when fun seeks no age and is found at all ages..then why does man curtail the path of spirituality to a later age.... why can't both the paths be carried on in parallel

Realities that exist without any judgement

we look for happiness that is hiding within us.... a core of purity covered and surrounded by the cocoon of desire.... a want, all more prioritized as a need.....a pseudo-satisfaction... nurtured and pampered under the shelter of ego.... the ego that knows nothing better than protection of the very core that man has within self but is hunting for, in this world. In fact, the ego is a mere weapon of the desire to protect the happiness which is again pseudo. When man learns that,  happiness he believes to keep him alive is pseudo, he understands that he is alive to emote a feeling like a smile but he is not ruled by the emotions... then comes the stage of neutrality where everything has only existence. Man probably has to first look at the world through the comparative window of opposites...like the right and wrong, happiness and sorrow, misery and comfort, moral and immoral and so forth.... before he actually comes to terms of a real understanding..... when he actually learns to experience the realities of life... situations demand different judgements of what is right or wrong... and for different people looking at those situations. Ultimately when man looks at his own judgements of life as the first person and again as an onlooker... the game of right and wrong becomes all messed up.... in search of what is right...or rather real... his understanding opens doors to the facts... realities that have only existence.... and only existence without any judgement.

pearls of wisdom..... shri Ramana maharshi

"Without consciousness, time and space do not exist; they appear within Consciousness but have no reality of their own.It is like a screen on which all this is cast as pictures and move as in a cinema show.
The Absolute Consciousness alone is our real nature."

"The jnani has attained Liberation even while alive, here and now. It is immaterial to him as to how, where and when he leaves the body. Some jnanis may appear to suffer, others may be in samadhi; still others may disappear from sight before death. But that makes no difference to their jnana. Such suffering is apparent, seems real to the onlooker, but is not felt by the jnani, for he has already transcended the mistaken identity of the Self with the body. The jnani does not think he is the body. He does not even see the body. He sees only the Self in the body. If the body is not there, but only the Self, the question of its disappearing in any form does not arise."

"I have not said that a Guru is not necessary. But a Guru need not always be in human form. First a person thinks that he is an inferior and that there is a superior, all-knowing, all powerful God who controls his own and the world's destiny and worships him or does Bhakti. When he reaches a certain stage and becomes fit for enlightenment, the same God whom he was worshipping comes as Guru and leads him on. That Guru comes only to tell him that ‘God is within yourself. Dive within and realize.’ God, Guru and the Self are the same."


D.: How to realise the Self?
M.: It is already realised. One should know this simple fact. That is all.
D.: But I do not know it. How shall I know it?
M.: Do you deny your existence?
D.: No: how can that be done?
M.: Then the truth is admitted.

Question: When a man realises the Self, what will he see?
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi : There is no seeing, seeing is only being. The state of Self-Realisation, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal far away, but simply being that, which you always are and which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your realisation of the not-true as true. …Then we shall realise the Self as the Self - in other words BE the Self. At one stage one would laugh at oneself that one tried to discover the Self which so self-evident. So, what can we say to this question? (Day by Day with Bhagavan)

"Do not get spoiled by thinking about the non-Self with your mind. Hold tightly to yourself and attain peace."
"The deeper one subsides within the Heart, the greater will be the rising of the flood of supreme bliss"
- Bhagavan in Padamalai
.


We are so engrossed with the objects or appearances revealed by the light that we pay no attention to the light. The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them.

"As children our attitude to Bhagavan was perhaps slightly different from that of the adults. We of course knew that He was God and a wonderful person to be near - truly a magical feeling, but we accepted this quite naturally and without a feeling of awe. However sometimes even children can be awed:
One of these memories i have is rather strange because to this day i recall my amazement and yet nothing actually happened at all. A lady came to Tiruvannamalai from North India; in those days all 'foreigners' whether they were North Indians or Norwegians were sent to our home. I was about ten years old at the time and not an especially sensitive child but even i could not bear to stay in the room with her as she was so tense, nervous and unhappy that it made me most uneasy. Her story was that she had married a man she loved very much although her parents had not approved as he was of a different caste - however they had overcome all the opposition a
nd they went to the seaside somewhere for their honeymoon. They had a week of great happiness until one day he was killed by a shark right in front of her eyes. All this had happened about 2 years earlier and the distraught widow was traveling through India, going to various ashrams and seeing various holy men. She had a list of questions which she asked at each place - all more or less a demand why such a thing should happen if there was a God of Justice and so on. She was an unhappy and aggressively angry lady and my heart sank when my mother asked me to show her the way to the hall where Bhagavan sat.. I led in silence and she followed me, i showed her the hall and went off to play. A while later i realised it was lunch time and i went to collect her and bring her home - most reluctantly.
I will never, never forget the change that had come over her in just an hour or so. She was calm and relaxed and peaceful and happy! I was so awed and intrigued that i hung around anxiously waiting for my mother to ask her what Bhagavan had said to her. Whatever it was it must have been words of the greatest wisdom and power to have such an effect. Eventually my mother did ask and the lady answered that she had gone into the hall and sat down and Bhagavan had just looked at her - just looked -with such infinite compassion that she felt that her questions were of no importance any more. She sat there and felt the peace and no word was spoken ...." Katya Osborne

(from 'Moments Remembered, by V. Ganesan)

Q.: I am aware of the 'I'. Yet my troubles are not ended.
Bhagavan: This 'I'-thought is not pure. It is contaminated with the association of the body and the senses. See to whom this trouble is.It is to the 'I'-thought. Hold it. Then the other thoughts vanish.
Q.: Yes, how to do it? That is the whole trouble.
Bhagavan: Think 'I', 'I', and hold to that one thought to the exclusion of all others.

Effort is necessary up to the state of realisation. Even then the Self should spontaneously become evident. Otherwise happiness will not be complete. Up to that state of spontaneity there must be effort in some form or another.The ever-present Self needs no efforts to be realised, Realisation is already there. Illusion alone is to be removed. Some say the word from the mouth of the Master removes it instantaneously. Others say that meditation, etc., are necessary for realisation. Both are right; only the standpoints differ.
D.: What if one meditates incessantly without Karma?
M.: Try and see. The vasanas will not let you do it. Dhyana comes only step by step with the gradual weakening of the vasanas by the Grace of the Master.
- Talks 78 and 80

Tyaktvā vishayam bāhyam ruddha
prānēna ruddha manasāntastvām
dhyāyanpaśyati yōgī dīdhitim
arunāchala tvayi mahīyam te

Abandoning the outer world,
with mind through breath controlled,
to meditate on Thee within,
the yogi sees Thy light,
oh Arunachala!
He is exalted in Thee ...

Maurice Frydman (1900-76), a Polish Jew, was working as a research engineer in France when the then Diwan of Mysore, struck by his originality and drive, brought him to Mysore. He effected improvements in the charkha1 and earned the name ‘Bharatananda’ from Mahatma Gandhi in recognition of his intense love for India. He first met Sri Ramana around 1935. He edited 'Maharshi's Gospel' with the same
skill in which he later brought out 'I AM THAT' after meeting Nisargadatta.------Just six months after I came to India, I was left alone and had no friends. The person whom I loved died and I had nothing to attract me in life. Quite accidentally, just for fun, I dropped in at Tiruvannamalai. I went direct to the Swami and remained there for two hours. Then I understood that I had met someone, the like of whom I had never met before. I did not then know what was meant by words like the Maharshi and Bhagavan. I had no preconceived ideas and yet I felt that there was something extraordinary in that man. I was told about his teachings but they were far too high for me. I did not understand what they meant but I felt a strong affection for him, just as a dog would have towards his master.
Afterwards, whenever I felt worried, I used to go to the Ashram, and sit in his presence. In the early days I would be asking questions, but later when I began to visit him more and more, discussions with him grew less and less. Then I began to visit him almost every month. I knew no sadhana or dhyana. I would simply sit in his presence. To my questions, the Maharshi would say, “Find out who you are.” I could not make out anything, but all the same I felt happy. Slowly, some change came in me.
Just as the egg grows and hatches only with the aid of the warmth of the mother, I was getting into shape slowly and steadily in his presence. My mind became quieter than before. Previously it was unhappy and dissatisfied, now a kind of security and peace began to be felt spontaneously. I felt that the Maharshi was coming nearer and nearer as time passed. Afterwards I used to think of him whenever I felt unhappy. His affection was always there and as fire melts ice so his affection made my worries melt and my struggle for life got transformed into a blissful life.
It was the immense privilege of the writer to meet a few gigantic spiritual men, but nobody ever produced on him a deeper impression than Ramana Maharshi. In him the sublime majesty of the divine life stood and moved in all simplicity. The ultimate had revealed itself as the immediate, and the undreamt had become the actual.
The burning regret, which many probably share with me, is that full advantage was not taken of those happy and precious days when he was with us physically also – eating, talking, laughing, welcoming all, open to all. The reality was there – in abundance for taking, but we enclosed ourselves in timidity, in false humility, in self-deception and false excuses. We took a cupful when the ocean was at our feet.
- from: Face to Face with Sri Ramana Maharshi 

Conversation with Annamalai Swami

Q.: What is the easiest way to be free of the 'little self'?

Annamalai Swami: Stop identifying with it. If you can convince yourself, 'This little self is not really me,' it will disappear.

Q.: But how to do that?

AS.: The little self is something that only appears to be real. If you understand that it has no real existence it will disappear, leaving behind it the experience of the real and only Self. Understand that it has no real existence and it will stop troubling you.
Consciousness is universal. There is no limitation or 'little self' in it. It is only when we identify with and limit ourselves to the body and the mind that this false sense of self is born. If, through enquiry, you go to the source of the 'little self', you find that it dissolves into nothingness.

Q.: But I am very accustomed to feel 'I am this 'little self' '. I cannot break this habit merely by thinking 'I am not this 'little self''.

AS.: This 'little self' will only give way to the real Self if you meditate constantly. You cannot wish it away with a few stray thoughts. Try to remember the analogy of the rope which looks like a snake in twilight. If you see the rope as snake the real nature of the rope is hidden from you. If you only see the rope the snake is not there. Not only that - you know that there never was a snake there. (Then) the question of how to kill the snake disappears... If you can understand that this 'little self' never at any time had any existence outside your imagination, you will not be concerned about ways and means of getting rid of it.

Q.: It is all very clear but I feel I need some help. I am not sure that i can generate this conviction by myself.

AS.: The desire for assistance is part of your problem. Don't make the mistake of imagining that there is a goal to be reached or attained. If you think like this you will start looking for methods to practice and people to help you. This just perpetuates the problem you are trying to end. Instead, cultivate the strong awareness, 'I am the Self. I am That. I am Brahman. I am everything.'.. The best way to (stop believing the wrong ideas about yourself) is to replace them with ideas which more accurately reflect the real state of affairs. ...
The Self is always attained, it is always realized; it is not something that you have to seek, reach or discover. Your vasanas and all the wrong ideas you have about yourself are blocking and hiding the experience of the real Self. If you don't identify with these wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden from you.

- from: 'Living By The Words Of Bhagavan' by David Godman

Tvayyarpitamanasā tvām paśyan
sarvam tavākrititayā satatam
bhajatē (a)nanya prītyā
sa jayatyarunāchala
tvayi sukhē magnah


He who dedicates his mind to Thee,
will always, with pure love,
behold the universe as Thy figure.
He is without rival, being one with Thee,
oh Arunachala,
and is drowned in Thy bliss!


If the mind is happy, not only the body but the whole world will be happy. So one must find out the way of becoming happy oneself. One cannot do this except by finding out about oneself by Self-enquiry. To think of reforming the world without doing that is like thinking of covering the whole world with leather to avoid the pain caused by walking on stones and thorns when the much simpler method of wearing leather shoes is available. When by holding an umbrella over your head you can avoid the sun, will it be possible to cover the face of the whole earth by tying a cloth over it to avoid the sun? If a person realises his position and stays in his own self, things that are to happen will happen. Things that are not to happen will not happen. The shakti that is in the world, is only one. All these troubles arise if we think that we are separate from that shakti.


Q: People who follow other paths sometimes experience samadhi states.
Will they also have the experience of sphurana? (a light-experience which can come before the samadhi experience)
Annamalai Swami: If one unceasingly follows the paths of japa or yoga, the mind will merge eventually in the sphurana. At the time of merging the experience will come.
This sphurana is the light or the radiance of the ‘I am’. When you are close to merging with the real ‘I’ you feel its emanations. This real ‘I’ is the real name and form of God. The first and most accurate name of God is ‘I’. The awareness ‘I am’ is the original and primordial mantra.

Q: So the ‘I’-mantra is even prior to pranava, the sound of OM?

AS: Yes, that is what Bhagavan said on several occasions.
This consciousness, the ‘I am’, is existing and shining always, but your awareness of it is obstructed by the ego in just the same way that the shadow of the earth hides the moon during an eclipse. The shadow over the moon is only visible because of the moonlight behind it. Without this light the shadow of the eclipse could not be seen. Like this we are conscious of the body, the mind and the world even when they obstruct our clear vision only because of the light of the Self. By the light of the Self all this is seen.

Q: How did this single, unbroken ‘I’ become the many different things and people that we see in the world?

AS: It didn’t. It always remains single and unbroken. Your defective vision and your misperceptions give you the impression that the one became the many. The Self has never undergone any change or transformation except in your imagination.
When we identify ourselves with the body the mind, the one appears to become many. When one’s energy is diverted from the mind and the outside world towards the Self, the illusion of multiplicity fades away.

Go deeply into this feeling of ‘I’. Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself.

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p 298 , 299

8th January, 1946

(22) MOKSHA

A few days ago, a lady, a recent arrival, came into the hall at about 3 p.m. and sat down. All the time she was there, she was trying to get up and ask something of Sri Bhagavan. As Bhagavan appeared not to have noticed her, and was reading a book, she waited for a while. As soon as Bhagavan put the book aside, she got up, approached the sofa and said without any fear or hesitation, “Swami, I have only one desire. May I tell you what it is?” “Yes,” said Bhagavan, “What do you want?” “I want moksha,” she said. “Oh, is that so?” remarked Bhagavan. “Yes, Swamiji, I do not want anything else. Is it enough if you give me moksha,” said she. Suppressing a smile that had almost escaped his lips, Bhagavan said, “Yes, yes, that is all right; that is good.” “It will not do if you say that you will give it sometime later. You must give it to me here and now,” she said. “It is all right,” said Bhagavan. “Will you give it now?
I must be going,” said she. Bhagavan nodded.
As soon as she left the hall, Bhagavan burst out laughing and said, turning towards us, “She says that it is enough if only moksha is given to her. She does not want anything else.” Subbalakshmamma, who was seated by my side, took up the thread of the conversation and quietly said, “We have come and are staying here for the same purpose. We do not want anything more. It is enough if you give us moksha.” “If you renounce, and give up everything, what remains is only moksha. What is there for others to give you? It is there always.
THAT IS,” said Bhagavan. “We do not know all that. Bhagavan himself must give us moksha.” So saying she left the hall. Looking at the attendants who were by his side, Bhagavan remarked, “I should give them moksha, they say. It is enough if moksha alone is given to them. Is not that itself a desire? If you give up all the desires that you have, what remains is only moksha. And you require sadhana to get rid of all those desires.”
The same bhava (idea) is found in Maharatnamala:
‘It is said that the complete destruction of vasanas is Brahmam and
moksha.’
- Letters from Sri Ramanasramam

You need power only when you want to do something harmful, otherwise love is enough to get everything done...Sir Charlie Chaplin