Embrace the Self

 ( Painting by Meena Subramaniam)

“The Self that is subtler than the subtle and greater than the great is seated in the heart of every creature. One who is free from desire sees the glory of the self through the tranquillity of the mind and senses and becomes absolved from grief.” Katha Upanishad 

Turn away from the world and all its objects – direct all your attention within.

With humble devotion, embrace the source of your being.

As the creeper clings to a great tree in the forest, cling to the Self.

Let it be your anchor, your sustenance and your strength.

In stillness and silence, the mind is clear and bright.

Suffering ends when all thoughts cease. 

Rest in the Heart, dissolve in that Light. 

  O thirsty soul, drink deep from this fountain of immortal peace! 

"The Maharshi turns and looks down into my face; I, in turn, gaze expectantly up at him. I become aware of a mysterious change taking place with great rapidity in my heart and mind. The dislikes, misunderstandings, coldness and selfishness which have marked my dealings with many of my fellows collapse into the abyss of nothingness. An untellable peace falls upon me and I know that there is nothing further that I shall ask from life. This man has freed himself from all problems, and no woe can touch him.In this extraordinary peace, I find a sense of exaltation and lightness. Time seems to stand still. My heart is released from its burden of care - .I enjoy an ineffable tranquility merely by sitting for a while in the neighbourhood of the Maharshi.A force greater than my rationalistic mind awes me until it ends by overwhelming me.” Paul Brunton, Face to Face with Maharishi 

“Two years have passed since I last crossed the threshold of Thy ashram and yet in spirit I have ever remained there. Though illusion still often veils the vision of Reality revealed in the blessed Silence of Thy Presence, though the silver thread of Self-awareness be often lost midst changing light and shadows, still the inner urge to realise the Self remains and grows stronger and more insistent as Grace and search go hand in hand.At times, yet rare, with no apparent cause, spontaneous awareness of the “I” springs up and bliss fills the heart with glowing warmth. Effortless concentration goes with this state while all desires do come to rest fulfilled in utmost peace…..till once more, alas, the veil is drawn and illusion blurs the vision of the Real. Yet what the soul has experienced and knows repeatedly as Truth can never be denied or forgotten and “That which is” gives one the constant strength to persevere.I pray to Thee as to my Self for light and guidance that I know are ever there and at Thy feet lay offerings of unchanging love.” Letter to Sri Ramana Maharishi from Pascaline Maillert of France, 21st November 1938.

You Are The Key to This Wonderful Mystery

                              

“We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth…….

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible,
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world.
That is when, and only when
We come to it.” Maya Angelou

When the future looks bleak and all hope seems lost, do not give in to fear or despair.
You are the salvation that the world awaits, you are the miracle, the answer, the key!
The very cosmos depends upon you to know itself!

Everything begins and ends with you.
You are the most important person in your life.
You are not a helpless, weak, limited individual – within you is an infinite love that is the greatest power in all creation.
This is the divine One, the absolute perfection that is the source and the substance of everything.

Have faith in yourself – focus on tuning your inner being to be in harmony with this One.
This is the greatest gift you can give yourself, your loved ones, and the whole world.
Do this – and everything else will magically fall into place.

Whatever needs to happen will happen, whatever needs to be done will be done.
All will be whole and all will be well. 

“ Know the real Self and the truth will shine forth within your heart like sunshine. The mind will become untroubled and flooded with real happiness, for happiness and the true Self are identical. Once you attain this Self- awareness, you will have no more doubts.” Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi to Paul Brunton, from A Search in Secret India.

“All appearance is source. All that apparently manifests in the hypnotic dream of separation - ­ the world, the life story, the search for home, is one appearing as two, the nothing appearing as everything, the absolute appearing as the particular.There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny and no choice functioning at any level. Nothing is happening but this, as it is, invites the apparent seeker to rediscover that which is . . . the abiding, uncaused, unchanging, impersonal silence from which unconditional love overflows and celebrates. This is the wonderful mystery.” Anonymous Mystic

This Love

                         

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere:
They're in each other all along.” Rumi

“Since I began to love, love has never forsaken me. It has ever grown to its own fullness within my innermost heart.” St. Catherine of Genoa, Life and Doctrine, 1551 

O Beloved!
As a traveller lost in the desert thirsts for water, I yearn incessantly for Thee.
This bee has tasted the nectar of your love – now nothing else can satisfy me.
In the intoxication of this devotion, I have lost my mind and forgotten my name.
Without hesitation, I leap into your Light; I burn like a moth in your flame! 

This love of ours is a deep mystery – what words can speak its glory?
When lover and beloved melt into one, who is left to tell the story?
You beat me like a drum, tune me like a violin, play me like a flute
Whose perfect notes resound when my whole being is mute.

This love is a singing in the Heart that is infinite, ecstatic bliss;
O friend, pay heed! 

Before you die, strive, with all your soul, to know this!

“If anyone should ask me what God is, I would answer: God is love, and so altogether lovely that creatures all with one accord essay to love his loveliness, whether they do so knowingly or unbeknownst, in joy or sorrow. God loves my soul so much that his very life and being depend upon his loving me, whether he would or no. To stop God loving me would be to rob him of his Godhood; for God is love no less than he is truth; as he is good, so is he love as well. It is the absolute truth, as God lives.” Meister Eckhart, Sermon 5

Being

“It is indeed the mind that is the cause of men’s bondage and liberation. The mind that is attached to sense-objects leads to bondage, while dissociated from sense-objects it leads to liberation.” – Amrita-bindu Upanishad

“ Tranquil clarity devoid of mental turmoil is the samadhi which is essential for liberation. Therefore try earnestly to achieve peaceful consciousness, the clarity of heart, by destroying the mind. The state in which the unbroken experience of existence-consciousness is attained by the still mind alone is Samadhi.” Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi

Cleverness cannot save you ; throw away this mind and all its forms!

If you would end all suffering, be silent, be still.
In the cavern of the Heart, the Beloved dances in the bliss of infinite love.
Shining like a star in the void, that Light is the source of all that exists.

Strip away all attributes, all layers until you reach the core of Being.
This is the only reality: the ego sinks and dissolves in this sea.
Let everything go ; just rest in pure existence.
When the persona illusion disappears, the original mind is revealed in all its glory.

The world is a tapestry woven by the thread of consciousness.
This thread emerges from the Absolute as pure Being, the “I AM”.
Seize this thread and follow it to its source.
Dwell there always in perfect peace.

Being is enough: neither doing nor becoming is required.
What is, always is - you are already That.
Stay firmly poised in your own true nature.
Nothing more needs to be done.



“I AM can be spoken by no creature, but by God alone. I must become God and God must become me, so completely that we share the same ‘I’ eternally. Our truest ‘I’ is God.” Meister Eckhart

Sacred Nature

 

(Painting by Meena Subramaniam)

“What attracts the mystic most is nature. Nature is his bread and wine. Nature is his soul's nourishment. Nature inspires him, uplifts him and gives him the solitude for which his soul continually longs. Every soul born with a mystical tendency is constantly drawn towards nature; in nature that soul finds its life's demand; as it is said in the Vadan, 'Art is dear to my heart, but nature is near to my soul'. Nature does not teach the glory of God; nature itself is the glory of God. To the eye of the seer, every leaf of the tree is a page of the holy book that contains divine revelation, and he is inspired every moment of his life by constantly reading and understanding the holy script of nature.” Hazrat Inayat Khan.


On a clear desert night, is the moon really a silver galleon sailing on an ocean of stars?
That solitary crane flying suspended in timeless vastness, what does he dream about?
The secret whisper in the hush at the heart of a forest, what does it proclaim?
These mountains raising their splendid crags to the sky, whom do they praise?



Perhaps the wind knows, as it whistles in the trees or howls like a banshee down the canyon of a storm.
Perhaps the mirrored stillness of an autumn lake reflects these sacred messages.
Perhaps the Earth never stops singing in the very being of all her children.
Perhaps all it takes is thought-free silence to truly hear that song.

A flock of green parakeets paints a brief masterpiece against the evening sky.
Pure bliss is revealed in the dance of dolphins leaping on the bosom of the sea.
Mother Nature weaves her perfect tapestry with loving tenderness and joy -
All I can do is bow down in awe before the exquisite beauty,

the sheer wonder, the triumphant, divine glory of it all!



“To see the world in a grain of sand and Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour.” Auguries of Innocence, William Blake.

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