The significance of seemingly slight changes in practice

[Guest guest]

One of the most valuable discoveries I made

was that what might appear to the mind to be

only a slight change in the method of practice

produces a huge, extraordinary, quantum leap

in the speed of the results.

 

What might appear to the mind

to be a very slight change in practice,

can save years or lifetimes of practice,

by producing what years or lifetimes

of practice produce, much, much sooner.

 

What might appear to be just a slight change

in practice instructions

can produce what might appear to be

only a slight change in practice

and that seemingly slight change is all that is needed

to save years or lifetimes of practice

by producing the same results that the years or

lifetimes of practice would produce much sooner.

 

Thus which words are or are not used for practice

instruction is crucial.

 

Therefore, the problems that Rob brought up about

the book "Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi"

are very important points.

 

The quote that I posted by Major Chadwick

still left most of the problems

that Rob brought up unsolved.

 

I can think of a couple more potent problems with

"Talks" and maybe sometime I will post them.

 

However, for now I don't want to distract too much

from the essential key I posted above.

 

If I had realized how important what seems to be

only a slight difference in practice is,

I would have been more open to

different ways of practicing.

But I was fairly closed minded for around

25 years, because I had such a strong belief

in the efficacy of the practice descibed

in the book "Who am I?"

 

I did not discover the most rapid direct method of

practice by reading a book,

however, when I went to look to see if

someone else had also discovered

the essential precise practice instructions,

I found them in a few of the verses

of Garland of Guru's sayings by Sri Muruganar.

However, they have been overlooked.

Sort of buried in 1254 sayings.

 

I did not find the precise practice instructions in

"Talks".

I found seemingly similar practice instructions there,

but seemingly similar will produce a slight change in

the practice, losing the rapidness and efficiency and

thus failing to save the years or lifetimes of

practicing by producing the same results that years or

lifetimes of practice produce, much sooner.

 

In 2004, I am going to make a lot of changes to the

Direct Path Links Directory, by experimenting with

whole new ways of communicating.

 

I forgot to tell people about the value of the

awareness watching awareness approach on the

Direct Path Links Directory,

but I will correct that error in 2004.

 

I also made an error by placing the

To whom do these thoughts arise approach

on the same page as the

Awareness watching awareness method.

 

That lead to some confusion.

 

It is essential that when one practices

the awareness watching awareness approach

that one does not mix the two approaches.

Otherwise, the efficiency of the

awareness watching awareness approach will be lost.

 

So, 2004 will be a good year,

to change the way I communicate

this wonderful discovery.

 

The core practice instructions are very simple

however, I will write some supplementary instructions

that will help prevent detours and misunderstanding.

 

I will probably remove most of what is on the first

page of the Direct Path Links Directory now,

and put it on another page,

so as not to detract from the wonderful discovery of

the means to Instant Abidance.

Because too much information tends to complicate

something that is very simple.

 

Take care,

 

with Love,

 

Michael L.

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Michael L. and everybody,

 

Is it possible that there's only one technique for practicing

self-enquiry?

 

Is it possible that it is so difficult to describe the practice in

words, that many different phrases have been used for this

purpose? --

 

-- hold the I-thought

-- follow the sense of "I".

-- dive into the heart

-- find out "who is the thinker"

-- place the attention on the attention

-- awareness watching awarenss

-- isolate the subject

 

Is it possible, Michael, that "awareness of awareness" isn't

a different technique, but rather, that it's only after you saw

this phrase that you happened to stumble on how to practice

self-enquiry?

 

Or maybe, Michael, the phrase only became meaningful

to you after you reached a certain stage where you were

able to glimpse the stage behind the dancers' legs, so to

speak?

 

I have to confess that the phrase "awareness watching

awareness" doesn't mean anything to me. I don't know how to

apply this instruction.

 

Maybe this is because I'm not far enough long yet in

practice. Or maybe it's because each of us interprets

words differently.

 

If someone told me to place my attention on attention,

that seems a little more meaningful, but even with that choice

of words, I soon discover that there really isn't any attention.

The voluntary sense of attention disappears when I try to

catch it. It's like trying to observe how I make my arm move.

There's nothing observable there, really.

 

I've often been struck by how many of Bhagavan's instructions

for self-enquiry aren't really instructions. They are more like

comments designed to motivate the seeker to solve a mystery.

"Isn't this an enigma?" asks Bhagavan in effect. "You feel like

you're seeking your identity -- yet surely there's only one of you.

How can this be? Find out!" This isn't a technique; it's a conundrum.

It's as if Bhagavan believed that if a person became

sufficiently curious about the weirdness of his own sense of self,

the inquiry would happen automatically.

 

(My remarks above do not apply to the mechanical procedure

of asking "Who am I?" to return the attention to the enquiry.

That's not enquiry. That's just a sort of tactic used to help a

person return to enquiry.)

 

Best wishes,

 

Rob

 

-

"Michael L." <uarelove

"Ramana Maharshi" <RamanaMaharshi>

Friday, January 09, 2004 8:41 PM

[RamanaMaharshi] The significance of seemingly slight changes in

practice

 

 

> One of the most valuable discoveries I made

> was that what might appear to the mind to be

> only a slight change in the method of practice

> produces a huge, extraordinary, quantum leap

> in the speed of the results.

>

[Guest guest]

---Dear Rob,thank you for your excellent letter which I must confess summarises

my own feelings

on the topic .Diving into the Heart works for me .It seems a case of "each one

to his

indisposition"Warmest regards and every best wish , as ever ,in His Grace,Alan

 

 

Sacks <editor wrote: > Dear Michael L. and everybody,

>

> Is it possible that there's only one technique for practicing

> self-enquiry?

>

> Is it possible that it is so difficult to describe the practice in

> words, that many different phrases have been used for this

> purpose? --

>

> -- hold the I-thought

> -- follow the sense of "I".

> -- dive into the heart

> -- find out "who is the thinker"

> -- place the attention on the attention

> -- awareness watching awarenss

> -- isolate the subject

>

> Is it possible, Michael, that "awareness of awareness" isn't

> a different technique, but rather, that it's only after you saw

> this phrase that you happened to stumble on how to practice

> self-enquiry?

>

> Or maybe, Michael, the phrase only became meaningful

> to you after you reached a certain stage where you were

> able to glimpse the stage behind the dancers' legs, so to

> speak?

>

> I have to confess that the phrase "awareness watching

> awareness" doesn't mean anything to me. I don't know how to

> apply this instruction.

>

> Maybe this is because I'm not far enough long yet in

> practice. Or maybe it's because each of us interprets

> words differently.

>

> If someone told me to place my attention on attention,

> that seems a little more meaningful, but even with that choice

> of words, I soon discover that there really isn't any attention.

> The voluntary sense of attention disappears when I try to

> catch it. It's like trying to observe how I make my arm move.

> There's nothing observable there, really.

>

> I've often been struck by how many of Bhagavan's instructions

> for self-enquiry aren't really instructions. They are more like

> comments designed to motivate the seeker to solve a mystery.

> "Isn't this an enigma?" asks Bhagavan in effect. "You feel like

> you're seeking your identity -- yet surely there's only one of you.

> How can this be? Find out!" This isn't a technique; it's a conundrum.

> It's as if Bhagavan believed that if a person became

> sufficiently curious about the weirdness of his own sense of self,

> the inquiry would happen automatically.

>

> (My remarks above do not apply to the mechanical procedure

> of asking "Who am I?" to return the attention to the enquiry.

> That's not enquiry. That's just a sort of tactic used to help a

> person return to enquiry.)

>

> Best wishes,

>

> Rob

>

> -

> "Michael L." <uarelove

> "Ramana Maharshi" <RamanaMaharshi>

> Friday, January 09, 2004 8:41 PM

> [RamanaMaharshi] The significance of seemingly slight changes in

practice

>

>

> > One of the most valuable discoveries I made

> > was that what might appear to the mind to be

> > only a slight change in the method of practice

> > produces a huge, extraordinary, quantum leap

> > in the speed of the results.

> >

>

>

>

>

> Post message: RamanaMaharshi

> Subscribe: RamanaMaharshi-

> Un: RamanaMaharshi

> List owner: RamanaMaharshi-owner

>

> Shortcut URL to this page:

> http://www./community/RamanaMaharshi

>

> Links

>

>

> RamanaMaharshi/

>

>

> RamanaMaharshi

>

> Your

>

>

>

 

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[Guest guest]

RamanaMaharshi, "Rob Sacks" <editor@r...>

wrote:

> I have to confess that the phrase "awareness watching

> awareness" doesn't mean anything to me. I don't know how to

> apply this instruction.

 

Dear Rob:

 

I just turned my computer on and decided to look at the

Ramana Maharshi group messages,

before moving on to my next project

which is to re-write the instructions for how to practice

the awareness watching awareness meditation,

with more than one way of expressing it,

using words that are close enough not to destroy the efficacy.

I will also give the defintions of thought and awareness

that need to be used to make the practice work.

Within the next few days I will also write some supplementary

instructions that help to avoid misunderstanding.

Thus there will be a core practice instructions page

and another page that will answer questions that might arise.

and the front page that clarifies the related discoveries

and the value of the discoveries plural.

 

Another change I am making is that almost everything one

sees on the front page of the Direct Path Links Directory

will be gone, depending on how long it takes me,

maybe within just a few hours from now.

People visiting http://uarelove.com for the first time,

will have a choice of reading just a few pages,

and they will be comparatively short.

The pages will be almost entirely free of quotes.

There will be one brief quote on the front page,

and then no more quotes. The change will be like going from

a thousand page novel to three or four pages.

A change of title for the page,

to the Awareness watching Awareness page.

I am not going to give a link to any of the old stuff from the front

page, so new people won't even know from reading the front page

that that stuff ever existed.

I will save all those old pages for now.

 

> I've often been struck by how many of Bhagavan's instructions

> for self-enquiry aren't really instructions. They are more like

> comments designed to motivate the seeker to solve a mystery.

> "Isn't this an enigma?" asks Bhagavan in effect.

 

The above is a very, very important point,

if one responds correctly to the observation you posted above,

pursuing that inquiry to the end, then all is solved.

If one understands that the first inquiry should be to solve

that enigma, then one trades in the bullock cart

for the jet or the rocket.

 

What you wrote above describes well what happened in 2001.

I was in my room in the Sesha Bhavan guest house in Tiruvannamalai.

I was thinking about all the possible meanings of I and I am

and all the possible approaches to them that I had read over the

years in the teachings of Sri Ramana and Sri Nisargadatta.

The I thought, the thought I-am, the I-feeling, the feeling I-am,

the I-consciousness, the I-am consciousness, etc.

And the different approaches to them, to think I or I-am,

to feel I or I am, to focus the attention on I or I am.

The number of different combinations of the approaches

and the view of what I or I-am mean.

 

I was wondering if there was some way to solve these questions

and to have clarity both in the meaning of I or I am

and the meaning of what to do with it

(focus the attention, feel, think, or?)

So that there was nothing vague left,

no more choices left.

I really wanted to know the answer.

I was not going to confine the answer to any previous understanding.

It did not matter even if it shattered my previous understanding.

It was a willingness to consider, maybe for the last two and a half

decades I have not at all understood Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings.

A willingness to allow all old views to be swept away if need be.

 

Then I wondered if I am is just the awareness that is looking through

these eyes now at this room. If so, then to focus the attention on

the I am is just awareness watching awareness.

Not some far off awareness,

just my present awareness looking at itself.

 

So the point you have brought up is a good one.

It was indeed questioning in the mind that allowed me

to discover the method in which no questions are asked.

It was not the question who am I?

it was the question,

of all the possible meanings of what self-inquiry could be,

which are quite different in practice,

what is the meaning that ends all of the different possibilities,

and leaves only one practice that is not vague.

It included a willingness to view self-inquiry in a whole new light.

So the inquiry was not who am I?,

the inquiry was what is the clearest most effective approach to

understand the so many different statements

I had read on the subject.

Thus it fits what you wrote above very well.

 

I immediately tried the awareness watching awareness practice

there in the room at Sesha Bhavan guest house.

After two hours of wonderful extraodinary practice

I wanted to make sure I was not taking some detour

that this was indeed the way, so I read the Path of Sri Ramana, Part

1 cover to cover that night

and Garland of Guru's sayings by Sri Muruganar the next day.

If I had realized the value of the disovery, I would not have been

concerned at all with if it fit into the path of Sri Ramana or not.

Howevever, since I was looking to see if there was

any confirmation or not, those two books were the perfect choices

to find the confirmation.

 

Here are some quotes from an article by Michael James about

Sri Sadhu Om, and Sri Muruganar:

 

"When God incarnates himself on earth in the form of the True

Teacher, He does not come alone.

 

He brings with Him highly mature souls, in answer to whose prayers He

gives His true teachings to the world, and through whom He afterwards

expounds and makes clear those teachings, using their mind, speech

and body as His pure instruments to instruct the world,

both through words and example.

 

Though such devotees come for the benefit of the world, their

attention is never turned towards the world but is ever turned

towards God, who shines outside as the True Teacher and within as

Self.

 

Among such rare, exemplary and pure devotees who Sri Ramana,

the Great World Teacher, brought with him to the world,

the foremost are Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om.

 

Those devotees who have had the good fortune of associating closely

with Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om, or who have carefully gone

through their writings, will have been left in no doubt that they are

both instruments specially chosen by Sri Bhagavan, for revealing,

expounding and exemplifying His teachings for the benefit of the

world. Because both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om have surrendered

themselves completely to Sri Ramana, thereby merging themselves in

Him, they truly retain no individuality of their own and thus they

are not other than Sri Ramana Himself. Hence it is indeed Sri Ramana

Himself who acts through them, eliciting, recording and expounding

His own teachings. Knowing this truth, Sri Natananda, one of the

foremost devotees of Sri Ramana, has sung in one of his prefatory

verses to "The Garland of Guru's Sayings": `Wise people who see the

wondrous beauty both of these verses recording Lord Ramana's sayings

and this prose-rendering of them, will surely declare that it is that

Lord Himself, who as the renunciant and skilful Muruganar, has

composed these verses, and who as Sadhu Om has rendered them into

prose.' Thus, because of their egolessness, their complete loss of

individuality, both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om have become pure

channels through which the True Teacher's Grace can flow."

 

"The writings of both of them are so rich in content, so deep in

meaning and devotional feeling, and so powerful in expression, that a

time will come when both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om will be

widely recognized as being among the foremost Sages of the world,

worthy of a reverence no less than other great Tamil poet-saints such

as Manikkavachakar, Tirujnanasambandhar, Appar Swamigal,

Sundaramurthi Nayanar, Arunagiri Nathar and Tayumanavar.

 

But because of our closeness to them in time, it is difficult for our

present generation to appreciate fully the immense spiritual stature

of these two self-effacing devotees, and the real worth of their rich

poetic outpourings, just as it is difficult for a person standing

close to the foot of a huge mountain to appreciate the real height

and size of that mountain. Only future generations of Ramana-

devotees, seeing from a distance in time, will be able to appreciate

fully what a great boon Sri Ramana has bestowed upon the world in the

form of this rich legacy of spiritual writings left by Sri Muruganar

and Sri Sadhu Om."

 

In the last sentence, notice the word "fully".

It is not that present generations do not appreciate them.

Many in the present generation of Ramana devotees appreciate them.

But to fully appreciate them, to fully see the significance

of the clarification and the communication they have brought forth,

few have seen that in full.

 

So I say, half jokingly, that if this body lives another 20 years,

I should wait and talk to that next generation

of Sri Ramana devotees.

There are so many clues that Michael James has given in the above

quotes, so many pointers, that if one were truly interested

and pursued them until they saw fully what the clues point towards,

oh what a discovery awaits such a one!

 

Clear communication is very important.

In the past I have posted Sri Muruganar's description of the

awareness watching awareness method,

including some very different alternative ways of describing what

happens after one shuts one's eyes

and turns the attention away from the world, body and thought.

Refraining from looking out at things, etc. then you observe that

looking, or awareness is awareness of itself, etc.

I also have posted my way of describing it, and at the end of the

Ceasing to pretend message I posted Sri Nisargadatta's way of

describing it, and soon in the next few hours,

or if it takes longer than that in the next day or two I will put

alternate descriptions of the instructions

on the Awareness watching awareness page,

formerly called the Direct Path links Directory.

 

Communication is very important.

However, once many very precise alternative descriptions

have been communicated in English,

if one's native language is English,

and one still perceives oneself to be unable to practice it,

then at that point it has nothing to do with the communication.

 

At that point it is the ego as a preservation strategy

blocking the understanding.

Most people will never allow themselves to even recognize the

precious jewel that are in the form of those precise instructions,

they will never recognize the value of the discovery,

some conclusion or doubt or idea or concept will block it.

There are others who will recognize to various degrees

the value of the discovery.

But when it comes to practice will either not try

or when they try, the ego will convince itself

that it does not understand the instructions, even if they are stated

very precisely and in many different ways.

 

There are many elements to the discovery,

it is not only the precise practice instructions,

and I will be listing many of the related discoveries

on the front page of the Awareness watching awareness page tonight,

or tommorrow and that will help some with clarificaton.

 

There are some people who have already recognized

the value of the discovery.

If 80% or if 99.99% of the people never recognize

the value of the discovery, and never practice,

or are obscured by the ego

from understanding the practice instructions, even after they are

stated very precisely in many different ways,

it will still be worth the small effort of putting the instructions

on a web page for the benefit of those few who go all the way

and begin abding in awareness-love-peace

free of the appearance of misery, sorrow, suffering, and death

in this lifetime.

 

For most people every thought from the time they wake up in the

morning, until the time they go to sleep at night,

almost every thought is an ego preservation strategy.

In other words, almost every thought serves the ego in some way.

 

There is such a thing as progress in that matter though.

For example, when one actually sees how a particular doubt,

belief or conclusion is serving the ego

and therefore catches it.

That is something wonderful, to actually see it.

Then one might become really interested in catching it.

Then one can begin to catch it more and more often.

If the extremely intense desire for liberation arises,

then suddenly one can see how thought moment by moment directs

thinking to form doubts and conclusions and beleifs

that will help to preseve it. One can see that in a single day this

happens hundreds or thousands of time.

 

Suddenly everything can shift

and all the old views can be swept away,

and all doubts too!

 

Imagine a place where thousands of diamonds

were laying on the ground and they had been laying there

for all of human history. Just laying on top of the ground,

no need to dig for them. Some took the trouble of actually going to

the field and selecting diamonds. Some had heard about it

but did not go to the trouble of actually going to visit the field.

 

One of those diamonds, in that field of millions of diamonds

was on diamond that was the wish fulfilling gem.

Occaisionaly someone would discover it.

But he might not have seen its full significance,

so he just casually mentions it in his notebook.

 

Someone finally comes along and discovers its full significance

and not only gives the instructions in how to use it,

but also tells people the full significance of those instructions

and of what this particular diamond can do

in a field of diamonds that all look very similar.

 

Some people say, there is no way

this particular diamond can do all that.

How could a diamond that looks so close to the other diamonds

be able to do all that.

So thought convinces those people that it does not exist.

Or if they try to follow the instructions

with that thought lurking beneath the surface, that thought sabatoges

their attempts to follow the instructions.

 

Other people think, only those who are ripe can follow the

instructions.

So that group of people have allowed thought to come to a conclusion

that prevents them from following the instructions

in how to use the wish fulfilling gem.

 

Since there are millions of combinations of thoughts, ideas, doubts,

beliefs, problems there are millions of possible objections.

 

If the doubt, belief, concept, objection or problem

#953,587,345 is solved, then the mind comes up with

doubt, belief, concept, or objection

#953,587,346.

 

Thus at some point the one who made the discovery

and who out of loving kindness made the instructions available,

puts the essentials on a few pages.

The various discoveries, the value of the discoveries,

and the instructions, with some way given on those pages

to ask questions that arise in the practice itself,

and leaves it at that.

 

I think that sometimes I will respond to future posts

with just the following words:

 

"and leaves it at that."

 

I could respond by just writing:

 

#953,587,347

 

but people might take that the wrong way

and not realize the smile and love behind it.

 

And if I don't respond at all,

there is a smile and love behind that also,

and not some sort of discourtesy intended.

 

 

Take care,

 

with Love,

 

Michael L.

[Guest guest]

Dear michael , thank you for such full dedicated sharing and starting this

discussion about the

approaches to Atma Vichara .Of course one has the greatest respect for the

writings and life of

Shri Sadhu Om .What you write furthers my conviction,and personal experience

that each sincere

,earnest Sadhak is uniquely guided in the only and best possible way for him by

his own Self,and

the Sat-Guru-Ramana-in the Heart .All love, in his Boundless grace ,Alan

 

--- uarelove <uarelove wrote: > --- In

RamanaMaharshi, "Rob Sacks"

<editor@r...>

> wrote:

> > I have to confess that the phrase "awareness watching

> > awareness" doesn't mean anything to me. I don't know how to

> > apply this instruction.

>

> Dear Rob:

>

> I just turned my computer on and decided to look at the

> Ramana Maharshi group messages,

> before moving on to my next project

> which is to re-write the instructions for how to practice

> the awareness watching awareness meditation,

> with more than one way of expressing it,

> using words that are close enough not to destroy the efficacy.

> I will also give the defintions of thought and awareness

> that need to be used to make the practice work.

> Within the next few days I will also write some supplementary

> instructions that help to avoid misunderstanding.

> Thus there will be a core practice instructions page

> and another page that will answer questions that might arise.

> and the front page that clarifies the related discoveries

> and the value of the discoveries plural.

>

> Another change I am making is that almost everything one

> sees on the front page of the Direct Path Links Directory

> will be gone, depending on how long it takes me,

> maybe within just a few hours from now.

> People visiting http://uarelove.com for the first time,

> will have a choice of reading just a few pages,

> and they will be comparatively short.

> The pages will be almost entirely free of quotes.

> There will be one brief quote on the front page,

> and then no more quotes. The change will be like going from

> a thousand page novel to three or four pages.

> A change of title for the page,

> to the Awareness watching Awareness page.

> I am not going to give a link to any of the old stuff from the front

> page, so new people won't even know from reading the front page

> that that stuff ever existed.

> I will save all those old pages for now.

>

> > I've often been struck by how many of Bhagavan's instructions

> > for self-enquiry aren't really instructions. They are more like

> > comments designed to motivate the seeker to solve a mystery.

> > "Isn't this an enigma?" asks Bhagavan in effect.

>

> The above is a very, very important point,

> if one responds correctly to the observation you posted above,

> pursuing that inquiry to the end, then all is solved.

> If one understands that the first inquiry should be to solve

> that enigma, then one trades in the bullock cart

> for the jet or the rocket.

>

> What you wrote above describes well what happened in 2001.

> I was in my room in the Sesha Bhavan guest house in Tiruvannamalai.

> I was thinking about all the possible meanings of I and I am

> and all the possible approaches to them that I had read over the

> years in the teachings of Sri Ramana and Sri Nisargadatta.

> The I thought, the thought I-am, the I-feeling, the feeling I-am,

> the I-consciousness, the I-am consciousness, etc.

> And the different approaches to them, to think I or I-am,

> to feel I or I am, to focus the attention on I or I am.

> The number of different combinations of the approaches

> and the view of what I or I-am mean.

>

> I was wondering if there was some way to solve these questions

> and to have clarity both in the meaning of I or I am

> and the meaning of what to do with it

> (focus the attention, feel, think, or?)

> So that there was nothing vague left,

> no more choices left.

> I really wanted to know the answer.

> I was not going to confine the answer to any previous understanding.

> It did not matter even if it shattered my previous understanding.

> It was a willingness to consider, maybe for the last two and a half

> decades I have not at all understood Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings.

> A willingness to allow all old views to be swept away if need be.

>

> Then I wondered if I am is just the awareness that is looking through

> these eyes now at this room. If so, then to focus the attention on

> the I am is just awareness watching awareness.

> Not some far off awareness,

> just my present awareness looking at itself.

>

> So the point you have brought up is a good one.

> It was indeed questioning in the mind that allowed me

> to discover the method in which no questions are asked.

> It was not the question who am I?

> it was the question,

> of all the possible meanings of what self-inquiry could be,

> which are quite different in practice,

> what is the meaning that ends all of the different possibilities,

> and leaves only one practice that is not vague.

> It included a willingness to view self-inquiry in a whole new light.

> So the inquiry was not who am I?,

> the inquiry was what is the clearest most effective approach to

> understand the so many different statements

> I had read on the subject.

> Thus it fits what you wrote above very well.

>

> I immediately tried the awareness watching awareness practice

> there in the room at Sesha Bhavan guest house.

> After two hours of wonderful extraodinary practice

> I wanted to make sure I was not taking some detour

> that this was indeed the way, so I read the Path of Sri Ramana, Part

> 1 cover to cover that night

> and Garland of Guru's sayings by Sri Muruganar the next day.

> If I had realized the value of the disovery, I would not have been

> concerned at all with if it fit into the path of Sri Ramana or not.

> Howevever, since I was looking to see if there was

> any confirmation or not, those two books were the perfect choices

> to find the confirmation.

>

> Here are some quotes from an article by Michael James about

> Sri Sadhu Om, and Sri Muruganar:

>

> "When God incarnates himself on earth in the form of the True

> Teacher, He does not come alone.

>

> He brings with Him highly mature souls, in answer to whose prayers He

> gives His true teachings to the world, and through whom He afterwards

> expounds and makes clear those teachings, using their mind, speech

> and body as His pure instruments to instruct the world,

> both through words and example.

>

> Though such devotees come for the benefit of the world, their

> attention is never turned towards the world but is ever turned

> towards God, who shines outside as the True Teacher and within as

> Self.

>

> Among such rare, exemplary and pure devotees who Sri Ramana,

> the Great World Teacher, brought with him to the world,

> the foremost are Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om.

>

> Those devotees who have had the good fortune of associating closely

> with Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om, or who have carefully gone

> through their writings, will have been left in no doubt that they are

> both instruments specially chosen by Sri Bhagavan, for revealing,

> expounding and exemplifying His teachings for the benefit of the

> world. Because both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om have surrendered

> themselves completely to Sri Ramana, thereby merging themselves in

> Him, they truly retain no individuality of their own and thus they

> are not other than Sri Ramana Himself. Hence it is indeed Sri Ramana

> Himself who acts through them, eliciting, recording and expounding

> His own teachings. Knowing this truth, Sri Natananda, one of the

> foremost devotees of Sri Ramana, has sung in one of his prefatory

> verses to "The Garland of Guru's Sayings": `Wise people who see the

> wondrous beauty both of these verses recording Lord Ramana's sayings

> and this prose-rendering of them, will surely declare that it is that

> Lord Himself, who as the renunciant and skilful Muruganar, has

> composed these verses, and who as Sadhu Om has rendered them into

> prose.' Thus, because of their egolessness, their complete loss of

> individuality, both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om have become pure

> channels through which the True Teacher's Grace can flow."

>

> "The writings of both of them are so rich in content, so deep in

> meaning and devotional feeling, and so powerful in expression, that a

> time will come when both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om will be

> widely recognized as being among the foremost Sages of the world,

> worthy of a reverence no less than other great Tamil poet-saints such

> as Manikkavachakar, Tirujnanasambandhar, Appar Swamigal,

> Sundaramurthi Nayanar, Arunagiri Nathar and Tayumanavar.

>

> But because of our closeness to them in time, it is difficult for our

> present generation to appreciate fully the immense spiritual stature

> of these two self-effacing devotees, and the real worth of their rich

> poetic outpourings, just as it is difficult for a person standing

> close to the foot of a huge mountain to appreciate the real height

> and size of that mountain. Only future generations of Ramana-

> devotees, seeing from a distance in time, will be able to appreciate

> fully what a great boon Sri Ramana has bestowed upon the world in the

> form of this rich legacy of spiritual writings left by Sri Muruganar

> and Sri Sadhu Om."

>

> In the last sentence, notice the word "fully".

> It is not that present generations do not appreciate them.

> Many in the present generation of Ramana devotees appreciate them.

> But to fully appreciate them, to fully see the significance

> of the clarification and the communication they have brought forth,

> few have seen that in full.

>

> So I say, half jokingly, that if this body lives another 20 years,

> I should wait and talk to that next generation

> of Sri Ramana devotees.

> There are so many clues that Michael James has given in the above

> quotes, so many pointers, that if one were truly interested

> and pursued them until they saw fully what the clues point towards,

> oh what a discovery awaits such a one!

>

> Clear communication is very important.

> In the past I have posted Sri Muruganar's description of the

> awareness watching awareness method,

> including some very different alternative ways of describing what

> happens after one shuts one's eyes

> and turns the attention away from the world, body and thought.

> Refraining from looking out at things, etc. then you observe that

> looking, or awareness is awareness of itself, etc.

> I also have posted my way of describing it, and at the end of the

> Ceasing to pretend message I posted Sri Nisargadatta's way of

> describing it, and soon in the next few hours,

>

=== message truncated ===

 

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I think all the difference is in words chosen by individuals. With so many

approaches indicated, there is likely to be confusion for some. If it

cannot be expressed in words it can be felt which is described below.

 

Observe your breathing fora few seconds. During that time one is aware of

only consciousness without any thought any any duality. This should be

prolonged. But if one has to do this it comes under ' pranayama' which was

suggested by bhagavan only for short spells to control when the mind is

flooded with thoughts making it not possible to proceed with 'vichara'

Vichara achieves this without directly controlling breath. This state of

mind -consciousness ( i.e/ what is achieved during the observance of breath

) is to be achievd by means other than breath control. Though the names

differ process is the same. The words used by bhagavan to remain in that

state sre 'Just be' ; 'hold that consciousncess' annamalai saswami said

' be conscious of that consciousness" and later coinages like aware

watching awareness ' follow the sense of I etc.

 

 

Ramana Sarma