Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Om Namah Shivaya I think I had seen a step by step of the Vichara process. Could someone point me to the email /webpage that details that? How can we help focus ourselves into the heart space ? What happens when we achieve success etc etc. Please help. Thanks Shiva Bhakta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 om namo bhagavate sri ramanaya Dear Shiva Bhakta,, > Om Namah Shivaya > I think I had seen a step by step of the Vichara process. > Could someone point me to the email /webpage that details that? > How can we help focus ourselves into the heart space ? > What happens when we achieve success etc etc. To enquire 'Who am I?' really means trying to find out the source of the ego or the 'I' thought. You are not to think of other thoughts, such as 'I am not this body, etc.' Seeking the source of 'I' serves as a means of getting rid of all other thoughts. We should not give scope to other thoughts,...[such as 'I am not this mortal body' or 'Why has God created this world?'],... but must keep the attention fixed on finding out the source of the 'I' thought, by asking (as each thought arises) to whom the thought arises and if the answer is 'I get the thought' by asking further who is this 'I' and whence its source? >From Sri Ramana Maharshi's 'Who am I?' 11. What is the means for constantly holding on to the thought 'Who am I?'' When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them, but should inquire: To whom do they arise?' It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquire with diligence, 'To whom has this thought arisen?' The answer that would emerge would be 'To me'. Thereupon if one inquires 'Who am I?', the mind will go back to its source; and the thought that arose will become quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the skill to stay in its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense-organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the names and forms disappear. Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called 'inwardness' (antar-mukha). Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as 'externalisation' (bahir-mukha). Thus, when the mind stays in the Heart, the 'I' which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self€which ever exists will shine. Whatever one does, one should do without the egoity 'I'. If one acts in that way, all will appear as of the nature of Siva (God). 15. How long should inquiry be practised? As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the inquiry 'Who am I?' is required. As thoughts arise they should be destroyed then and there in the very place of their origin, through inquiry. If one resorts to contemplation of the Self unintermittently, until the Self is gained, that alone would do. As long as there are enemies within the fortress, they will continue to sally forth; if they are destroyed as they emerge, the fortress will fall into our hands. 16. What is the nature of the Self? What exists in truth is the Self alone. The world, the individual soul, and God are appearances in it. like silver in mother-of-pearl, these three appear at the same time, and disappear at the same time. The Self is that where there is absolutely no 'I' thought. That is called 'Silence'. The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is 'I'; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self. Regards, Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 RamanaMaharshi, "Shiva Bhakta" <shivabhakta@h...> wrote: > Om Namah Shivaya > > I think I had seen a step by step of the Vichara process. > Could someone point me to the email /webpage that details that? > How can we help focus ourselves into the heart space ? > What happens when we achieve success etc etc. > > Please help. > Thanks > Shiva Bhakta To me the vichara process is simply to see/feel/know who/what is asking a question or seeking to focus into the heart space, etc. For example I might ask myself: Who wants to get into the heart space? Then I might respond with: Me! I want to enter the space! I'd follow it with: Who is this I/me that wants that? I might notice that this I/me is my personal egoic self who wants it. Then I might wonder if that personal egoic "me" is really me....am I that ego/person who wants such and such? At that point I might notice that there is something more to me than the ego....something more real and not all that concerned with entering the heart or anything because it (I) is totally complete and satisfied to just be. But if I decided that I am just a little personal egoic "me" who wants this and that, I'd abide as "it" and go for what "it" wants. If however, I realized that I am not an egoic self who wants, needs, seeks, etc., but am (the real) me.....then I'd abide as myself....or at least until I found myself back in my needy ego again, looking for things, whereupon I'd start the vichara again. I'd guess that if done enough, we finally arrive where Ramana was/is - totally in/as the Self with little or no personal ego to have us looking for heart spaces or whatever......LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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