Blogs Posts on "‘who Am I?’"

Japa of ‘I am’ as an aid to self-attentiveness by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Oct 29, 2009After I wrote my previous article, ‘Holy indifference’ and the love to be self-attentive, a series of interesting comments have been posted on it discussing the use of japa (repetition) as an aid to the practice of self-attentiveness. In the most...

‘Tracing the ego back to its source’ by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jul 12, 2009A friend recently wrote to me asking:I am stuck at a point where I feel I need help ... While reading Sri Ramana Maharshi’s work and Talks, there is this constant mention of tracing the ego back to the source. When I try to do it there is an arrest...

‘Just sitting’ (shikantaza) and ‘choiceless awareness’ by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jul 11, 2009A friend recently wrote to me as follows:I have been reading chapter 9 (Self-Investigation) of your book Happiness and the Art of Being.What you describe regarding the practice of atma-vichara as advocated by Ramana Maharishi, I interpret as being ve...

Svarupa-dhyana and svarupa-darsana by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jul 8, 2009A friend recently wrote to me asking:Does svarupa-dhyana, atma-chintana and atma-smarana mean focusing attention on the first thought ‘I am’, consciousness of being? I mean, is it concentration on being, staying without thoughts but still aware o...

Atma-vichara and metta bhavana (‘loving-kindness’ meditation) by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jul 4, 2009A friend recently wrote to me asking:I’ve got a question concerning atma-vichara in relation to some meditation techniques.Before I came across Sri Bhagavan's teachings I practised some form of Buddhist meditation which is called ‘metta’ or lov...

Staying with ‘I am’ by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jul 1, 2009A friend recently wrote to me asking:The path is so subtle ... how to understand this? Ramana Maharshi mentions concentrating on the right side of the chest. Is this for the merest novice? If one takes this path, will one have to unlearn that “anc...

Sadhanai Saram – an introduction by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jun 27, 2009As I had intimated in several of my recent articles, today I have uploaded the following four new e-books to the Books section of my website:An e-book copy of the English translation by Sri Sadhu Om and Michael James of Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam...

Sadhanai Saram – The Essence of Spiritual Practice (sadhana) by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jun 27, 2009As I had intimated in several of my recent articles, today I have uploaded the following four new e-books to the Books section of my website:An e-book copy of the English translation by Sri Sadhu Om and Michael James of Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam...

Upadesa Tanippakkal – an explanatory paraphrase by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jun 26, 2009In continuation of my previous six articles, which were explanatory paraphrases of Upadesa Undiyar, Ulladu Narpadu, Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham, Ekatma Panchakam, Appala Pattu and Anma-Viddai (Atma-Vidya), the following is the last of seven extracts fr...

Anma-Viddai (Atma-Vidya) – an explanatory paraphrase by Happiness of Being - The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Jun 24, 2009In continuation of my previous five articles, which were explanatory paraphrases of Upadesa Undiyar, Ulladu Narpadu, Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham, Ekatma Panchakam and Appala Pattu, the following is the sixth of seven extracts from the introductory page...