#self-abidance

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Vasishtha said to Rama:

“O Hero, having enquired into all the states, which are of various kinds, play (your role) in the world always clinging firmly with the mind only to that one which is the supreme state devoid of unreality. O Hero, since you have known that (Self) which exists in the heart as the Reality of all the various appearances; therefore without ever abandoning that outlook, play (your role) in the world as if (you have) desire”.

~ Ulladu Narpadu - Anubandham (Reality in Forty Verses - Supplement), V. 26

Note: 

“All the states” mentioned at the beginning of this verse may mean all the states of consciousness such as waking, dream and sleep, or all the conditions of life such as youth, old age, health, sickness, wealth, poverty, fame, ill-fame, joy, suffering and so on. All these different states or conditions are based only upon the feeling ‘I am this body’, ‘I am so-and-so’, I am an individual being’. “The supreme state devoid of unreality” mentioned in the same sentence is the state of Self-abidance, which is completely devoid of that unreal feeling ‘I am this body’.

“That outlook” mentioned in the second half of this verse is the true outlook (drishti) in which Self is experienced as the sole reality underlying the appearance of the world and of all the various states, and conditions.

This verse is adapted from Yoga Vasishtha 5.18.20 and 23.

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Proclaim that He who has conquered the senses by knowledge (jnana) and who abides as existence-consciousness, is a knower of Self (atma-vid); (He) is the fire of knowledge (jnanagni); (He is) the wielder of the thunderbolt of knowledge (jnana-vajrayudha); He, the destroyer of time (kala-kala), is the hero who has killed death.

~  Ulladu Narpadu - Anubandham (Reality in Forty Verses - Supplement), V.28

Note : The Atma-jnani is not merely an incarnation of any particular God; The Jnani is Jnana itself, and hence, He is the reality of all Gods such as Agni, Indra, and Lord Siva.

Since the Jnani burnt ignorance (ajnana) to ashes, He is Himself the fire of knowledge (jnanagni). And since, having given up the identification with the body, which is limited by time and subject to death, He shines as the timeless and deathless Self, He is Himself Lord Siva, the destroyer of time (kalakalan) and the killer of death.

Since the Jnani has conquered the senses, through which the appearance of the universe is projected, He has in truth conquered the whole universe. Therefore, since there is no power in the entire universe greater than the power of the Jnani’s firm Self-abidance, His self-abidance is described as the thunderbolt of knowledge (jnana-vajrayudha).

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HYMN SRI ARUNACHALA AKSHARAMANAMALAI  —  The Marital Garland of Letters To Sri Arunachala, by Sri Ramana Maharshi

Verse 44 tirumpi yakantaṉait tiṉamakak kaṇkāṇ      ṭeriyumeṉ ṟaṉaiyeṉ ṉaruṇācalā. aruṇācalā – Arunachala! eṉṟaṉai – You said, akam tirumpi – ‘Turning within,  tiṉam aka kaṇ taṉai kāṇ – know the Self constantly [with ] the inner eye. ṭeriyum – [Then ] it will be known [to you ].’  eṉ – What [a wonder is this ]! Paraphrase ‘Turning towards the Heart and away from external phenomena through detachment (vairagya), ceaselessly and one-pointedly examine and know the Self through the self, with the inward-turned vision which is of the form of the enquiry “Who am I?” Then shall you (yourself) clearly know (as your very own nature, the truth of the words, “You yourself, You alone, are the essence of the Real.”).’ Thus did you instruct me, [Arunachala! ] What a wonder is this!

Commentary akam tirumpal – turning within means ceasing to pay attention to external objects. 

The elimination of thoughts [about them] in the mind is also implied here. 

Through observing oneself with the inner eye, the veil of illusion is destroyed and the perception (darśana) of the knowledge of the Real arises. 

When we speak of ‘the self’ as the scope (viṣaya) of enquiry, we are referring only to the jiva, which is of the form of the ego, not to the Self, the true nature of the ‘I’. 

How so? Because the suffering of birth, which arises from ignorance, and the consequent need for enquiry as a means to remove that suffering, appertain to the jiva only, which is bound by delusion and bewildered, not to the supreme Self, which is eternally present, pure, aware and free, and because that Self can never, in any way, shape or form whatsoever, be (or become) the object of the jiva’s practice of enquiry, except in the sense that when the ego, which is the obstacle to the realisation of the Self (ātma-sākṣātkāra), is destroyed through the means of enquiry, that Self will remain simply as the jiva’s own Self, and will be known and experienced by it as the nature of That (tanmaya) through [abidance in] perfect peace (śānta vṛtti). 

Since the world with its cycles of birth and death (saṁsāra) does not actually exist in the supreme Reality, but arises through a lack of awareness (pramāda), which is the true death, unremitting enquiry is indispensable until such time as the ego-knot, which lies at the root of it, is permanently severed. 

Therefore Arunachala through his grace instructed, ‘Constantly observe [the “I”] with the inner eye.’ 

[The meaning of] akamukam – inward turned [is] ‘to establish the mind in the Heart, its source, without letting it stray amongst external phenomena.’

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Robert Butler translation and commentary of Verse 44 of Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai, in Michael James Blog  “Happiness of Being: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi”, in the Article dated Friday, 31 July 2015 - By attending to our ego we are attending to ourself, Comment permalink:   8 August 2015 at 16:09 :

https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2015/07/by-attending-to-our-ego-we-are.html?showComment=1439046585731#c7170031721086053366

You declared: ‘Unless one reaches the throne of the Heart, it is impossible to see the brilliant light of reality.’ Praise be to you!  ~  Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 89-90

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 19         (edited set)

NUL - TEXT  

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26.  Being Self is itself knowing Self, because Self is that which is not two. This is abidance as the Reality (tanmaya-nishta).

Note:

Since we do not have two selves, one self to be known by the other self, what is called Self-knowledge is nothing but the state of being Self – that is, the state of abiding as we really are, as the mere existence-consciousness ‘I am’, instead of rising as ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’. 

This state of being Self is what is called ‘Self-abidance’ (atma-nishta) or ‘abidance as the reality’ (tanmaya-nishta).

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

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ॐ  Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya  ॐ

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Since we do not have two selves, one self to be known by the other self, what is called Self-knowledge is nothing but the state of being Self – that is, the state of abiding as we really are, as the mere existence-consciousness "I am", instead of rising as "I am this" or "I am that".

This state of being Self is what is called ‘Self-abidance’ (atma-nishta) or ‘abidance as the Reality’ (tanmaya-nishta).

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Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) by Sri Muruganar - V. 520 - Ch.  Upasana* through Silence

Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) by Sri Muruganar - V. 521 - Ch.  Upasana* through Silence

Sadhu Om: 

Nowadays many among us are under the impression that doing mental worship [manasika puja] means imagining that one is collecting all the necessary things such as flowers, sandal-paste, fruits, garlands and so on, and that one is offering them to God. 

However, this is only a mental activity [pravritti]. This verse teaches us that this is not the correct manasika puja, and that Self-abidance, ‘worship through Silence’ [maunopasana] mentioned above (V. 520), alone is the real manasika puja.