Ramana Jayanthi

 “You who wish to celebrate a birthday, inquire first who was born. One’s true birthday is when one enters into the Eternal Being which shines forever without birth or death.” Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Today, at Sri Ramanasramam in Tiruvannamalai, the 143rd birthday of Sri Ramana Maharishi is being celebrated with deep love and devotion. 

“The Maharshi was an idol of peace and silence. The ocean’s surface dances in waves, laughs in sparkling foam, roars as its thunderous waves clap and clash! And yet deep in its inner vaults it rests in eternal silence and peace. Without such a divine and spiritual depth, the work and activities of this universe would become worthless and aimless. Work should be undertaken and pursued to take us ultimately to the workless abode of Divine Silence and endless Peace. This is the secret doctrine of all our Vedas and ancient scriptures.” Swami Tapovanam, on Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi

This is how Suddhananda Bharati, the philosopher-poet-saint describes his first glimpse of Bhagavan: “I saw no human form. I felt dazed, effulgence enveloped me and Bhagavan dissolved me into silence. Bhagavan implanted grace in me and my eyes involuntarily closed themselves. I felt I was entering into the inner cave of my Heart. An hour passed like a moment and when I opened my eyes, I noticed that Bhagavan Ramana’s lotus eyes were riveted on me. A voice from within said, “Now, you have felt it. The cave is open. The “I AM” is the truth.” After many years of intense sadhana, now, here at the holy feet of Ramana Maharshi, I experienced for the first time, the truth as my own inner reality, and caught hold of his holy feet and shed tears of joy remembering the sacred words of the saint Manickavachagar: “Today, you have risen in my Heart as a sun destroying all forms of darkness. I am swimming in ecstasy.”

O gracious Bhagavan, lord of hearts, you who were never born and will never die, indulge your children who cannot refrain from expressing their love and gratitude and joy.

You deigned to incarnate in human form and bless the whole world with your Light. At the tender age of sixteen, you attained Brahman. For fifty-five years you dwelt in the bosom of your beloved Arunachala mountain so that millions could experience the divine in human form.  Now, more than seven decades after you dropped that form, human beings from every corner of planet earth keep visiting your shrine, where Grace blazes forth unceasingly.

O gentle and compassionate Lord, so many thousands of souls have taken shelter at your feet and found peace and joy beyond all description!

No words can begin to thank you or describe your infinite glory.

Om namo bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya! Om namo bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya!

Jai Bhagavan! Jai Bhagavan! Jai Bhagavan! Pray, shine forever in my Heart!

“Abandon the drama of the world and seek the Self within. Stay within and I will protect you, ensuring that no harm befalls you. Seek my grace within the Heart. I will drive away the darkness and show you the light. This is my responsibility. Like the children of an emperor, my devotees are heirs to abundant rejoicing.!” Sri Ramana Maharishi, Padmalai.

I Wish

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto you!" Holy Bible

 “There is nothing in the world so dear as life or so desirable. What is life? God’s existence is my life. If my life is God’s existence then God’s being is my being and God’s is-ness is my is-ness, neither more nor less.” Meister Eckhardt, Sermon 65

I wish you happiness and laughter, patience and fortitude and the gift of seeing beauty in everything.
May you enjoy true fellowship in caring and sharing and rejoice in the glory of the One! 
I wish you a glad life, an awakened and aware life, as uplifting as birdsong at dawn.
May you know the magic of unconditional love and the perfect joy of surrender.

I wish you calmness and strength, courage and faith, as you persist in the face of all odds.

May discrimination and detachment help you navigate the treacherous rapids of earthly existence.
I wish you a journey of joyous discovery and wonder, of deep insight and intuitive understanding.
May you appreciate the gifts of connection and compassion woven into the mystery of this universe.

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” Jalaluddin Rumi

I wish you a tranquil mind in a healthy body as you live life directly, centered in the here and now.
May you always be aware of the grace and the blessings that you continually receive.
I wish you peace and contentment as you ripen in wisdom and self-knowledge.
May your life flow as a river of gratitude and acceptance into the ocean of God.

I wish that you see through the constructs of mind and find the eternal, ineffable truth.
May you feel God’s compassionate presence in you, around you, everywhere!
I wish that you discover the immortal Self hidden deep in the core of your being.
May you know the Divine within and experience the end of all suffering.

“By fixing the attention lightly, effortlessly in the present moment without allowing it to wander into past or future, the mind becomes ‘no-mind’ – the Self!”   Yoga Vashishta.

I wish your heart blossoms with infinite love and fills all the heavens with its song.
May the light in you brighten everything around you and bless all that you touch with its bliss!
May your being be whole and tranquil and joyous, free from regret and worry and fear.
Dearly beloved, with all my heart, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

"There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fount of action and joy.  It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being, welcoming me tenderly, saluting me with indescribable humility."  Thomas Merton

Coming Home

 “The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace. There comes a moment in life when our compensatory activities, the accumulation of money, learning and objects, leaves us feeling deeply apathetic. This can motivate us towards the search for our real nature beyond appearances. We may find ourselves asking, 'Why am I here? What is life? Who am I?' Sooner or later any intelligent person asks these questions. What you are looking for is what you already are, not what you will become. What you already are is the answer and the source of the question. In this lies its power of transformation. It is a present actual fact. Looking to become something is completely conceptual, merely an idea. The seeker will discover that he is what he seeks and that what he seeks is the source of the inquiry.”

― Jean Klein, I Am

From the very root of being, an ancient memory arises, a tantalising glimpse of pure joy and peace.

Once you have tasted the divine, you can never forget it. Nothing else will ever fully satisfy you.

So there comes a stage in every human life when the soul craves to return home.

The search begins.

For most of us, this search takes a great deal of effort and time.

We search with great diligence in all the wrong places. Often, we give up in despair.

In the darkest hour, light suddenly appears : this is how Grace dawns.

Surrender is the key.

“Who is the doer and what is done? Is the end of the quest the end of the question?
You think you are the seeker and find you are the sought.
You think you are the teacher and find you are the taught.
 Sing a song of glory and you will be the glory!” Sufi Choir

Grace guides us, intuitively, to focus all our attention inwards.

Stillness and tranquility lets us sink into the deepest core of being.

This is where we rest every night in deep sleep, without any thought or dream.

This is where we discover who we really are.

In this perfect silence, the mind dissolves in the divine like salt  in the sea.

Here the soul experiences an infinite, blissful peace that is changeless, eternal.

This is our true home.

Stay anchored in this bliss and never leave.

Whatever needs to happen will happen.

Nothing more needs to be done.

“As, in your mother’s womb, you dwelt unattached to anything else; so too, sink into the womb of the Heart and dwell in the Self alone. Where all the holy scriptures end, there tranquil Self- abidance begins!” Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi.

Nothing But Perfection

 

O compassionate Master, no words can describe your boundless grace.

Death dances like a madman all around but cannot touch me anymore.

You took my hand and led me into the dimension of infinite joy.

Just as darkness cannot survive the sunrise, here it is impossible for suffering to exist.

This heaven beyond all sorrow, O Lord, is your gracious gift, your merciful blessing, your vast, inexpressible peace!

I dissolve in a river of blissful tears as my story disappears in your Light.

O Gurudev! I burn like a wick in your flame!

For the rest of my days, my heart can do nothing but give thanks, again and again;

With every fibre of my existence, I constantly sing your praise.

Om Bhagavan ! Jai Bhagavan! Om Bhagavan! Jai Bhagavan! Om Bhagavan! Jai Bhagavan!

You opened my eyes and now I see: nothing but perfection exists!

The Om Purnamadah Mantra is a universal chant for awakening the consciousness and tuning into the infinite bliss accessible within oneself.

“You are the fullness. There is fullness, here is fullness. From the fullness, the fullness is born. Remove the fullness from the fullness, and the fullness alone remains.Om , peace, peace, peace.” Isho Upanishad

The meaning of this ancient Vedic mantra is that the entire creation constitutes one whole unit of perfection.

Each and every particle, non-living or living, represents the same whole unit. There is no place where this whole is not present. Every atom contains it.

This whole reproduces itself in its own image.

Removing every entity from this unit has no effect on it because that which remains represents the same whole. So, forever and always, nothing but perfection exists.

Human life is precious because, by the Guru’s grace,  human beings can truly know and experience this understanding. Thus, all suffering ends.

 

A Prayer

 “ Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation , but delivers us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” The Lord’s Prayer

In the depths of being I glimpsed a jewel,
the luminous splendour of the colourless light of emptiness.
My heart cried out this prayer:

Oh compassionate Lord  without name or form,
Oh perfect power who pervades all creation,
Thou secret in-dweller living embedded in all beings,
Let your radiance embrace me that I may dissolve in you!

Forgive me for my blindness, for my mistakes, for any hurt I caused to other living creatures, for my unconsciousness, my foolishness, my insanity.
Forgive me for forgetting my true nature and wandering away from You, who shines always in my heart.

Thou mighty Infinity that contains and permeates all creation,
thou shining love and bliss that cannot be measured or described or contained ,
swallow me whole and let me be one with You.

Oh Sun of suns, bless us all with your infinite grace!
O Father who is the Source,
O great and tender Mother who cares for and sustains all,
accept our humble and devoted surrender, open your arms wide, embrace these prodigal drops returning to your ocean of eternal peace.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

“In silent surrender there is bliss and prayer without request or demand. There is no doer, experiencer, lover or beloved. There is only a divine current. You see that the very act of welcoming is itself the solution to the problem and the action which follows your comprehension is very straightforward. When you become familiar with the act of surrender, truth will solicit you unsought.”

― Jean Klein, Who Am I?: The Sacred Quest

Live Naturally

 “Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Emptiness is the source and the substance of all that exists.
When you are still, you return to this source, as you do every night in deep, dreamless sleep.
This return to emptiness recharges the innermost being with peace and joy.
It is a state of absolute and blissful contentment – nothing is wanted in this perfect abundance.
This daily miracle is the gateway to all mystery.

“What any desire really aims at, is a state of non-desire. This non-desire is a state in which we demand absolutely nothing. Thus it is a state of extreme abundance, of fullness. This fullness is revealed as infinite bliss and peace. You now know that you are really seeking nothing else but fullness and absolute peace.” Jean Klein, Be Who You Are

If you would know heaven on earth, discover the art of waking sleep.

Learn to be still in the midst of movement, silent in the hurly-burly of the marketplace, at rest in the very throes of action. Find the center deep in your being, the Self who is the only  constant through all your states, the unattached, impartial and dispassionate witness of  the drama of your life. 

Seek the source of your very existence. Open your heart to this sacred inquiry. 

“Deep inquiry leads to contemplation, or prayer. Through dedicated contemplation we can attune to consciousness, the light which constitutes all phenomena. This light is our intrinsic nature. Our being is always shining. Our real nature is openness, listening, release, surrender without effort or will. Prayer is welcoming, free from projection and expectation. It is without demand and formulation. It invites the divine to unfold in you and reveals your openness to you. Live with this opening, this vastness. Attune yourself to it. It is love.” Jean Klein, Who Am I?: The Sacred Quest

Break the conditioning and drop the illusion of the persona to return to your true nature.

True prayer is just being, here and now, open, accepting, receptive as an empty cup.

Just as you drop all thought, all identification with name or form, to sink into the rest and rejuvenation of deep sleep, let everything go…except the spark of awareness, the consciousness that is the witness of waking, dream and sleep.

 Learn to find and hold onto this witness, this intrinsic state of pure being.
With practice, you will be able to always abide in this conscious center with effortless ease.
Like a bird flies, a fish swims or a tree grows, live naturally, anchored in the blissful peace of the eternal Self.

There is nothing but Love

 “Love has the power to open the door of eternal life. By contemplation how far can we pierce through life? One, two, or three planes, then we must stop, but the nearest way of all is by love and devotion, for it is God's way, and God is Love. God cannot be deceived -- God will not be deceived. When anyone has taken this way it is by the God in him. And as we give all things they come back to us through love. The more we give, the more comes back. Love has its limitations when it is directed to limited beings, but love that is directed to God has no limitations, God alone deserves all love, and the freedom of love is in giving it to God.” Hazrat Inayat Khan

In the center of your being, a perennial fountain of love springs forth. This is the Real, the Absolute, the divine Grace that is the source and the substance of all things. This is your greatest treasure, your key to immortal bliss. Drink but one sip of this fountain and nothing else will matter any more.

Love exists as itself in harmonious perfection, radiant as the sun, self-effulgent, ever untainted, blissful. Always shining in the heart of every living creature, love is all-pervasive, indestructible, infinite and eternal. Love is God.

You can never know or understand or interpret love. You can only be love. Fortunately, this is who you really are always.

Your true being is covered by layer upon layer of form that you have been conditioned to identify with. You are not mind or thoughts or feeling, not bones or blood or skin. You are the innermost perceiver, the one who sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and breathes through your nose. You are the observer of the play of thoughts and actions and the objects of this world. You are the core of absolute awareness that gives this body life.

Unfortunately, all your attention is diverted outwards, to the objects of your mind and this world. Focus your entire attention on the core of your own being, deep within yourself. This will still the mind and eventually dissolve it, along with all your biological, psychological and emotional conditioning. The non-existent persona disappears as the drop becomes the ocean - Love alone remains.

The truth shines forth in all its glory: nothing but Love exists!

“Love alone is the fountain from which all virtues fall as drops of sparkling water. Love is given to inspire divine love in the heart of man, and all the beauty that man sees on earth is beauty created by the power of love, and by the power of love he learns to recognize it as a reflection of the beauty of heaven. Thus may earth become heaven, and heaven and earth one single vision of the glory of God.” Hazrat Inayat Khan