ignorance vanishes. If you don't lose contact with the Self, ignorance can never arise.

— Final Talks

Thursday, February 7, 2013


1. Mr. C. wanted to know the exact meaning of samadhi.
B. Samadhi is one’s true nature.
C. Is it the same as Turiya?
B. Samadhi, Turiya, Nirvikalpa, all have the same implication namely awareness of the Self.Turiya literally means the Fourth State – the Supreme Consciousness – to be distinguished from the other three – the waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. The Fourth State is eternal, over, or in which the other three, come and go. In Turiya there is the awareness that the mind has merged in its source, the Heart, and is quiescent there, although some thoughts still impinge on it and the senses are somewhat active. In Nirvikalpa the senses are inactive and thoughts are totally absent; hence the experience of Pure Consciousness is intense in it; so is the bliss. Turiya is obtainable in Savikalpa Samadhi.
C. What is the difference between Sahaja and Nirvikalpa samadhi
B. Sahaja is also Nirvikalpa. You are probably meaning Kevala Nirvikalpa, which is temporary, while the samadhilasts. The Sahaja Nirvikalpa is permanent and in it lies liberation from rebirths.
There are two Nirvikalpas: the internal and the external. In the former the mind completely merges in the inmost Being and is aware of nothing else. This is compared to a lamp protected from wind. But in the latter, although the mind is absorbed in the Self, the sense of world still prevails without a reaction from within, and has the calm vastness of a waveless ocean. In both, the Self is realised in its nakedness and the essence of bliss experienced. When the waveless ocean of the external and the steady flame of the internal Nirvikalpa are realised as identical, the ultimate goal, the Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi is said to have been reached.Nirvikalpa is effortless, whereas Savikalpa is attended with effort.
C. Is the internal Nirvikalpa absolutely necessary before the attainment of Sahaja?
B. Abiding permanently in any of these samadhis, either Savikalpa or Nirvikalpa is Sahaja. What is body- consciousness? It is the insentient body plus consciousness. Both these must lie in another consciousness which is absolute and unaffected, and ever-abiding, with or without the body-consciousness. What does it then matter whether the body-consciousness is lost or retained, provided one is holding on to that Pure Consciousness? Total absence of body consciousness has the advantage of making the samadhi more intense, although it makes no difference in the knowledge of the Supreme.
July, 1936
2. C. May I have a clear idea, Bhagavan, of the difference between Savikalpa andNirvikalpa?
B. Holding on to the Supreme State is samadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it is Savikalpa, when these disturbances are absent, it is Nirvikalpa. Remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is Sahaja. Like Nirvikalpa, there is an internal as well as an external Savikalpa, depending on whether the disturbing thoughts are from outside or from inside.
C. Should all vasanas (mental habits) be completely overcome before Self-Realisation takes place, or may some remain for Self-Realisation to destroy?
B. Vasanas which do not obstruct Self-Realisation remain.
In Yoga Vasishtha two classes of vasanas are distinguished: those of enjoyment and those of bondage. The former remain even after Mukti is attained, but the latter are destroyed by it. Attachment is the cause of binding vasanas, but enjoyment without attachment does not bind and continues even in Sahaja.

13th March, 1936
3. Mr. C. and Major C. differed among themselves about whether or not the meditator can be affected by physical disturbance during Nirvikalpa Samadhi. They referred the matter to the Master.
B. Both of you are right. The one refers to Kevala and the other to Sahaja Samadhi. In both cases the mind is immersed in the bliss of the Self. In the former physical movements may cause disturbance to the meditator, because the mind has not completely died out, but is still alive and can, as after deep sleep, at any moment be active again. It is compared to a bucket, which, although completely submerged under water, can be pulled out by the other end of the rope which is tied to the pulley. Whereas in Sahaja, the mind, having sunk completely into the Self, like the bucket which has got drowned with its rope in the depth of the well, there remains nothing in it to be disturbed or pulled back to the world. One’s activities then resemble that of the child who sucks its mother’s milk in sleep, and is hardly aware of the feeding.

25th February, 1949
4. Two young men, Sri Chakravarty and Sri Jivrajani, who have been performing sadhana in this Ashram since about a year, today had an animated discussion among themselves aboutKevala and Sahaja Nirvikalpa, which attracted partisans on both sides. Finally they submitted their cases to the Maharshi. The younger, Jivrajani, led:
Jiv. Is the experience of Kevala Nirvikalpa the same as that of Sahaja, although one comes down from it to the relative world?
B. There is neither coming down nor going up – he who goes up and down is not real. InKevala Nirvikalpa there is the mental bucket still in existence under the water, which can be pulled out at any moment. Sahaja is like the river that has linked up with the ocean from which there is no return. Why do you ask all these questions?
Go on practising till you have the experience yourself. Next day Sri Chakravarty, hearing Sri Bhagavan talking to a sadhaka about the above question, came forward and said:
Ch. I wish to make our point clear, Bhagavan. Is it possible for a person, who, once had the experience of satchidananda in meditation, to identify himself again with the body when out of meditation?
B. Where is the body? Is the body apart from the Self? If it is, then the world also will be apart from it, which is absurd, for you would not be aware of it – awareness being the Self. A sadhakabegins by taking himself as the body, but when he gets at the Self, he will realise himself to be Pure Intelligence – even the body will then appear as that intelligence, as the variously shaped jewellery are nought but gold. . . 
(pensively) Yes, it is possible for a sadhaka who has experienced the Self to continue identifying himself with the body when out of meditation, but he gradually loses the identification in the course of his practice. In the floodlight of the Self the darkness of illusion dissipates for ever

--

BHAGAVAN ABOUT FORMS OF SAMADHI

(A) devotee said, “Samadhi is said to be of several kinds such as Savikalpa (absorbed in the thought) and Nirvikalpa (thought- free). Can you tell us about them?” Thereupon, Bhagavan explained thus:
“Yes. Sankara described the six kinds of Samadhi in his Vivekachudamani and his Drigdrisyaviveka. The six are divided into two main categories namely, Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa. The former is divided into two, namely ‘Drisyanuviddha’ and ‘Sabdanuviddha’ and these two are again subdivided as under:

(1) Antar Drisyanuviddha Savikalpa Samadhi: Meditating upon one’s own Self as a witness of desires and other visible attributes of the mind.

(2) Antar Sabdanuviddha Savikalpa Samadhi: To know that the Self is Asanga (contact-free), Swaprakasa (self-luminous), Sat-chit-ananda (existence, consciousness, bliss) and Advaita (non-dual).

(3) Antar Nirvikalpa Samadhi: With the exalted feeling of the Self gained as a result of enjoying the ecstasy of the above two states and discarding both of them and remaining motionless like an unflickering light in a windless place.

(4) Bahya Drisyanuviddha Savikalpa Samadhi: As in the case of the Self that is in the heart, to be able to discard with indifference the outer things in the world which have their names and forms and which are visible, and to meditate on the underlying Reality.

(5) Bahya Sabdanuviddha Savikalpa Samadhi: To know and be aware at all times that the Thing which manifests itself as Sat-chit-ananda (existence, consciousness and bliss) is the universal Brahman.

(6) Bahya Nirvikalpa Samadhi: With the experience of the above two, to overcome all desires and to remain calm and motionless like the waveless ocean.

“By constantly practising these six kinds of Samadhi, at all times and without a break, one can attain a state of thought-free awareness. Unless one attains that state, the ego will not be completely destroyed. Persons whose ego is destroyed are so detached that even if they appear to see they do not really see; though they appear to eat they do not really eat; though they appear to hear they do not really hear; and though they appear to sleep they do not really sleep. Whatever they do is not really ‘doing’.”



Wednesday, February 6, 2013


THE WORLD — REAL OR ILLUSION

D.: Is Bhagavan’s teaching the same as Shankara’s?
B.: Bhagavan’s teaching is an expression of his own experience and realisation. Others find that it tallies with Sri Shankara’s.

D.: When the Upanishads say that all is Brahman, how can we agree with Shankara that this world is illusory?

B.: Shankara also said that this world is Brahman or the Self. What he objected to is one’s imagining that the Self is limited by the names and forms that constitute the world. He only said that the world has no reality apart from Brahman. Brahman or the Self is like a cinema screen and the world like
the pictures on it. You can see the picture only so long as there is a screen. But when the observer himself becomes the screen only the Self remains.

Shankara has been criticized for his philosophy of Maya (illusion) without understanding his meaning. He made three statements: 

that Brahman is real, 
that the universe is unreal, and that 
Brahman is the Universe. 

He did not stop with the second. The third statement explains the first two; it signifies that when the Universe is perceived apart from Brahman, that perception is false and illusory. What it amounts to is that phenomena are real when experienced as the Self and illusory when seen apart from the Self.


The Self alone exists and is real. The world, the individual and God are, like the illusory appearance of silver in the mother of- pearl, imaginary creations in the Self. They appear and disappear simultaneously. Actually, the Self alone is the world, the ‘I’ and God. All that exists is only a manifestation of the
Supreme.


The Vedantins do not say that the world is unreal. That is a misunderstanding. If they did, what would be the meaning of the Vedantic text: ‘All this is Brahman’? They only mean that the world is unreal as world but real as Self. If you regard the world as non-self, it is not real. Everything, whether you call it illusion (Maya) or Divine Play (Lila) or Energy (Shakti) must
be within the Self and not apart from it



Friday, February 1, 2013

Ulladhu Narpadhu 14

If that first person (the ego or subject, ‘I’) named ‘I am the body’ exists, the second and third persons (the objects , ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘this’, ‘that’ and so on) will exist. If the first person ceases to exist by one’s scrutinizing the truth of the first person, the second and third persons will cease to exist, and the state (which will then remain) shining as one (that is, as the one real Self and not as the unreal three persons), is indeed one’s own nature (the real nature or state of self).