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dustyroad
08 April 2012, 12:07 AM
Namaste,

I rather like Raman Maharishi a lot. He taught that we are the self and we must ignore illusions born of the mind. My question is, is this carried on like meditation, or on a moment to moment basis? Does it entail ignoring thoughts as they arise?

Some insights on this would help.

Thanks,
Dusty

Mana
08 April 2012, 12:39 AM
Namaste dustyroad,

yajvan has written many wonderful posts on this, from the perspective of Kashmir Shavism as expounded by swami LakshmanJoo.

I am a student of this knowledge, please for give me if my understanding or transmition is unclear or sallied.

This should be achieved, all the time.

With regular practis of one pointed thought, for example, seated meditation; this becomes easer.

The more emotional we are the harder this is, yet that emotion is a gift if we learn to harness it.
I have been lucky to have learnt a musical instrument from a fairly young age, this helps me to achieve, or, at least understand, one pointed focus of the mind.

I find it beneficial to understand what causes any distractions, what is their root, in order to lessen them and allow for greater connectivity.

This allows for a greater focus on the task at hand and ones direction of thought (one pointed), even if it is not us that is doing the pulling, at least we have our hands on the reigns.

Meditation at sun rise and sun set, or before sleeping and on rising, mark well the states of mind and set well the day, helping to keep one pointed.

As a side note; any who have suffered depression will know that upon waking, there is a brief moment of perfect calm before the depression bites. If you catch the thought before it takes a hold, before it starts to spin; Light can enter here!

I hope that these thoughts are of some use to you dusty, Thank you for your consideration.

praNAma

mana

Spiritualseeker
08 April 2012, 05:05 PM
Namaste,

Good post Mana. It is encouraging to read your post today. It is strange how things seem to synchronize, but to get on topic I also enjoy Ramana's method or non-method. I have read Ramana say to inquire into every thought that appears right at that moment. If a thought appears you inquiry into it. Such as, "Who is thinking this thought?" or "to whom do thoughts belong?" etc. A common mistake that is made (myself included) is to ask a bunch of questions instead of just sticking to one and truly embodying that question. Really look to see who thinks the thoughts or whatever the inquiry is.

For weaklings like me, I feel that I a lot of times cannot handle the direct path teachings and rely instead on the holy five syllable mantra, Namah Shivaya. To focus just on one thought which is [Om Namah Shivaya] waking, sleeping, eating, or anything. In this decline in the dharma I feel this is the only things i can rely on, because I do not think I have the guts for anything else.


Om Namah Shivaya

dustyroad
12 April 2012, 07:24 AM
I am aware of Raman's method, but wouldn't such an inquiry lead to monotony - there are lots of thoughts that keep coming and going, so wouldn't the 'who am I' method continue endlessly?

Aum namah Śivāya
12 April 2012, 09:44 AM
I am aware of Raman's method, but wouldn't such an inquiry lead to monotony - there are lots of thoughts that keep coming and going, so wouldn't the 'who am I' method continue endlessly?

नमस्ते

For me, it's more than a question, and more of a pointer to Self. Sometimes it arises spontaneously for me. Last night I was just going about my business, and suddenly realized more clearly that if you remove all that I believe that I am, you have the true Self. I call it, "That which lies beyond," the unmoved and unformed.

So it's not just asking the question, but going back from the thought, realizing it's circling around nothing individual, and so thereby going back to the Absolute.

And once you see it, you can easily go back to it, and then the world is just like a shell, a covering that falls away and flows over you without touching you.

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Maya3
12 April 2012, 08:15 PM
नमस्ते

For me, it's more than a question, and more of a pointer to Self. Sometimes it arises spontaneously for me. Last night I was just going about my business, and suddenly realized more clearly that if you remove all that I believe that I am, you have the true Self. I call it, "That which lies beyond," the unmoved and unformed.

So it's not just asking the question, but going back from the thought, realizing it's circling around nothing individual, and so thereby going back to the Absolute.

And once you see it, you can easily go back to it, and then the world is just like a shell, a covering that falls away and flows over you without touching you.

ॐ नमः शिवाय


That is so nice.

Maya

silence_speaks
03 May 2012, 07:49 AM
Dear Friends,
:) I am a new member here, so "Hi all!"
Ramana Maharshi's Self inquiry is a very nice method. There are, however, lot of misconceptions about the method itself. The following article could be found useful:

http://vaitathyam.blogspot.in/2012/04/bhagavan-ramana-maharshis-self-inquiry.html