Spiritual Body-building?

[Guest guest]

Dearest Harshaji,

Thanks for this post on surrender. The part about early inquiry and

age being no barrier to realization was very well-received. I added

some wonderful words from Sri Ramana at the end of it. Perhaps I

might post it at nondualparent…

You wrote: Typically, we find that those who shine and excel in a

field of study have started early in life. Prodigies in Mathematics,

Music, and Chess discover their talents as children. Sill they spent

many years in practice and perfecting their talent.If we look at the

spiritual geniuses, the same pattern appears to be true as

well.Shankra, Ramana, Jnaneshvar, and others, all became intensely

interested at a young age about the mystery of existence and realized

the Self - Nature. However, age is not a major barrier to Realization,

if one has clarity of purpose.Study of scriptures, and reflecting on

words of wise is good. According to the testimony of sages, that the

role of spiritual practice and long term meditation is an important

one as wellJust like one does not become a body builder by simply

reading books on the subject, one cannot know One's Own Beauty, by

merely hearing others speak of it. It has to be recognized directly

by oneself (without the medium of the mind) in a state that may be

described as the Deep Awake (as opposed to Deep Sleep!).

The Self is Realized when everything, including one's root instinct

for self preservation is given up with full awareness of the grace of

the Lord of the Heart.To reach that point where all can be

surrendered, one practices meditation, prayer, inquiry, etc. Sri

Ramana has said that Self is nothing new to Realize. We are already

that. Spiritual practice is meant to remove the obstacles that

obscure one's vision of one's own Self.Love to allHarsha

"True surrender is love of God for the sake of love and nothing else,

not even for the sake of liberation. Love itself is the actual form

of God. That is pure bliss. Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or what

you will. That is devotion, that is realization and that is

everything. The experience of not forgetting consciousness alone is

the state of devotion which is the relationship of unfading real

love, because the real knowledge of Self, which shines as the

undivided supreme bliss itself, surges up as the nature of love. Only

if one knows the truth of love, which is the nature of the Self, will

the strong entangled knot of life be untied. Only if one attains the

height of love will liberation be attained. The experience of Self is

only love, which is seeing only love, hearing only love, feeling only

love, tasting only love and smelling only love, and this is bliss.

God does not reside in any place other than the Heart. Be sure that

the heart is the Kingdom of Heaven."..."Reality is at once being and

consciousness.To know that is to be that in the heart, transcending

thought.That which is bliss is verily the Self.Bliss and the Self are

one and identical.That alone is Real.That alone is the real truth.That

is the heart.That which is the source of all,That in which all live,

and that intowhich all finally merge, is the heart.In the interior of

the heart-cave (there)shines alone the one absolute as the "I -

I",verily the consciousness - Self.What is called the heart is no

other than the absolute.Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart or

Seat of Consciousness,it is all the same.The beloved heart alone is

the refuge for the rising and subsidingof the "I".The heart is the

center of all. That from which beings comeinto existence is said to

be the absolute. That is the heart.The absolute is the heart.The Self

is the heart.The heart is the center from which everything springs.The

heart is the "Kingdom of God".~Sri Ramana

from "Absolute Consciousness" - Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning

"If we talk of knowing the Self, there must be two selves, one a

knowing self, another the self which is known, and the process of

knowing. The state we call realisation is simply being oneself, not

knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realised, one is

that which alone is andwhich alone has always been. One cannot

describe that state.One can only be that. Of course, we loosely talk

of Self-realisation, for want of a better term. How to 'real-ise'or

make real that which alone is real? Liberation is our very nature. We

are that. The very factthat we wish for liberation shows that freedom

from allbondage is our real nature. It is not to be freshly

acquired.All that is necessary is to get rid of the false notion that

weare bound. When we achieve that, there will be no desireor thought

of any sort. So long as one desires liberation,so long, you may take

it, one is in bondage. Mukti or liberation is our nature. It is

another name for us.Our wanting mukti is a very funny thing. It is

like a man whois in the shade, voluntarily leaving the shade, going

into the sun,feeling the severity of the heat there, making great

efforts to getback to the shade and then rejoicing, "How sweet is the

shade!I have reached the shade at last!" We are all doing exactly

thesame. We are not different from the reality. We imagine we

aredifferent, that is we create the bheda bhava [the feeling

ofdifference] and then undergo great sadhana [spiritual practices]to

get rid of the bheda bhava and realise the oneness. Whyimagine or

create bheda bhava and then destroy it? We think that there is

something hiding ourreality and that it must be destroyed before

thereality is gained. It is ridiculous. A day will dawnwhen you will

yourself laugh at your past efforts.That which will be on the day you

laugh is alsohere and now."~Sri Ramana Maharshi"Be As You Are"The

Teachings of Sri Ramana Marharshiedited by David GodmanArkana, 1985

 

LoveAlways,

MazieAdd photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Mazie for these wonderful quotes from Sri Ramana.

 

Love to all

Harsha

 

 

, "Mazie Lane" <sraddha54@h...>

wrote:

> "True surrender is love of God for the sake of love and nothing

else, not even for the sake of liberation. Love itself is the actual

form of God. That is pure bliss. Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or

what you will. That is devotion, that is realization and that is

everything. The experience of not forgetting consciousness alone is

the state of devotion which is the relationship of unfading real

love, because the real knowledge of Self, which shines as the

undivided supreme bliss itself, surges up as the nature of love. Only

if one knows the truth of love, which is the nature of the Self,

will the strong entangled knot of life be untied. Only if one attains

the height of love will liberation be attained. The experience of

Self is only love, which is seeing only love, hearing only love,

feeling only love, tasting only love and smelling only love, and this

is bliss. God does not reside in any place other than the Heart. Be

sure that the heart is the Kingdom of Heaven."

 

 

...."Reality is at once being and consciousness.

To know that is to be that in the heart, transcending thought.

 

That which is bliss is verily the Self.

Bliss and the Self are one and identical.

That alone is Real.

That alone is the real truth.

That is the heart.