#self-attentiveness

🔱  Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri ArunachalaRamanaya   🔱 

Photo by Guy Gonyea

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

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

Note of 29th December 1977 

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 Sadhu Om (in reply to my question whether he was doing any sādhanā in the years before he came to Bhagavan): 

I was longing for grace and always thinking of God. That is sādhanā enough!

Some people say that the light seen at the time of Bhagavan's passing was him returning to Skandaloka [the world of Skanda, the younger son of Lord Siva]. First they try to limit him as a body, and then they try to limit him as a light. Their minds are so bound up in limitations that they have to limit even the illimitable. Bhagavan always said:

'Do not think this body is me. I am shining in each one of you as 'I'. Attend only to that'. 

How often and for how many lives have we fooled ourselves thinking that our social service is selfless? We did it only for our own self-satisfaction or glory. It is natural for each one of us to love ourself. We are all naturally selfish, so we should first find out what is self. When we knοw ourself as we really are, we will experience everything as not other than ourself, and thus our selfishness will then be the highest virtue. Only a jñāni knows how to be truly selfish, because without knowing self we cannot knοw what real (unlimited) selfishness is.

In the path of surrender saints sing, 'Send me to heaven or hell, but never let me forget you', as if heaven and hell really exist. Their prayer only shows their total love for God alone. They teach us the right attitude, but they know that heaven and hell have no real existence. All these dualities — heaven and hell, good and bad, God and individual — exist only in the mind. So ultimately we must learn to make this mind subside.

When I first came to Bhagavan and heard him repeating constantly that everyone must eventually come to the path of self-enquiry, I wondered whether he was being partial to his own teaching, but I soon understood why he insisted that this is so. The final goal is only oneness, and to experience oneness our mind must subside, which will happen entirely only when we attend to nothing other than ourself.

So long as we attend to anything other than ourself, our mind cannot subside, because attention to other things sustains it, since that which experiences otherness is only this mind. When the mind subsides completely, only self-attention remains, and self-attention alone is the state of absolute oneness. Bhagavan used to repeat this teaching every day, maybe ten or twenty times, but still we didn't change. He didn't change his teaching either, because to him this truth was so clear.

The basic mistake we all make is to take a body to be 'I'. This deeply entrenched feeling 'I am this body called so-and-so' is the root of all our trouble. If this tape-recorder is not working, we must attend to it and not to other things, because then only will we be able to repair it. Likewise, to rectify this mistaken identity, 'I am so-and-so', we must attend to it in order to knοw what it really is: what or who am I?

Only when we thus investigate ourself will the false adjunct 'so-and-so' drop off, and what will then remain is only the reality, 'I am'. 'I am so-and-so' is the naivedyam [the food to be offered to God] [1], and when Bhagavan has consumed the adjunct 'so-and-so', what remains is only 'I am', which is his prasadam [the purified remnant of God's food, which is shared among devotees as a token of his grace].

'I am' alone really exists, so it is the true form of God and guru. To treat and cherish this filthy body as 'I' is therefore the worst kind of idol-worship. If we give up this idol-worship by knowing the truth of ourself, then we can worship anything as God, because we will know that nothing is other than him, our real self.

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[1] Refer to Guru Vachaka Kovai, V.486 

The flame of Bhagavan burns timelessly.

Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) by Sri Muruganar - V. 289

Sadhu Om: This verse clearly shows that the ego can be destroyed only by Self-enquiry or self-surrender. One should destroy the ego by whichever of these two means appeals to one as better and more suitable. Anyhow, the destruction of the ego is alone recommended as being essential.

🕉️ 🔱 Arunachala Shiva 🔱 🕉️

‘the rising-place of the ego’  (ahandai ezhumidattai)

When Sri Bhagavan says in verse 28 of Ulladu Narpadu - Reality in Forty Verses that one should know ‘the rising-place of the ego’ (ahandai ezhumidattai), it is to be noted that He does not use the word "place" literally to mean a place limited by time and space, but only figuratively to mean Self, the timeless and spaceless reality from which the ego seemingly rises. 

Since time and space are mere thoughts which can come into existence only, after the ego rises, the source or "place" from which the ego rises must obviously be beyond the limitations of time and space.

Therefore, when practicing Self-enquiry, aspirants should not try to find any place in the limited and transient body as the source from which the ego rises, but should try only to know Self, the unlimited reality which alone will remain when the ego subsides.

For an explanation regarding the words "restraining speech and breath", the reader may refer to the note to verse 24 of Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham (1), and to chapter eight of The Path of Sri Ramana - Part I (2)

(1) http://www.happinessofbeing.com/Sri_Ramanopadesa_Noonmalai.pdf

Sri Ramana Maharshi - Ulladu Narpadu - Reality In Forty Verses, V.29

Explanatory paraphrase: 

Without saying ‘I’ by mouth, investigating by an inward sinking [submerging, immersing, diving, plunging or piercing] mind where one rises as ‘I’ is alone the path of jñāna [the means to experience jñāna, real knowledge or pure awareness, which is one’s true nature]. 

Instead, thinking ‘I am not this body or mind, I am that [brahman]’ is an aid, but is it vicāra [investigation (in the sense of self-investigation)]?

http://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2017/10/ulladu-narpadu-tamil-text.html -  Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

https://shinymoonbird.tumblr.com/search/UN%20v.29 - Verse 29

(Vasishtha concluded): 

“Therefore, by the practice (sadhana) of fixing the mind in the pure Heart (the real Self), which is of the nature of consciousness, the subsidence of the breath (prana) along with the tendencies (vasanas) will be accomplished automatically”. 

—   Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai - Ulladu Narpadu - Anubandham, Verse 24, pg.131 (pdf)

Note: After reading verse 28 of Ulladu Narpadu, some aspirants wrongly conclude that it is necessary to practice some technique of breath-control (pranayam) in order to be able to harness the mind and turn it inwards to know its source, the Heart or real Self. However, in this present verse Sri Bhagavan clearly reveals that it is not necessary to practice any special techniques of breath-control, because the breath or prana will subside automatically when one fixes the mind in the Heart through Self-attention. Refer here to the eighth chapter of The Path of Sri Ramana – Part One (1), where this point is explained in more detail. 

This verse is adapted from Yoga Vasishtha 5.78.38.

2017 Arunachala Karthigai Festival. Day Ten—Evening 3.December: Arunachala Deepam, lighting hill deepam. (Arunachala Grace.Blog)

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It is totaly fallacious to assume that the State of Deliverance can be won by practices like meditation by the mind, disregarding the direct path of plunging into the Heart.

Having discarded the body like a corpse and without uttering ‘I’ by mouth, scrutinizing with an inward-diving mind, “Where does this feeling ‘I’ rise?”, is alone the path of knowledge (jnana-marga). Instead of inwardly scrutinizing the feeling ‘I’ in this manner, merely thinking (or meditating), “I am not this (body composed of five sheaths), I am That (the absolute reality or Brahman)”, is (at first in a roundabout way) an aid (to the above said path of knowledge or enquiry) but is it enquiry (that is, is it the correct practice of Self-enquiry or Atma-vichara, which is the direct path of Knowledge)?  

— Ulladu Narpadu     Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Reality in Forty Verses - V.29

Note:

If we have been told some particulars about a certain place to which we wish to go, repeating and thereby memorising those particulars may at first be an indirect aid for us to reach that place. But merely repeating and memorising those particulars cannot be the actual journey there. Having learnt those particulars, we must set out and travel to that place.

Similar is the case with the truth which the scriptures tell us about our real and natural state, namely that we are not this body, prana, mind and so on, but are only Brahman, the absolute reality. Meditating upon this truth by repeatedly thinking, “I am not this body, I am Brahman”, may in the beginning be an indirect aid to the practice of Self-enquiry, because it will encourage one to try to know one’s own true nature. But merely repeatedly thinking thus, cannot be the actual practice of Self-enquiry.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

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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

Arunachala Siva - Sri Ramana Maharshi

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*  As long as viṣaya-vāsanās  [inclinations or desires to be aware of things other than oneself, which are the seeds that give rise to all thoughts or phenomena]  exist in the mind, so long the investigation who am I is necessary.

*  As and when thoughts arise, then and there it is necessary to annihilate them all by vicāraṇā  [vichara: investigation or vigilant self-attentiveness]  in the very place from which they arise.

*  Being without attending to [anything] other [than oneself] is vairāgya [dispassion] or nirāśā  [desirelessness];  being without leaving [separating from or letting go of] self is jñāna  [true knowledge].  In truth [these] two [desirelessness and true knowledge] are only one.

Just as a pearl-diver, tying a stone to his waist and submerging, picks up a pearl which lies in the bottom of the ocean, so each person, submerging [beneath the surface activity of their mind] and sinking [deep] within themself with vairāgya [freedom from desire to experience anything other than self], can attain the pearl of self. 

If one clings fast to uninterrupted svarūpa-smaraṇa [self-remembrance] until one attains svarūpa [one’s own actual self], that alone [will be] sufficient.

So long as enemies are within the fort, they will continue coming out from it. If [one] continues cutting down [or destroying] all of them as and when they come, the fort will [eventually] come into [one’s] possession.

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

Original Tamil prose by Bhagavan Sri Ramana with English translation by Michael James