Self inquiry

[Guest guest]

Dear Venkat,

 

Thank you very much for raising interesting questions. The vey fact that

you are drawn to Ramana'a teaching is itself an indication of His Grace on

you. Many experienced devotees have already answered on your questions. I

will alos try to answer from my little experience.

 

The practice of self -inquiry is simple in one sense. When you start to

practice you are aware of consciousness. This is a situation where you are

conscious but without any thought. For example, you are cponscious and you

are not thinking of any past,event or future .event. Sri Bhagavan, In "

Talsks" somewhere He says " hold to the consciousness". During inquiry

when you think of anything be it ' I ' in the head or in the heart - the

mind is working.

Sri Bhagavan says it is our duty to reach this state of pure ' I '

copnsiousness ( this ' I ' is not the Self but nearest to Self). Beyond

this stage we have no role and the Self will take care from then on.

 

I wanted to share my experience

 

When I attempt this in the evenings after a day's work, ( normally i

prepare to sit for a time of 45 minutes ) the consiousness-thought less

stage -is easily achieved - but after a few minutes I slip into sleep-fro

brief spells But when I regain consiopusness I continue without break.

Normally when I look at the clock after the session most of the times it

would be exacly 45 minutes while some times it would be 5 or 10 minutes

this way or that way. ( this sleep i experience is quite different from

normal sleep and it is without any dreams)

 

But when I sit for second session after a little gap, sleep does not bother

me and the 45 minutes would be continuous. ( As an individual tendency) I

prefer to close eyes - but I keep opening eyes after evry 5 or 10 minutes.

In addituion to this sitting sessions, I practice many other times-

waitinng in the ques- waiting for lifts - in the lifts and wherever i am

not doing any serious work..

 

Two things help me to counter thought disturbance- 1. I sincerely believe

that every thing happens at the Will of almighty- and there is no pint in

our worrying about things to happen- things that happened were the fruits

given by God for our actions and I accept them as His will- ( Though in

words it may sound lengthy- in practice in a flash they help me to be free

from thoughts ) 2. Every thing is mind ( the world- the office- the family,

the job ) except

Self. I accept Sri bhagavan's statement - there is no mind and it is

nothing but our thought.. These two generally help me to hold the

consciouness and prolong the sessions.

 

Over a period of time I could see remarkable change in my perceptions

which changed the course of my life

 

I welcome other experienced devotees to guide me futher

 

Jai Sri Ramana

 

 

Ramana Sarma