Category: meditation

Sleep is the first obstacle. The second is the sense objects of the world which divert one’s attention .Third is thoughts in mind about previous experiences with sense objects.The fourth is bliss in that state the thought ‘I am the enjoyer’ is still there . The final state of ‘Samadhi’ is to be reached in which one is the bliss, or one with reality.

Comments; No doubet one has to cross these states so that Self-realization can be found in true meaning.

The more you get fixed in the self the more the thoughts will drop off themselves……. Regulation of life, such as getting up at fixed hours, bathing, doing mantra, Japa, observing the ritual, all this is for people who do not feel drawn to self-inquiry or not capable of it. —-Maharishi Ramana.

Comments; As I also find it true in myself that when you are doing more practice, more time it becomes more calm and peaceful. But in very few practice bliss also becomes lesser and lesser. Here maharishi told us that if you have experience of bliss, you should not worry about other methods of practice, but while practicing if you are unable to do self-inquiry then you should do other methods.

It is like the elephant which wakes up on seeing a lion in its dream. Even as an elephant wakes up at the mere sight of the lion. So is too certain that the disciple wakes up from the deep sleep of ignorance into wakefulness of true knowledge through the guru’s benevolent look of grace.—Maharishi Ramana.

Comments; It is right a holy Saint can do this. As in my case, my Guru St Nikka Sing was a great Saint. I lived with him sometime in my life. I mostly used to go early in the morning to study Bhagvada Gita. We were four, five disciples .One day he said to me that after this class you should come in my room. When everybody was gone, I came back . He said take Bhagvad Gita and read fourteen chapters. I was reading Slokas one by one and he was explaining them. This chapter is about the combination of matter and spirit in a human body. And in 19 teen Solaka it has been defined that when one becomes a witness of the mind, then he will be able to find me (self).

Then my Guru said to me,” Use to look on your mind and you will go straight”. It was January of 1981. He died in 1983. And I forgot his words. This came in my mind in 1986. I started to practice “witnessing” after a dance for exercise. I used to sit for some time it may be one or two hours ‘Observing” my mind. One day I find a new experience of bliss. This was transformation of life as a new dawn started in my life. We cannot explain it in language. It is just like a dew drop fresh life. This is also called eternal life.

Disciple; What is the highest goal of spiritual experience of man.?

Maharishi Ramana; Self-realization.

D. Can a married man realize the self?

Maharishi Ramana; Certainly . Married or unmarried, a man can realize the self. Because that is here and now. If it were not so, but attainable by some effort at any time, and if it were new and had been acquired ,it would not be worth pursuit. Because that is not natural is not permanent either.But what I say is that the Self is here and now.

The marks of a Sadguru are steady abidance in the Self. Looking at all with an equal eye, unshakable courage at all times,in all places and circumstance.—-Maharishi Ramana.

Comments; Abidence in the Self is the main thing. We cannot explain it very well, because who has found the eternal bliss only that can understand it. We can only say it’s a new dawn in life or words like Nirvana, Liberation. But who is looking at all with an equal eye, his unshakable courage in all places and in all circumstances will help us to understand. When mind emerges in the Self by inwardness then anybody can find self-realization.

Devotee; Through Poetry, music, bhajana, the sight of beautiful landscapes, reading the lines of spiritual verses, etc., one experiences sometime a true sense of all unity. Is that feeling of deep blissful quiet the same as the entering into the heart of which Maharishi speaks? Will practice thereof lead to a deeper Samadhi and so ultimately to a full vision of the Real?.

Maharishi Ramana; There is a happiness when agreeable things are presented to the mind.It is the happiness inherent in the self and there is no other happiness. And it is not alien and afar. You are diving into the Self on those occasions which you consider pleasurable; that diving results in Self-existent Bliss.But the association of idea is responsible for foisting that bliss on other things or occurrences while, in fact, that Bliss is within you. On these occasions you are plunging into the Self, through unconsciously. If you do so consciously, with the conviction that comes from the experience that you are identified with the happiness which is verily the Self, one Reality, you call it Realization. I want you to dive consciously into the Self, into the heart.

Grace is constant. Your judgement is variable. Where does the fault lie? ……Maharishi Ramana.

Comments;; As I understand, bliss is our real nature, but we have to work hard on practice of meditation or Simaran which is the same. These methods are helpful for slow down the speed of mind. When by grace of the Guru or God one can achieve this state, then he finds this bliss or Nirvana in one’s heart which was already there. So faith in Guru or God and constant practice is needed.

And some people have done this course in last lives, they does not need work hard. Maharishi told that as a traveller depends for his destination since he started a journey and how much he has travelled that day. Like this what we have done in last lives and what we are doing now. Otherwise, our real nature which is sat-chit-Ananda (bliss) is already there.

One should control the mind by restraint of breath. Then it would, like a tethered animal.Cease to stay.—Maharishi Ramana.

Comments; Maharishi used to teach the method of self-inquiry which is Shaksi bhawa (Observation of the mind). But some people are not capable to do this method. For such person’s restraint of breath is helpful. In Buddhism it is called Vippasna, meaning watching the flow of breath. Just do it with regular flow of breath not deep breath. Our mind (thought) and breath comes from the same source of life of self. it will help like a tethered animal.

Problems and solutions

The more you get fixed in the Self, the more the thoughts will drop themselves—–Regulation of life, such as getting up at an appointed hour, bathing, doing mantra, japa, observing the ritual, all is for a person who does not feel Dawn to self-inquiry or is not capable of it. But for those who can practice this method, all and discipline are unnecessary.—Maharishi Ramana.

Comment; When your self-inquiry practice goes deeper and deeper, your thoughts automatically will drop themselves. Other methods are not necessary for a person who has achieved the experience of bliss.