Comments on practice

[Guest guest]

What I have seen for myself is that `spiritual practice' brings inner

peace. I have seen this through my own experience.

 

What is spiritual practice to me? (This is a good question for each of

us to consider, reflect and meditate upon).

 

First it is the recognition that happiness comes from within.

Second it is a seeming choice to actually look within (and more

frequently than earlier in this life).

 

When looking within, it is investigating ones own identity. In this

investigation, one learns to see those things that come and go (like

the senses, the mind, that waking state, etc.) are not the self. How

can they be? They come and go, while the sense of identity never does.

So one searches for what is always here. What is always here? Who am

I? Can I be that which comes and goes, or must I be that which sees

the coming and going?

 

I have found that having one part of practice, a regular time when I

have good energy and mental attention, is a key element. Before this

started in my life, maybe ten years ago, there was practice (looking

within) but it has haphazard and the progress was too. For me this

time is early in the morning, before dawn, now on the rooftop, sitting

with Arunachala.

 

In addition to this, there is also every day listening to satsang

discourses and dialogs with Nome. Before I came to India, I collected

and organized several years of these recordings. I then converted them

to mp3 for ease of use, and indexed them so to be best access. For me

this is important, since the teaching takes me beyond my own mental

conceptions and continues to lead me into questioning my own

assumptions about myself and my identity.

 

Most days there is also reading aloud from Ribhu Gita. We especially

like `Song of Ribhu,' that Tamil Ribhu Gita. Reading this aloud is

very important, I think. We usually read just a few verses. We have

been though it several times. It is still fresh.

 

I also have learned to make other choices during the day to turn the

mind within. One thing we do about four times a week is walk

Arunachala, either on the inner path around the hill, or up a trail to

one of the cases, or exploring areas we don't yet know. Other times

during the day, one `remembers' the Self, and turns the mind within.

Within the day there in an ongoing observation, `What do I consider

myself to be? Is that who I am? Who am I?' With this process vasanas

become known, then soften and dissolve.

 

We also have `satsang' twice a week. We will set up on the rooftop

with photos or Ramana and Nome, burn incense, etc. We will read from

Ribhu and listen to some satsang or other teaching from Nome.

Sometimes we will have guests listening with us; sometimes it is just

Carol and myself. We have found that doing this as a regular activity

is good for us.

 

During each day we will usually find ourselves sitting on the roof,

just being silent and sitting with Arunachala.

 

Further we see the Grace that is in our lives. And seeing the Grace

brings both a deep sense of gratitude, as well as a sense of how

important it is to take this Grace and go as deep spiritually as we can.

 

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Om Arunachala,

Richard