Mind & Happiness 145

Ramana's disciple Nome

As our "self-remembrance" thus becomes more firmly established, our clarity of Self-Consciousness will gradually increase, until finally, we are able to experience & know our Essential Existence with full & perfect clarity.

When we once experience our self as we really are, our delusion of "self-ignorance" will be destroyed, & thus we will discover that we are nothing but our own Real & Essential Existence, which always knows itself with perfect & ever-unfading clarity.

Another fact that is related to the to the 1^st 2 questions that Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai asked Sri Ramana was following on from his 1^st 2 questions.  Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai asked Sri Ramana many other questions, & Sri Ramana answered most of them by writing either on the sandy ground or on a slate or slips of paper that Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai gave him.  Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai copied many of these questions & answers in a notebook, & more than 20 years later he was requested by other devotees to publish them as a small booklet. The 1^st edition of this booklet was published in 1923 under the title Nāṉ Yār?, which means "Who am I ?", or more precisely "I [am] Who ?"

Before its publication, a draft of this booklet was shown to Sri Ramana for his approval, & when he read it he noticed that Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai had expanded his original answer to the 1^st question, adding a detailed list of things that we mistake our Self to be, but that in fact we are not.

On seeing this, he remarked that he had not answered in such a detailed manner, but then explained that, because Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai was familiar with nēti nēti, he had added such detail thinking that it would help him to understand his answer more clearly.

By the term nēti nēti, Sri Ramana meant the rational process of Self-Analysis described in the ancient texts of vēdānta, a process that involves the analytical elimination or denial of everything that is not "I".  The word nēti is a compound of two words, na, which means "not", & iti, which means "thus".  Hence nēti nēti literally means "not thus, not thus."  The ancient texts of vēdānta use these words nēti nēti when explaining the rational basis for the theory that our Body, our Senses, our Life-force, our Mind, & even the Ignorance that we seemingly experience in Deep Dreamless Sleep are all not "I".

The above themes & 2500 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 

short-cut: http://sdrv.ms/YPOgkX or http://tinyurl.com/nnyyr58  link directly to free E-book PDF files

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

Different blogs available on:

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"There is no Creation, no Destruction, no Bondage, no longing to be freed from Bondage, no striving for Liberation, nor anyone who has attained Liberation. Know that this to be Ultimate Truth."

–  the "no creation" school of Gaudapada, Shankara, Ramana, Nome – Ajata Vada

 for very succinct summary of the teaching & practice, see:  www.ajatavada.com/

[A brief note of explanation – the other Blog noted below is entitled "Non-Duality & Science", & so the more Science oriented pages (from what I like to think of as a "comic book") have been posted there, while other chapters have been posted here. Science is a mental discipline that attracts some worthy admirers & participators.  Some of these, too few, are good prospects for the ancient teaching introduced here in many ways.  Otherwise certain Science topics like the Anthropic Principle, reinforce the general Theism which is a good idea in this materialistic age. A few other topics in Science, such as the Copenhagen II – Max Born – Von Neumann – Wigner model of Quantum Mechanics, are worthy entries to the extent that they introduce Consciousness into the physical Sciences. All that aside, the real topic here is the pinnacle as Advaita Vedanta, Non-Duality – that pinnacle being Ajata Vada, No–Creation. The great Teachers of the same include Sri Shankara & Sri Ramana Maharshi.  Both would support Theism in general & adaptations of Vedanta, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta – Qualified Non-Duality, for those not making headway in Ajata Vada, their present course of growth might be better served with a temporary involvement in Qualified Non-Duality. The scientist who perhaps best expresses the influence of Qualified Non-Duality in Science, for instance, would be the quintessential "New–Age" Quantum Physicist, Amit Goswami. And so to that source, & the Quantum Activism he currently advocates [with a 1–course  degree program], along with more than a half-dozen good books & former participation in the controversial What the Bleep movie, to him I extend enthusiastic endorsement, for that Qualified Non-Duality described in the context of Science.  I do not stand so much "with him", as much as nearby saluting his good work. Again, as here, the goal is inserting Consciousness into Science & "saving the World."]

also:  Most of this material will be long searchable via "John Stiga" etc, on the "Wayback Machine" Internet Archive.

Also related to these topics, there are now 8 Kindle books on "Amazon.com", reference-able by the author "John Stiga", each indicated as non–copyrighted, public–domain, & priced at the minimum $0.99 each.