#ahamukham

The Paramount Importance of Self Attention, by Sri Sadhu Om, As recorded by Michael James

Part One - Mountain Path: April-June 2012 - Excerpt

[...] Practising Self attention is of paramount importance, and [...] directing our attention towards Self is the sole aim of all that Bhagavan taught us. In order to experience what we really are we must attend to ourself keenly and vigilantly, to the exclusion of everything else.

Bhagavan used various Tamil and Sanskrit terms to mean 'self-attention', 'self-scrutiny' or 'self-investigation', but one that he often used is the Tamil term tannāttam, which is a compound of tan (the inflexional base and oblique case form of tan, which means 'self') and nāttam (which in this context means investigation, examination, scrutiny, observation or attention), so whenever Sadhu Om uses the term 'self-attention'; it should be understood to be a translation of tannāttam or any of the other terms that Bhagavan used in this sense, such as

tat-gavanam (self-attention), ātma-vicāra (self-investigation), svarūpa-dhyāna (self-contemplation), svarūpa-smarana (self-remembrance), atma-cintana (self-meditation), ātmānusamdhāna (self-contemplation), ahamukham (facing inwards, towards I) or ahanόkku (looking inwards, at I).

Devoto Gajanana:

Outra vez, Venerando Senhor, quais são os meios para atingir esta Auto-Realização; e quanto aos meios já sugeridos, ou seja, a investigação interior, ou o grande pratyagdrishti, como alcançamos isso? 

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi:

Bem, em poucas palavras, os meios para atingir a Auto-Realização são estes:

☀ Primeiro, a mente deve ser retirada dos seus objetos; a visão objetiva do mundo deve cessar;

☀ Em segundo lugar, deve-se pôr fim às operações internas da mente;

☀ Em terceiro lugar, desse modo a mente deve-se tornar incaracterística (nirupadhika), e deve continuar firmemente incaracterística;

☀ E, por último, ela deve cessar em vichara pura, contemplação ou realização da sua natureza, ou seja, ela mesma.

Este é o meio para pratyagdrishti ou darsana, também denominado antarmukham, a visão interior ou investigação. [1]

— The “Sri Ramana Gita”, de B. V. Narasimha Swami - Ch. III

http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2009/sep-oct)

ॐ

[1] Remeter para: “Nan Yar? - QUEM SOU EU?”, Parágrafo VI

ॐ

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

ॐ 

Nāṉ Yār?   (Who am I?)

Only by [means of] the investigation “Who am I?” will the mind subside [or cease to exist].

The thought “Who am I?” [that is, the urge to investigate oneself], having destroyed all other thoughts, will itself, in the end, be destroyed like a corpse-burning stick [a stick that is used to stir a funeral pyre to ensure that the corpse is burnt entirely].

If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them it is necessary to investigate to whom they have occurred. However many thoughts rise, what [does it matter]? As soon as each thought appears, if [one] vigilantly investigates to whom it has occurred, it will be clear that [it is] to me. If [one thus] investigates “Who am I?”, the mind will return to its birthplace [the innermost core of one’s being, which is the source from which it arose]; [and since one thereby refrains from attending to it] the thought which had risen will also subside.

When [one] practises and practises in this manner, to the mind the power to stand firmly established in its birthplace will increase [that is, by repeatedly practising turning our attention towards our mere being, which is the birthplace of our mind, our mind’s ability to remain as mere being will increase].

When the subtle mind goes out through the portal of the brain and sense organs, gross names and forms [the thoughts that constitute the mind and the objects that constitute this world] appear; when it remains in the heart [the core of our being], names and forms disappear. Only to [this state of] retaining the mind in the heart without letting it go outwards [does] the name ‘ahamukham’ [‘I-facing’ or self-attentiveness] or ‘antarmukham’ [‘inward-facing’, introspection or introversion] [refer]. Only to [the state of] letting it go outwards [does] the name ‘bahirmukham’ [‘outward-facing’ or extroversion] [refer].

Only when the mind remains firmly established in the heart in this manner will what is called ‘I’ [the ego], which is the root [base, foundation or origin] of all thoughts, depart [disappear or cease] and will the ever-existing Self alone shine.

The place [space or state] devoid of even the slightest thought called ‘I’ is svarūpa [our ‘own form’ or actual self]. That alone is called ‘mauna’ [silence].

Only to [the state of] thus ‘just being’ does the name ‘jñāna-dṛṣṭi’ [‘knowledge-seeing’, the experience of true knowledge] refer. What ‘just being’ (summā-v-iruppadu) is, is only making the mind dissolve in ātma-svarūpa [our own actual self]. Besides [this state of ‘just being’], knowing the thoughts of others, knowing the three times [past, present, and future], and knowing what is happening in distant places cannot be jñāna-dṛṣṭi.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - WHO AM I?, Paragraph Six