silence.... a bliss

The dawn has once again set in to welcome the beginning of another time period, just like a new day, just like the new year. What has this new era brought along? Has it brought lots of cheers, wishes and a celebration? To celebrate what? Is it celebrating the passing of the past moments that were filled with so many episodes, teachings and experiences? Or is it the celebration of something awaited? If so desperately awaited, is it sure to happen in the aspiring future? What has this Time, be it past or the present or the future taught one? Is it going to be the same old wants, needs and fulfilments! then, there is nothing new or different with this new time phase.
Is one locked in these faces of time; past, present and future?
Today as we pass through another new momentary phase, a lasting experience says time is undivided. It is our thoughts and wants that are actually divided. We exist and work towards establishing ourselves in life. We make a living as long as we, our body exists as long as the responsibilities need to be fulfilled. Yet, it is all very temporary, just as the leaving moment, just like the ever-running hands of the clock, the moments too are running! What is permanent then? That which was always with us.  The silence that was always present; but was shadowed by the voices of our thoughts and wants, whose presence is pleasantly felt as the voices are hushed. When the voice is calmed and the noise of our thoughts is quelled, silence peacefully blossoms as the immortal bliss.

silence.... hear me

Have you heard silence...... hmm does it sound weird? its easy....silence can be heard...in the midst of noises, it exists. hear the silence, feel it......cherish it.... its beautiful, yes.... Silence...... is a bliss, total freedom........absolute happiness. Silence unfolds everything but holds nothing.... and that nothing is the ultimate truth.............the complete resolution.....the unbound, immense happiness........... freedom.........peace

By being conscious of the surroundings (unreal), one is conscious of the self and ultimately will grow to know beyond the consciousness into reality that is the same as the inner self. Learn to unlearn...to know the reality

The True Companion

Being a human being is so complex.... sometimes a laugh.... other times lots of tears..... sometimes a fear..... then again anger..... a thought, a word.....an argument ....... times of love and passion..care and affection...........victory..achievement...failure.....hmm....the list goes unending... you name it;) Thankful to my emotions.... hate has never taken place in thy heart...  it is nevertheless  existing..... in the bunch of human emotions. Still...these have no permanent existence in our lives... true., words come and go..... people come and go.... Thoughts tooo exist for a small life time........ no-one and no-thing seems to be a permanent companion.... not to forget thy shadow... it exists only under the sunlight.... which tooo is periodical is its presence.... .............. Is there anything else this list is missing............ yes!, Silence.... it is a pat of life but we never give it any recognition nor importance because ... prioritizing silence means letting go all our emotions.... which we feel are the essence of life................... yet if we take time to analyze .............. silence has been existing as a background of every thought, word, feeling, emotion.............etc.............. its just we fail to visualize it because the other prioritized things over shadow it ... that comes to the fore front when the other momentary pleasures and satires fade away...... yet silence has and always been existing without change ............ truly silence is the companion that promises to stand by in-spite any situation.. it is definitely "The True Companion"..

Thoughts.... what if they never existed.... there would be no words............ sometimes  I just want to stay blank... complete silence of mind........ there has been a silence in thy words... I ask myself is it necessary to write.... lost in the realm of thoughts we never thought of the thinker.... probably the answer is happiness itself

Silence is the most beautiful thing... wish I could contain it longer....... there are a bundle of words and thoughts overflowing yet I want to be silent......... again I utter... its such a struggle going on within self.... wish I could balance

Tatvoham... blissful existence

Tvameva mata, pita tvameva
tvameva bandhu, sakha tvameva
tvameva vidya, gnyanam tvameva
tvameva guruve, tvameva shishya
tvameva sarvam, tvameva sakalam..... tvameva sarva tatvam....
chidananda roopam tatvoham shivoham


you are the mother , you are the father, you are the neighbor, you are the friend, you are the knowledge and the wisdom, you are the teacher and the student.... you are everything... always forever.. you are every existence... the blissful existence existing within the heart of the self.... shivoham....shivoham

The recognition of "any dislike" itself is giving importance to it, no matter how much one claims to not care about it
The ultimate destiny is happiness and not the path to it.... and moreover it is not that far to be traveled or reached..it is within the distance of self and its realization......

The single window

Life is at times beautiful and again at times so horrid, why! why is life so complicated..indeed, we all feel this way, many times. A compliment made by someone is so pleasant to the ears, where as a comment feels so depressing.... why?, when both do not really affect the event of the situation. Moreover, we are affected by the comments or compliments that come to our notice only and do not really care for the one's that occur without our knowledge :) , funny is it not!, if a comment or compliment should affect our lives so much,then all of them knowing or unknowing (to us) must do so the same way. Probably, it is in the way we look at them, when we hear a praise we readily accept it, not that someone is giving it to us forcibly and when we are not receptive to a comment we probably narrow down our window of reception, in other words we rather close down our doors, why....because we do not like it. This happens when we look at life from so many windows of acceptance, rejection, likes , dislikes ..... What if we would look at life just as the way we look at the trees, hills and buildings outside our windows..... The presence of these things really does not affect the way we lead our life. When we just witness life , the meanings of acceptance, liking, disliking any small comments or situations has no meaning nor any influence in the way we live. The single window of mere witness gives us more happiness, as this is the ultimate thing one thrives for in life.

situations and experiences

Situations become experiences when we react to them happily or sadly, in other words we feel happy or sad about the happenings, but the situation has to pass, ....when we just witness the happenings or the situations in life and not relate our feelings as part of them, then the passing situation leaves no memory nor reminiscence. it just leaves without any footprints. Life is a transition of phases where one has to pass from the state of experiences into a state of no reminiscence.it is an evolution of self that is probably dictated by the self itself, the final destiny ( the real self as quoted by the many yogis), that we start to trace with a pace dictated by our reactions. The reactions tend to deviate our path yet they are the ones that bring us back on track...... , probably the thought of being thoughtless itself creates the state of Thoughtlessness, a complete bliss. Life on the other hand has to be lived,... as one has to complete thy responsibilities and duties but again, feeling responsible for the life of another ( eg. a parent for a child) is probably a futile thought because everyone comes into this world with his own path towards destiny. Live life like a duty and live the happiness in it as long as life lets one live or as long as one reaches thyself

Only when one feels hurt, one suffers the pain.... only when one feels lost, one craves to win.... only when the desire never fails to quit, one's ego never wins over but does exponentiate ..and when the desire quits, the ego wins over itself and transforms into an Identity of true self, then the questions of why, when, how really make no sense nor concern.

Success does not need winning over, Happiness does not need success.... life does not need their permissions to continue.... all of them but, need a Healthy attitude to pursue them. if an intelligent laugh is knowledge... a silent smile is wisdom.... and the best approach to keep Oneself sane

 

Stochastic Probability Theory - Pregnant Deer Scenario
Consider this scenario: In a remote forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth to a baby. It finds a remote grass field near by a river and slowly goes there thinking it would be safe. As she moves slowly, she gets labor pain…. at the same moment, dark clouds gather around that area and lightning starts a forest fire. Turning left she sees a hunter who is aiming an arrow from a distance. As she tries to move towards right, she spots a hungry lion approaching towards her.

Stochastic Probability Theory - Pregnant Deer Scenario
What can the pregnant deer do ….as she is already under labor pain ?
…
…
…
What do you think will happen ?
Will the deer survive ?
Will it give birth to a fawn ?
Will the fawn survive ? or
Will everything be burnt by the forest fire ?
…
…
…
…

That particular moment ?
…
…
…

Can the deer go left ? – Hunter’s arrow is pointing

Can she go right ? – Hungry male lion approaching

Can she move up ? – Forest fire

Can she move down ? – Fierce river


Answer: She does nothing. She just focuses on giving birth to a new LIFE.
The sequence of events that happens at that fraction of a second (moment) are as follows:
In a spur of MOMENT …a lightning strikes (already it is cloudy ) and blinds the eyes of the Hunter. At that MOMENT, he releases the arrow missing and zipping past the deer. At that MOMENT the arrow hits and injures the lion badly. At that MOMENT, it starts to rain heavily and puts out the forest fire. At that next MOMENT, the deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.
In our life, it’s our MOMENT of CHOICE and we all have to deal with such negative thoughts from all sides always. Some thoughts are so powerful they overpower us and makes us clueless. Let us not decide anything in a hurry. Let’s think of ourselves as the pregnant deer with the ultimate happy ending. Anything can happen in a MOMENT in this life. If you are religious, superstitious, atheist, agnostic… or whatever… you can attribute this MOMENT as divine intervention, faith, sudden luck, chance (serendipity), coincidence… or a simple ‘don’t know’. We all feel the same. But, whatever one may call it, I would see the priority of the deer in that given moment was to giving birth to a baby…. because LIFE IS PRECIOUS.
Hence, whether you are deer or a human, keep that faith and hope within you always.

Believe Nothing, no matter where you read it, or whoever has said it, even if I have said it,.... until and unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense...... Gautam Buddha

pearls of wisdom...shri Ramana Maharshi

A person begins with dissatisfaction. Not content with the world he seeks satisfaction of desires by prayers to God; his mind is purified; he longs to know God more than to satisfy his carnal desires. Then God’s Grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee; teaches him the Truth; purifies the mind by his teachings and contact; the mind gains strength, is able to turn inward; with meditation it is purified yet further, and eventually remains still without the least ripple. That stillness is the Self. The Guru is both exterior and interior. From the exterior he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the interior he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps the mind to achieve quietness. That is Grace.
Hence there is no difference between God, Guru and Self.



D.: What is reality?
M.: Reality must be always real. It is not with forms and names. That which underlies these is the Reality. It underlies limitations, being itself limitless. It is not bound. It underlies unrealities, itself being real. Reality is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends speech, beyond the expressions


Until there is the `I-thought', there will be no other
thought. Until other thoughts arise, asking `To whom?' will
call forth the reply `To me'.
He who pursues this closely, questioning
`What is the origin of the I?'

and diving inwards reaches the seat of the mind in the Heart, becomes there the sovereign Lord of the Universe.
Oh boundless ocean of
grace and effulgence called Arunachala,
dancing motionless within the court of the Heart!
There is no longer any dream there of such dualities
as in and out, right and wrong, birth
and death, pleasure and pain, or light and darkness.

 



http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/430791_10151284644434631_778798216_n.png

Question.: If the Realised and the unrealised alike perceive the world, where is the difference between them?

Bhagavan.: When the Realised Man sees the world, he sees the Self that is the substratum of all that is seen. Whether the unrealised man sees the world or not, he is ignorant of his true being, the Self.

Take the example of a film on a cinema screen. What is there in front of you before the film begins? Only the screen. On that screen you see the entire show, and to all appearances the pictures are real. But go and try to take hold of them and what do you take hold of? The screen on which the pictures appear so real. After the play, when the pictures disappear, what remains? The screen again. So it is with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor does it matter at all whether the pictures appear or disappear.

 

Question: Is samadhi an experience of calmness or peace?
Bhagavan: The tranquil clarity, which is devoid of mental turmoil, alone is the samadhi which is the firm base for liberation. By earnestly trying to destroy the deceptive mental turmoil, experience that samadhi as the peaceful consciousness which is inner clarity.
Question: What is the difference between internal and external samadhi?
Bhagavan: External samadhi is holding on to the reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of body-consciousness.
Question: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second.
Bhagavan: A strong conviction is necessary that `I am the Self, transcending the mind and the phenomena.'
Question: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be an unyielding obstacle which thwarts any attempts to sink into the Self.
Bhagavan: What does it matter if the mind is active? It is so only on the substratum of the Self. Hold the Self even during mental activities.

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it.

Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out in the open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when he reaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into the shade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one who knows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in the world, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact, what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought, the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.

 
A mature mind that has managed to establish itself firmly in the extremely subtle state or pure being will not get enmeshed in the tangle of the world.
The delusion-filled mind has caused samsara to merge with you. It will
cease when that mind is completely destroyed.
Upon destruction of the mind, the appearance of the world that adheres to you in the state of harmful delusion will stand illustrious as pure consciousness.

Even the gods in the heavens cannot stir those deeply peaceful ones who shine, having killed their minds.


Those who do not keenly attend to and know the existence-consciousness which shines ever-unsetting in the heart, fall into Maya through the objective attention caused by the ego, which rises and attacks with dense delusion. (Guru Vachaka Kovai, 644)

The following conversation comes from the diary of a devotee called Sri Yalamanchili who met Bhagavan in 1928 and had a discussion with him on self-enquiry. It was published in Arunachala Ramana in February 1982:

Question: How to realize the Atman?
Bhagavan: Whose Atman?
Question: Mine.
Bhagavan: Then you yourself have to do it.
Question: I am unable to do and know it.
Bhagavan: To whom is it not known?
Question: To myself.
Bhagavan: Try to know who is that ‘myself’.
Question: That is what you have to tell.
Bhagavan: [Smiling] It seems you have come here to test me. Will it really benefit you if I tell you what you are? Will you be satisfied if I just tell you? Ask yourself ‘Who am I?’ After questioning you will get the answer within yourself, and that will satisfy you.
Question: I have been doing sadhana for a long time but in vain.
Bhagavan: You will have to search for ‘I’ [aham]. Then, the apparent ‘I’ will vanish.
Question: Please give me the details of the process.
Bhagavan: Mind is, in reality, a bundle of thoughts. And every thought springs from the ‘I’. So, it is the first thought. Instead of dwelling on the secondary thoughts, the seeker has to concentrate on the primary thought, which is this ‘I’.
Question: What is the difference between a thought and the ‘I’?
Bhagavan: Thoughts are not independent. They have a standing only when they are associated with the ‘I’. But the ‘I’ can stand by itself. Actually, this ‘I’ is also not independent. In its turn it is supported by the Atman.
Again and again it rises from the Self and sinks there. It subsides in deep sleep and it comes out again in waking. We have to find out the place of its birth with an introverted vision.
Question: I have been questioning in this way but getting no answer.
Bhagavan: If you ask this question with zeal and proceed inward, the false ‘I’ disappears and the real ‘I’ emerges.
Question: What is the real ‘I’?
Bhagavan: This is what we call ‘soul’ or ‘God’.
Question: When I start the enquiry numerous thoughts come in the way and obstruct me. When I eliminate one, another appears in its place. It seems there is no end.
Bhagavan: I am not telling you to grapple with the thoughts. There will be no end if you do it that way. Here lies the secret: there is the ‘I’, the source of all thoughts, and we have to catch it and see from where it arises. This is absolutely necessary. As a dog traces his master by following the track of his smell, you have to follow the inner development of the ‘I’ to reach its source, which is the [true] soul.
Question: From this I understand that one can reach the source by one’s own effort.
Bhagavan: It is by the grace of God that you come to desire to know yourself. This desire to know yourself is itself a clear sign of the Atman’s grace. So, there is grace already working as the source of your effort. Grace is not an external quality of the Self but its very nature. It abides in your Heart, pulling you inward into itself. The only task you must do is turn your attention inward and search the source of ‘I’. This is the only personal effort we have to put in. That is why [one can say that] where there is no grace, there is no desire at all for the quest for the Self.
Question: Is there no need for a Guru then?
Bhagavan: When it is necessary the Self itself will take the form of an external Guru and initiate you into the process. He will push you in and hand you over to the inner Guru who is already there. Finally, the Atman, which abides in the Heart, embraces you there.
Question: Now, may I know sir, what is the distinguishing feature of this method?
Bhagavan: The sense of ‘I’ is always present in us. So, it is relatively easy to find the Self through this ‘I’, which is an emanation of the Self. Further, if, before the ‘I’ ramifies into many forms, we put our attention via this method on the parent-form of the ‘I’, this makes for the direct dissolution of the ‘I’ in its source.
Otherwise, if you begin the enquiry when the ‘I’ has already taken many forms, you will be swept away by its illusive power and never reach its source.
Question: The Self is nameless and formless. How then can we find it by the questioning of this ‘I’ that has a name and a form?
Bhagavan: The false ‘I’ or ego stands between the soul and the body, and connects them. Now, soul is conscious while the body is inert. The false ‘I’ binds them together. So, it is also called the knot between matter and spirit [chit-jada-granthi].
From this we see that it has its feet in the Self and its head in the body. Therefore, by enquiring into the origin of the ego, we can easily proceed and reach the formless Self.
- from David Godman's blog

EGO, MIND and AWARENESS

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. However, when the ego dominates it, it
functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty.
The cosmic mind not limited by the ego, has nothing
separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.
The ego-ridden mind has its strength sapped and is too weak to resist torturing thoughts. The egoless
mind is happy in deep, dreamless sleep.
Clearly, therefore, bliss and misery are only modes of mind; but the weak mode is not easily interchangeable with the strong mode. Activity is weakness and, consequently,
miserable; passivity is strength and, therefore, blissful. One’s dormant strength is not apparent and, therefore, not availed of.
The cosmic mind, manifesting in some rare beings, is able to effect the linkage in others of the individual (weak) mind with the universal (strong) mind of the inner recess. Such a rare being is called the GURU or God in manifestation.

– Talks With Sri Ramana Maharshi, No. 188

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  The ordainer controls the fate of souls in accordance with their prarabdha karma. Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you want to prevent it. This is certain. The best course therefore is to remain silent'.
  
  ~Ramana Maharshi
  
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  Ramana Maharshi’s message is such good news for parents. Our children are precious souls appearing from the unknown into our hands. In the play of consciousness they come to fulfill their destiny according to the law of the whole. In that light we can truly say 'children of the Universe', children of the One song, One verse. Hence we cannot 'have' them, nor 'own' them, nor do we know what part of the play they appear to be here for.
  
  'The best course therefore is to remain silent', this really is beautiful and it relieves us directly from the duty of having to 'make' something out of our children! The quality of remaining silent is 'non touching'. All is perfect as it is and it cannot be anything else.
  
  This makes us the host of our children, we are here to guide them, support them and love them, unconditionally love them. Simple? Yes it is. What does it take? It takes all! Nothing more, nothing less.
  
  http://www.jivanjili.org/paranthood.html
  
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