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Nondual Highlights Issue #2510, Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Editor: Mark
We are 'what' we
think ...
All that we are, arises with our 'thoughts' ...
With our 'thoughts' we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And 'trouble' will follow you ...
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
-The Buddha, Dhammapada,
posted to Poetic_Mysicism
If one finds waning interest in things external but no special
joy in inwardness, one may well be approaching the danger zone of
no- man's land where one belongs neither to the world nor to the
Truth. The way out is to revive one's spirit of enquiry.
To accept someone as one's Guru implies investing total faith in
Him, in what the Guru says. And what does Bhagavan (Sri Ramana
Maharshi) say? He says that the Self alone is and that the Guru
and the Self are non-different. If one had total faith in
Bhagavan, the moment one hears or reads, the moment one knows
what Bhagavan says, those words should become one's own
experience. (52) Thus to have total faith in Bhagavan as Guru
means to experience His presence as the Self.It is faith in His
words which keeps us at self-enquiry. What is this self-enquiry
that one strives to pursue? The process seems simple enough.
Bhagavan has explained that the sense of "I", one's
identity, the feeling that "I am so and so", exists
only in the waking and dream states. Even in dream it often
undergoes drastic changes of name, form, circumstance and so on.
And in deep sleep, the identity, this "I"-thought as
Bhagavan calls it, is totally absent. However, in deep sleep one
is not conscious of the experience that exists when identity
ceases. To consciously observe the dissolution of the
"I"-thought into the source constitutes self- enquiry.
Bhagavan has also clearly delineated the methodology for doing
so. The means to track the "I"-thought to its source
while remaining alert is to isolate it. The mind is a bundle of
thoughts, in which each and every thought is linked with or can
exist only in relation to the "I"-thought. Without the
connection with the "I"-thought no other thought can
subsist. The "I"-thought, although it is thus the
central thought can also not exist by itself. That is, since it
has no consciousness of its own but only reflects the
consciousness of the Self, it cannot bear pointed scrutiny. Hence
it camouflages itself by constantly associating itself with other
thoughts. How to penetrate this camouflage is, therefore, the
question. "By questioning the "I"-thought, by
questioning its locus standi" answers Bhagavan. "When
any thought arises ask of yourself "For whom is this
thought?" The answer will come "For me". Then
again ask "Who am I?" This question will scorch all
other thoughts and attention will rest on the
"I"-thought. Repeat this process as often as attention
wanders to other thoughts and give attention invariably to the
"I"-thought. Then it will automatically merge in the
source, the Self.
There can be no doubt that self-enquiry is the sure means to
Self- knowledge. But we must be sure that what we are practicing
is self- enquiry as taught by Bhagavan.Having understood the
technique clearly we fail to remember the attitude with the
enquiry is to be made.Has not Bhagavan repeated that it is not
merely a verbal question? To ask the question "Who am
I?" one must really be in doubt about one's true nature.
If the enquiry is real, it is bound to prevent the rising of any
other thoughts, on any motivation. Only the intense searchlight
of attention on the "I"-thought will remain and then
the "I"-thought will automatically dissolve into its
source, the Self.
- Sarada Nataragan, from Surging Joy,
posted to MillionPaths
To be able to apprehend without knowing
is to be at the pivot-trigger of the dao.
- Zhuangzi, posted to AdvaitaToZen
Among the great things which are to be found
among us, the Being of Nothingness is the
greatest.
- Leonardo Da Vinci, posted to AlongTheWay
Birth is not a beginning
Death is not an end.
There is existence without limitation
There is continuity without a starting-point.
Existence without limitation is space.
Continuity without a starting point is time.
There is birth, there is death,
There is issuing forth, there is entering in.
That through which one passes in and out
Without seeing its form ...
That is the 'Portal of God.'
The 'Portal of 'God' is 'non-existence'
All things sprang from 'non-existence'
Existence could not make existence existence
It proceeded - manifested from non-existence.
And non-existence and nothing are one.
Herein is the abiding-place of the sage.
- Lao Tse, posted to Poetic_Mysticism