Ramana Maharshi Vedanta Analogies, & Ashtavakra

[for a while, the following will preface all these blogs – so please skip over if seen before]

100 Billion

In order to hint at how serious this Blog is, let the author unequivocally state that the Knowledge here imparted, none of it original, none to be credited to the author, that Knowledge is THE MOST VALUABLE treasure that exists. If hypothetically offered 100 Billion dollars to forgo this Knowledge, that offer or any other would be disregarded in the blink of an eye.  Even with all the good that might be accomplished with $100B, this Knowledge is beyond the World & comes from beyond the Mind. This is no hyperbole.

[some Ramana Maharshi quotes]

Since you are Consciousness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of [misidentified with attached to … ] other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure Consciousness alone remains, & that is the Self.

Your present knowledge is due to the ego & is only relative. Relative knowledge & memory requires an object & subject.

The state of Self-Realization is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are & which you always have been. All that is needed is that you give up your Realization of the not-true as true,  …  regarding as Real that which is not real.

That stage transcends the Seer [subject] & the Seen [object]. There is no Seer [subject] there to see anything. The Seer [subject] who is seeing all this now ceases to exist & the Self alone remains. 

Realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realized, one is that which alone is & which alone has always been. One cannot describe that state. One can only be that.

If the idea "I am the Body" is accepted, the selves are multiple. The state in which this idea vanishes is the Self since in that state there are no other objects. It is for this reason that the Self is regarded as one only.

The Body itself does not exist in the natural outlook of the real Self, but only in the extroverted outlook of the Mind which is deluded by the power of Illusion [Maya, avidya, ajnana],

[a Ramana Maharshi analogy]

The 3 states [Waking, Dream, Deep Dreamless Sleep ] come & go, but you are always there. It is like a cinema. The Screen [~ Consciousness ] is always there but several types of pictures appear on the Screen & then disappear. Nothing sticks to the Screen, it remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your own Self in all the 3 states. If you know that, the 3 states will not trouble you, just as the pictures which appear on the Screen do not stick to it. On the Screen, you sometimes see a huge ocean with endless waves; that disappears. Another time, you see fire spreading all around; that too disappears. The Screen is there on both occasions. Did the Screen get wet with the water or did it get burned by the fire ?  Nothing affected the Screen. In the same way, the things that happen during the Wakeful, Dream & Sleep states do not affect you at all; you remain your own Self.  All these 3 states come & go. The Self is not bothered; it has only 1 state.

[more Ashtavakra Gita selections]

7.3 – In the shoreless Ocean of myself, a World is imagined. I am peaceful & formless.  In this alone I “abide”.  

7.4 – The Self is not in objects, nor are objects in the pure & infinite Self.  The Self is Free of attachment & desire, ever tranquil, in this Truth alone I abide.

7.5 – Truly I am Pure Consciousness & the World is like a passing magic show. In my Self there are neither thoughts of acceptance or rejection.

8.1 – When the Mind desires or grieves over anything, accepts or rejects anything, feels joy or anger, is pleased or displeased by anything – such is Bondage.

8.2 – When the Mind does not desires or grieves over anything, accepts or rejects anything, feels joy or anger, is pleased or displeased by anything – such is Liberation.

8.3 – If the Mind is attached to the experience of any Sense Perception, this is Bondage.  When the Mind is not attached to the experience of any Sense Perception, this is Liberation.

8.4 – When “I” appears, there is Bondage.  When there is no “I”, there is Liberation.  Knowing this to be the Truth, neither accept or reject anything.

9.8 – Renounce desire through deep detachment.  Renounce the objects of the World, & renunciation of desire will follow.  Now you may live as you like.

10.1 – Give up desire, the main enemy, along with gain, itself full of loss, & all earnest efforts that give rise to the other two. Practice indifference to everything.

10.2 – Look upon friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts, … & all apparent good fortune as a magic show or dream lasting some 3 or 5 days.

10.3 – Know that where desires prevail, there is the World’s Samasara.  Establish yourself in firm non-attachment, & be free of desire & be happy.

10.4 – Desire constitutes the only Bondage.  To be free of desire is Liberation.  Cultivate non-attachment to Worldly objects & joyfully realize the Self.

10.5 – You are One, pure Consciousness.  The World is inert & unreal.  Even Ignorance is unreal.  So what is left to desire or know ?

10.6 – Possessions, children, wives, bodies, pleasures – these have been lost to you, life after life.  However attached as you have been, still they are now lost forever.

10.8 – For how many lifetimes have you done hard & painful labor with body, Mind, & speech ?  Why not bring all that to an end ?

11.3 – One who knows for certain that adversity & success come & go according to Karma controls his Senses & has neither likes nor dis-likes.

11.4 – Knowing for certain that birth & death, happiness & suffering, come & go in accord with Karma, one sees that it is not possible to accomplish desires.  He favors "non-action", so that even when engaged in actions, he remains unattached.

11.5 – Anxiety produces misery & nothing else.  Dropping all desires, he is free, happy, serene, desireless, & at peace everywhere.

11.6 – Realizing: “I am not the Body, nor is the Body my possession – I am Consciousness itself”, one attains the Absolute & no longer thinks of things done or left undone.

11.7 – “Truly all is my own Self.” This conviction brings freedom from desire & imagination, One who knows this is no longer concerned with what he has done, what he has not done.

12.2 – Having relinquished attachment to objects of Sense Perception, & not expecting Perception of the Self to be possible, my Mind remains free from agitation & distraction, I remain at peace.

12.8 – He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of Life.  He who is of such nature is has done what has to be done.

13.6 – Losing nothing by either sleep nor effort, abandoning all thoughts of winning or losing, I live as I please.

14.2 – When desire has been eliminated, of what use to me are wealth, friends, learning, scriptures, & philosophy, or those Senses that rob us ?

14.4 – The inner condition of one whose doubts have ended, who acts outwardly like one still ignorant – his actions can be understood only by like souls.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]