Japa of ‘I am’ as an aid to self-attentiveness
on Oct 29, 2009 in self-knowledge ‘I am’ mano-nasa (annihilation of mind) being effort non-dual consciousness practice taught by Sri Ramana God mind consciousness natural state ‘who am I?’ being-consciousness objective knowledge self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) ego self-consciousness object-knowing consciousness silence (mauna) After 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...

‘Holy indifference’ and the love to be self-attentive
on Oct 21, 2009 in ‘I am’ self-love self-conscious being being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi effort practice taught by Sri Ramana God mind consciousness self happiness self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) ego Nan Yar? (Who am I?) bhakti (devotion) grace love dream In reply to a friend who wrote to me asking for some advice concerning the psychological effects of some health problems that he was experiencing, I wrote as follows:Whatever we experience in our outward life as a body-bound mind or ego, we are desti...

Thinking, free will and self-attentiveness
on Aug 16, 2009 in self-knowledge ‘I am’ just being (summa iruppadu) otherness self-love being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi self-surrender practice taught by Sri Ramana God mind consciousness natural state self happiness self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) Nan Yar? (Who am I?) bhakti (devotion) self-consciousness love The following is a reply that I recently wrote to a friend:Regarding your final sentence, ‘We are only given the thoughts that we are allowed to have, and we can only act from the thoughts we are given’, who gives us the thoughts that we are allo...

Self-attentiveness is nirvikalpa – devoid of all differences or variation
on Jul 27, 2009 in ‘I am’ just being (summa iruppadu) self-conscious being being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi practice taught by Sri Ramana mind consciousness duality non-objective consciousness self self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) Nan Yar? (Who am I?) self-consciousness non-duality (advaita) A friend recently wrote to me suggesting:... Indeed Nan Yar? contains everything we need to know and I would be very grateful if you would do translation for mumukshu, giving roman transliteration of every word according to the dictionary (minimum tw...

‘Tracing the ego back to its source’
on Jul 12, 2009 in Ulladu Narpadu imagination ‘I am’ maya otherness self-conscious being being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi self-surrender practice taught by Sri Ramana mind consciousness ‘who am I?’ being-consciousness objective knowledge self self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) ego Nan Yar? (Who am I?) A 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’
on Jul 11, 2009 in self-knowledge mano-nasa (annihilation of mind) being non-dual consciousness practice taught by Sri Ramana Upadesa Undiyar natural state happiness self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) bhakti (devotion) self-consciousness object-knowing consciousness silence (mauna) love imagination ‘I am’ Anma-Viddai just being (summa iruppadu) self-love self-conscious being effort Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi mind consciousness philosophy of Sri Ramana ‘who am I?’ being-consciousness self ego Nan Yar? (Who am I?) adjunct (upadhi) Happiness and the Art of Being A 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
on Jul 8, 2009 in self-knowledge imagination ‘I am’ mano-nasa (annihilation of mind) being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi practice taught by Sri Ramana mind consciousness philosophy of Sri Ramana ‘who am I?’ being-consciousness objective knowledge self self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) ego Nan Yar? (Who am I?) self-consciousness A 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)
on Jul 4, 2009 in self-knowledge imagination ‘I am’ mano-nasa (annihilation of mind) otherness self-love self-conscious being being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi effort practice taught by Sri Ramana Upadesa Undiyar God mind philosophy of Sri Ramana ‘who am I?’ duality self happiness self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) Nan Yar? (Who am I?) bhakti (devotion) love dream A 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’
on Jul 1, 2009 in self-knowledge imagination ‘I am’ just being (summa iruppadu) self-love self-conscious being being Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi effort practice taught by Sri Ramana mind consciousness natural state ‘who am I?’ self self-investigation (atma-vichara self-enquiry self-abidance etc) bhakti (devotion) love dream A 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
on Jun 27, 2009 in self-knowledge ‘I am’ Sri Sadhu Om otherness self-conscious being self-love self-surrender Upadesa Undiyar mind ‘who am I?’ objective knowledge self self-consciousness love As 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...