The Dream-Search

“ So you think you can tell,

Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain; can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

 A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?“     
   Pink Floyd. Wish you were here

“ You think you are the teacher and find you are the taught. You think you are the seeker and find you are the sought. Sing a song of glory and you will be the glory! “ Sufi Choir.

We all experience the stages of life-  birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age and , finally, death.

Over time, we observe ourselves and others whom we know – relatives or friends or neighbours- progressing through different stages. We attend birthdays , weddings, baby showers, anniversaries and funerals.

We experience growing older, and the sadness of  a near one drastically transformed by  age or illness, or irrevocably ended by death.

Each of us grapples with our own questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives, about the ultimate truth, about God,  about rebirth and afterlife or nothingness.

We are all waylaid by fears and worries about our own future: what will happen to me in my old age?

Will I suffer illness and indignity and loss of health/mobility/freedom? Will I  lose my mind and my sanity?  Who will take care of me when I am helpless and suffering?

When and how will I die? What will happen to me after death?

Does God exist? Is there an afterlife or rebirth?

Does my existence have any  reason or purpose?

Who is asking all these questions? Who, really, am I ?

We deal with these and other existential fears and doubts in different ways: by dismissing them or  submerging them in our sub-conscious, by temporarily forgetting them through activity or addiction , by trying to find the right answers  in different ways or by just trying to take each day as it comes .

No matter how our life is going at the moment, inside every one of us there is this underlying dis-satisfaction, this nagging fear of the unknown, this yearning, however faint, for a lasting joy and peace.

And so we begin to search for answers…for books or people or teachers that may guide us, for inspiration , for a miracle.

We jump through many hoops…but sooner or later we suddenly taste a subtle, secret joy, catch a brief glimpse of infinity.

This is how it begins.

The Fire in the Stone

Ramana Maharishi’s Teachings on Samadhi

“….That blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened—That serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,
Until the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul;
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.”

William Wordsworth,  on Samadhi 

Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi’s teachings were based on his own direct experience…and are the same as the teachings of all the sages from the time of the Upanishads.

He tells us  to seek the Self by diving within through the practice of self-inquiry or of devotional surrender; both lead to merging in the source of “I”.

Merged with the source, the Self, one experiences the bliss and peace  of the thought-free state. This is samadhi.

The true Being can only be experienced in samadhi.

Once you have tasted this state, you will wish to experience it again and again.

As long as the ego-mind is not completely destroyed , the samadhi state is only temporary; on emerging, the mind and thoughts arise again.

Practice Samadhi until it becomes continuous, like an unbroken stream of oil flowing downwards, or a permanent current.

This is the state of sahaja samadhi , where the ego-mind has been totally and permanently erased by dissolving/merging in the Self.

In this state, one remains ever in blissful peace, whether one is active  or at rest. Even in the middle of the world, while seeming to perform all kinds of actions, one remains firmly anchored in the Self.

This is the goal of all your practice.

This is the state of the jnani or jivan-mukta.

Then there is nothing more to do.

                          ZEN   QUOTES

“To return to your original state of being,
You must become a master of stillness.
Activity for health’s sake,
Never carried to the point of strain,
Must alternate with perfect stillness.
Sitting motionless as a rock,
Turn next to stillness of mind.
Close the gates of the senses.
Fix your mind upon one object or,
Even better, enter a state
Of objectless awareness.
Turn the mind in upon itself
And contemplate the inner radiance. “
- Anonymous Zen

"The ultimate Way is simple and easy, yet profoundly deep. From the beginning it does not set up steps. Penetrate directly through to freedom and make it so that there is not the slightest obstruction at any time, twenty-four hours a day, with the realization pervading in all directions.

Then your heart will be clear, comprehending the present and the past. Picking up a blade of grass, you can use it for the body of Buddha; taking the body of the Buddha, you can use it as a blade of grass. From the first there is no superiority or inferiority, no grasping or rejection.

When your insight penetrates freely and its application is clear, then even in the middle of complexity and complication, you yourself can move freely without sticking or lingering anywhere. Thus, without setting up any rigid views or maintaining any state, respond freely: "when the wind blows, the grasses bend."

When you enter enlightenment in actual practice, you penetrate to the profound source, cultivating this until you realize freedom of mind, harboring nothing in your heart. Did the Zen founder actually "bring" this teaching when he came to China from India? He just pointed directly to the inherent nature in every one of us, clear and clean, to not be stained by so much false knowledge and false consciousness, delusory conceptions, and judgments.

Study must be true study. Open your heart, without the slightest sense of the ordinary or the holy and see for yourself. When you do not seek outside, real truth is always there, resting peacefully, immutable. No one can block this realization, not even a thousand sages or teachers; having attained a pure, clean and naked state, you pass through to the other side of the empty eon. Why even speak of seeking from others?

The Zen masters were all like this, ever since the founders. Take the example of the Sixth Patriarch: he was an illiterate woodcutter in south China, but when he came and met the Fifth Patriarch, at their first meeting he opened his heart and clearly passed through to freedom.

Once you merge your tracks in the stream of Zen, spend the days silencing your mind and studying with your whole being, knowing this great cause is not attained from anyone else. It is just a matter of bearing up bravely and strongly, day by day dropping away, like pure gold smelted and refined thousands of times.

This work lies in one's conduct: in everyday life's varied mix of myriad circumstances, in the dusty hubbub, amidst the ups and downs of situations. Be present and clear without being too distracted by any of it. Actively transmute confusion into clarity. Keep to the middle way, immune to outside influences; this is your own measure of power.

On reaching emptiness, there is no duality between noise and quiet. Even when it comes to extraordinary words, marvellous statements, unique acts, and absolute perspectives, you just level them with one measure. Ultimately they have no right or wrong, it's all in how you use them.

When you have continued grinding and polishing yourself like this for a long time, you will be free in the midst of birth and death and look upon society's useless honor and ruinous profit as like dust in the wind, phantoms in dreams, flowers in the sky. Passing unattached through the world, would you not then be a great saint who has left the dusts?

When Zen study reaches this point, one is flexible, compassionate, and empty, not susceptible to human deceptions."

Yuan-wu (1063-1135)   ( Courtesy: Daily Zen Newsletter)

Enjoy the Ride!

     

You can not satisfy your hunger or your thirst vicariously by someone else’s eating or drinking: you must find  truth from your own experience.

Reading all the books in the world and all other exercises of intellect cannot give you true wisdom: only the truth you experience beyond shadow of doubt in the depths of your own self can do that.
The perfection that lies beyond and behind the mind can only be known when the mind stops.
Sometimes, only going through suffering, grief or despair can teach one the value of acceptance and surrender.

I am a fool.

It’s incredible how stupid and stubborn is the habit of clinging to the ego-mind complex.

My life caught a-hold of me like a terrier grabbing a cornered rat and shook me into awakening.

Not just once; many, many times…over the six decades of my existence.

It took a long time for the penny to drop.

So don’t be impatient; don’t give up too soon.

Stick with your sadhana, your process.

All will turn out right in the end: in the way best for you and in the time best for your ripening.

Grace has it all under perfect and total control.

Once you finally figure this out and let go,

There’s nothing left to do except coast down the flow.

Enjoy the ride! J
http://lightsongs.blogspot.in/2009/08/freedom-express.html

GRACE

“ Why does everyone like the Tao so much? Isn’t it because you find what you seek and are forgiven your sins? Therefore, this is the greatest treasure of the universe.”

Lao Tsu , Tao Te Ching.

Tao is Grace,  the very substance of Brahman, pervading and surrounding all there is.
 It is the very form of the Guru, of God, of  the Self. It is the One.

No words can describe the perfection of the Guru’s grace.
Like the sun, it shines unceasingly on all, without discrimination.

My feeble attempts at sadhana are rewarded a thousand-fold!
 Like a mother, it accepts me totally and unconditionally with infinite love and tenderness.

It sees only the radiance of my Being and not the darkness of my ego.

For every step I take towards surrender, it takes a hundred steps towards me. It wraps me in a warm soft blanket of peace. It grants me the  gifts of courage and wisdom and understanding ; no emperor could be more generous!

Like light dissolves the darkness, it effortlessly dissolves all doubts and fears , dispels all shadows and sorrow, grants all blessings.

 It helps me dive deep within myself and find  stillness and silence and that ineffable joy that is the source of being.

 It lovingly embraces me in the Heart, allowing me to taste the ecstatic wonder of samadhi.

How could I ever have doubted its perfection, its absolute and total compassion, its serenity and strength?

I bow again and again to the Lightbringer,  the face of formless Brahman : Siva-Guru-Self.

My sweet and gracious Lord of Love….may I drown in Thee!

"The rise of the urge to seek for the 'I' is itself an act of Divine Grace. Once this urge gets hold of you, you are in its clutches. The grip of Divine Grace never relaxes and finally devours you, just as the prey in a tiger's jaws is never allowed to escape." Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi.

The Mind Cow

                         

“D: Why is it so difficult to turn the mind inwards?

M: It depends on practice and dispassion and succeeds only gradually. Like a cow accustomed to grazing stealthily on other’s estates, the mind cannot be easily confined to her stall. However much her owner tempts her with luscious grass and fine fodder, she refuses the first time; then she takes a bit , but her innate tendency to stray asserts itself and she slips away; on being repeatedly tempted by the owner, she gradually accustoms herself to the stall; finally, even if let loose, she would not stray away. Similarly with the mind : if once it finds its inner happiness, it will not wander outward.”

Talks with Ramana Maharishi , Talk 213

Listen, my friend: do not despair.You forgot your source and just got lost in the movie.
Discover who you really are and find true and lasting joy.

  For too long, you have been accustomed to the intoxication of illusion, the maddening temptations of the senses, the highs of duality , the addictions of power and pelf, of pleasure and pain.

 The vasanas  of desire and anger and greed, the self-inflicted torments of guilt and doubt and jealousy have been deeply engrained in you over so many lifetimes ; even your suffering has become too precious to let go!

You cling to your myth, your story, your script, terrified of losing your only identity, no matter how much you are in misery.

Don’t worry, there is a high greater than all the highs, a potion that can destroy all the  poisons and set you free. Just discover the sat-chit-ananda of the infinite Self within and your suffering will dissolve  in that ecstasy like salt in the sea.

In the silence of the mind, we find true rest: this is why everyone treasures the joy of deep, thought-free sleep.

How can you  reach that thought-free state while still remaining awake and aware?
 By seeking the source of the  “I “thought, the place to where it retires in sleep.

Atma Vichara or Self Inquiry is the practice of seeking the source of the “I” thought.

At first, you will struggle to turn inwards, to find the silent thought-less centre; this is the tapasya, the sadhana , the effort that will, one day,  suddenly drop you into effortless infinity.

Like a swimmer learning to dive, you will dip in and out; over time, you will learn how to stay submerged longer and longer, to dive deeper and deeper.

Practice is everything.

Once you taste the deep peace and the ineffable bliss of the Self in your Heart, nothing else will ever satisfy you.

In the beginning , you will be able to stay in the Heart only for brief moments: this is enough.

 As your practice of atma vichara deepens over time, you will find it easier and easier to turn inwards, until it becomes effortless and automatic. This happens when Grace takes over and pulls you deep into the Self.

And, eventually, like the drop falling into the ocean, you will let go of your mind, your story, your ego, and dissolve totally into the Self.

The rest is only silence .

Peace at Last

 “ Return to the simplicity of  formless substance.

  Without form, there is no desire.

  Without desire, there is tranquillity.

   In this way all things would be at peace.” Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

“ Identification with the body is dvaita. Non-identification is advaita. “  Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi.

Everything exists in emptiness: space holds all things, from pebbles to planets to galaxies.

Everything is made of emptiness: at the heart of matter, inside the atom, there is mostly empty space.

Everything is pervaded by a formless, intelligent consciousness: this is the Self that is the one true and eternal reality.

Observing the intricate perfection of the web of Nature, I marvel at the underlying intelligence and harmony.

At core, am I this formless, infinite consciousness?

Who am I?

Who was I before this body was born? Who will I be  after this body is dead?

Can I investigate my own true nature? Can I discover the Real underlying the Unreal?

I am not this limited and temporary body-mind complex. I am beyond form and formlessness, neither everything nor nothing. I cannot say what I am: except ” I am”.

The Self is the blissful perfection that is the source and the substance of all things.

Once I seek the source of my own Being, I merge with this Self and become one with everything.

This is the ocean that the river of the soul thirsts for and seeks through a thousand lifetimes.

Peace at last: infinite and eternal peace.