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Articles from the Heart of Satsang

Blog

Articles from the Heart of Satsang

John David
Spiritual Teacher

Poem of J. Krishnamurti

I am neither low nor high;
I am the worshipper and the worshipped.
I am free.

My song is the song of the river calling for the open seas;
Wandering, wandering;

I am Life.

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Essential Extracts from the Manuscript

Q: So, is this state of consciousness steadily remaining merely as Itself, undisturbed by thought, called the Sahajastithi?
B: No. It is called Aham Sphurana.

Q: Then what is the Sahajastithi?
B: No description is possible. The reflected being — consciousness which is localised in a physical body — is destroyed; after this is destroyed, that alone remains which has always been.

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A Former Classmate Visiting Bhagavan

B.: Why all these fancy items? You yourself have family-members who are suffering from asthma: is that not so? Is this body more important than or in any way superior to those bodies? How is it that ignoring them you have brought this medicine over to me? If you give this to those who truly need it, they will feel happy. I have no use for such things. I cannot think “Oh! we are taking medicine for our good health.” and feel elated. [smiling, in demure fashion saying—] I hope you are not angry with me…!

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Mrs Piggot’s Diary

I was told that the Maharshi had his finger on the pulse of the whole ashram, although he appeared prima facie totally unconcerned with all mundane affairs. For instance, when in the Hall, he was supposed to know what was going on even in the kitchen — and incidentally I was surprised to find that he himself assisted in the cutting up of vegetables for the daily meal.
I was also told that he knows what is passing in the minds of people. Of this latter ability, I had a small personal experience.

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A Dialogue with a Mature Visiter

Mind is only a notion. Have you ever investigated into what it actually is?

GL.: No… I seem to have taken its existence for granted so long.
B.: That is the mistake. The mind is accepted as being the Self. The Self is always – whereas the mind appears and disappears. Is there any mind in deep slumber? But your Self is always there. The mind, which has deluded itself into imagining that it is a mortal with a physical form living in an objectively real world as its perceiver, is beset with limitations.
On the other hand, pure Subjective Consciousness knows no limitation.

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Schopenhauer and Renunciation

Q.: I have heard that Bhagawan once spoke highly of Schopenhauer.
B.: He has discovered that the world is an inherently and incorrigibly unhappy place; he has also discovered that man’s true purpose is happiness; furthermore, he states correctly that extirpation of one’s personal will leads to Emancipation. However, what seems to be missing is practical technique. How shall the wille-zum-leben, which is the cause for all suffering, be defeated and annihilated?

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The Juggler

A certain man who, I learn, puts on juggling performances every year during the Karthigai Deepam festival, has come to the Hall; he has questions to ask of the master—

Q.: Does Sri Maharshi possess the power to turn his body invisible at will? Does Sri Maharshi possess the power to materialise objects out of nothing or thin-air?
B.: Sri Maharshi does not even possess a will.

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How shall we kill the mind?

B.: Is it the mind that wants to kill the mind? The mind cannot kill the mind. Anything that you endeavour to ‘do’ with the mind will only reinforce and perpetuate the notion of mind. Rather than pointlessly wondering, ‘How shall I eradicate the mind?’, go on seeking the mind. Incessant search for what mind is results in its disappearance.

The thing to do is to completely ignore the objects that appear by the reflected light of the mind, and instead seek the source of the mind’s illumination. If the source of the mind is continuously sought for, it begins to subside.

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Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer Ashram Report

For the most part of today I was unable to go to the Ashram. Since Sri Cycle-Pillai seemed to be indisposed for the time-being with one of his occasional abdominal ailments, and was thus not in a position to do his usual chores for the Ashram. The sarvadhikari [manager] has asked me to purchase roots of the shathavari [Asparagus racemosus] plant from a herbs-dealer who put up his wares in different parts of the town on different days.

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Trust in God

A scene took place in the Hall, wherein the master upbraided the sarvadhikari [manager] in front of all the attendees. Seeing the dilapidated condition of the Draupadiamman-temple near the Ashram, Mr. Knowles had donated a sum of 75 rupees toward its upkeep and maintenance, with a view to prevent at least further incremental damage to the somewhat neglected ancient shrine on account of efflux of time; he had donated the sum to Sri Sadai Chettiar, the temple’s manager. The sarvadhikari had come to know about this, and had wrested away the sum in part from the poor man, telling him,

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Reference Books and Translation

Much of the content presented here, showing Bhagavan reeling off verses from the Bible and other texts, are done so with the implicit assumption that the reader would naturally give himself to understand that Bhagavan was reading out from a book; certainly Bhagavan did not burst out with these lines of prose or, as the case may be, poetry, from extempore memory – at least, not in a majority of the cases.

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Love Is

Oh! Master of the Formidable Mountain! I was earlier like a filthy pig, consuming with eager relish the turds excreted by the sensory – organs. I came with a restless mind to impudently scrutinise your authenticity, but the moment your eyes fell on me, I became motionless like you, for you graciously annihilated my maleficent faculty of assertion – manufacture which arrogantly asseverated “I”, and immersed me in my own intrinsic inner state of Absolute Being, which in truth is only You.
I kiss the dust of your sacred feet everyday, for by drowning me once and for all in the unfathomable ocean of exultation which is verily You, you have devoured my traitorous mind forever.

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Letters to Bhagavan

During the Master’s lifetime, the practise existed in the Ashram for devotees to send in letters asking for all manners and varieties of things. Most begged for Bhagavan’s blessings in their endeavours, and specifically would mention that the sheet carrying the reply be sanctified by his hallowed touch.

Many wrote wanting their prayers or wishes to be fulfilled. Others solicited clarification on doctrinal points. Yet other epistles carried doubts raised regarding practice.

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40th Anniversary Event

Late in the evening today, the sarvadhikari [manager] requested the master to formally oversee and approve of the preparations the Ashram has made, for the celebrations arranged for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the day on which the master is said to have attained Eternal Union with Arunachala: 1st September, 1896.
Many devotees, Indians as well as Caucasians, have gathered together here now, and the place is overflowing with people.

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Vishwanatha Aiyyer and the Monkey

Q.: How did Bhagavan finally persuade that boy, Vishwanatha Aiyyer, to return home?
B.: I did not. On that night when he was sleeping outside the ashram, I was sitting some distance away from the boy when I noticed that Shabarigirisan was sitting blissfully alone on the roof of the ashram, staring at the full moon in great contentment. When I looked at him, the languor [monkey] leaped down, pressed some ginger shoots into my hands and took them back; then he climbed back and was for sometime ingesting them. Then he did something nobody will believe. He came near us, poised himself on the floor in the Bakāsanam, and softly began whistling [or screeching], perfectly, the tune corresponding to ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu…’.

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Obstacles which Hinder Realisation of the Self.

Q: What are the obstacles which hinder Realisation of the Self?
B.: They are habits of mind (vasanas).

Q: What are the aids for Realisation?
B.: Introversion of mind is the one and only aid.

Q.: How can I achieve the same?
B.: By preventing the mind from straying out after thoughts, desires and imagined objects of sensory perception.

Q.: What are vasanas?
B.: Habits of thought, accumulated tendencies of mind, and intellectual proclivities.

Q.: How does one get rid of these hindrances?
B.: Seek the Self through meditation in this manner: trace every thought back to its point of origin

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Sri Gajapathi Healed and Attacked

The master laughs like a child and says softly,
“The redeeming power of Love alone makes one worthy of Grace. If you have a heart that knows to truly Love, be assured that you have the instrument in your hands with which to win over Emancipation. Love alone is the கடப்பாைர with which to prise open the terrifically strong knot of the Heart.”

The words make the hairs all over my body stand on end; a thrill of sheer, ecstatic joy runs up my spine, and I shudder involuntarily.

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A Dog and A Monkey

Q.: Can then an animal Realise the Self?
B.: It is not unheard of.

B. now looked at Chadwick, who was present in the Hall, squarely in the eye, and said:
When you came here first, you asked [me] how the Guru’s help is useful in bringing about Realisation. You were told that it makes the poisonous fangs of samsara ineffective. Now do you see?

Chad. merely looked uncomprehendingly vacant.
B.: Whilst the monkey was seated on this [pointing to his body], it was quite beyond the reach of the dog.

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Mrs. Piggot Introduces the Ashram And Bhagavan’s Meetings in 1934

I had visited India on several occasions prior to this trip, but this was
my maiden venture off the beaten track.
I was told of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and even from the little I heard, I knew I would travel anywhere and put up with any inconvenience in order to meet him and experience the sanctity of his presence. The friend who gave me the welcome news of the Maharshi’s existence offered to take me to him, and so we arrived at Tiruvannamalai late one afternoon.

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A Typical Western Visitor’s In-Depth Dialogue with Bhagavan

Time and again I have observed that the Maharshi emphasises that Realisation was more the result of Guru’s Grace rather than anything else. I had been in despair of ever again getting the Maharshi alone. It is hard to unburden the soul before a crowd.
One morning I resolutely made my way into the Hall a few hours earlier than usual and found him there unattended, emanating his usual wonderful stillness and ineffable peace. I asked quietly if I might talk with him. He nodded, smiling, and sent for someone to translate. On the arrival of a devotee, I put my first question.

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The Aghori Sadhu Life Story

A strange, decrepit old sadhu, who claims he is a centenarian, has arrived at the ashram. When asked for his name he gives the response, ‘Purampoekku chamiyar’. He claims to have first met Sai Baba in 1898; ever since leaving the saint, according to him, he has never lowered his right hand; it remains pointing up towards the sky, index finger unfolded and outstreched straight but the other fingers folded in. The arm seems covererd with greyish-white dust or fungus and the
long fingernails have become an intertwined mass reaching down to the elbow.

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Mr. Evans-Wentz’s Visit

Q.: Sometimes I feel thought stopping and the feeling of beingness underneath is exposed and revealed. At the same time a pulsating sensation is felt on the right-hand side of the chest. Is it right?
B.: Yes. Thoughts must cease and reason disappear for ‘I-I’ to rise up and be felt. Feeling is the prime factor and not reason.

Q.: Why should it be felt in the chest but not in the head?
M.: Because body-consciousness is located there.

Q.: When I see outside the sensation disappears. What is to be done?
M.: It must be held on to incessantly.

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The Play Around Bhagavan

B.: The genuine state of Self is the non-dual Sahaja-stithi [ ]. This cannot be experienced because in that state there is no experiencer. Whatever is experienced is only unreal and illusory. The fact that an experiencer is available to assert ‘I experience.’ shows that all experiences are futile and worthless. ‘Who is the experiencer?’ is what we must find out. Some think experiencing bliss means that the Self is Realised. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Bliss is a dangerous distraction.

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Libelling Bhagavan

7th August, 1936
Early in the morning as usual the sarvadhikari [manager] arrives with wet dhoti [cotton wrap] and prostrates in front of Bhagavan whose eyes are closed. The meditating Aghori and myself are the only others in the Hall. Observing the master in a meditative inflection of comportment, I have, as always on such instances, closed my eyes. The sarvadhikari rises; he lingers for a fraction-of-a-second longer than usual. Then he moves toward the door.

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The Heart

Q.: Will chanting “A-HAM” [Self] mentally lead to realisation of the Self?
B.: Whilst doing it, fix your attention at the source of the japam[ ] in you. That is, scrutinize where from within yourself the japam arises and retain your faculty of attention exclusively at such source.

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Non-Doing

Q.: If I stay at the root of the mind or abide as pure consciousness, will I Realise the Self?
B.: The question shows that the arbitrary mental conceptualisation, ‘Realising the Self’, is still present in the mind. Staying in the root of the mind should be a matter of course; it must be the natural state. On the other hand, you are trying to deliberately do it so that you can thereby gain the reward you call ‘Self-Realisation’. Can it work? No.

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Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer, Author of Aham Spraruna

Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer was a distinguished lawyer and a devotee par excellence of the Maharshi. He came to Ramanasramam in the 1930s. He stayed for perhaps six months and kept meticulous diaries of the meetings in Bhagavan’s hall.
He is the author of the core of the manuscript known as Aham Sphurana. It seems in 1950’s his friend Swami Rajeshwarananda wanted to publish these notebooks. At that time the ashram didn’t have the necessary resources. Now some 70 years later a manuscript has appeared, Aham Sphurana, which appears to contain the material from Gajapathi Aiyyer’s Red Notebooks.

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The Aghori’s Death and Liberation

‘When coming into the presence of the Jnani, some sensitive minds might alacritously plunge into instantaneous introversion. Then, their vasanas would- suddenly- put up a great clamour for attention. Caught between the desire to remain in the newly-discovered blissful thought- free state and the urge to satisfy demands imposed by the vasanas, such persons might, for a time, exhibit abnormal behaviour. But soon God’s Grace would set everything aright, provided there is a sincere determination to escape from samsara…’

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Kaushika

Once upon a time there was an ascetic known as Kaushika. He always felt greatly proud of himself, since he felt he knew the intricacies of Vedanta in and out. He had left home to pursue study of the Scriptures and now he could confidently boast that he had mastered them all. One day, Kaushika was sitting under a tree, plunged in samadhi. Suddenly he found his concentration disturbed by a loud noise and he awoke from his samadhi.

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An Incident between Bhagavan and Chinnaswami [Brother], the Ashram Manager[sarvadhikari].

I flinched, for when Bhagavan is angry- an extremely rare occurrence- waves of ire are felt by his devotees to be radiating everywhere in the ether. The sarvadhikari, however, seemed to be too pre-occupied with the contents of his head to pay any attention to what he must have surmised to be a coversation going on between Bhagavan and a devotee. He rose from his prostration and went to the door.

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Mind and Jesus Teachings

Q.: I have heard Bhagawan saying “Knowledge of the world is exclusively knowledge of the knower of the world.” What does it mean?
B.: That the world is only in the mind–that the appearance of any world, or the phenomenon of manifestation, is not possible in isolation from your mind.

Q.: Are there as many minds in the world as there are people? Are all these minds emanating from the Self at the same time?
B.: There are not multiple minds. Only your mind emerges from the Self, styles itself “I”.

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Surrender

Q.: Is surrender a means to overcome and vanquish the vasanas [tendancies of the mind], thus resulting in Realisation?
B.: Yes: provided it is unconditional, surrender is a fool proof way to Realise the Self.

Q.: What is the guarantee that I shall Realise the Self if I surrender?
B.: You are missing the point of surrender.

Q.: How so?
B.: To surrender is to let go of everything without anticipating or expecting anything in return.

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Renunciation

Q.: How does viveka [discernment] differ from
vairagya [renunciation]?
B.: Mere intellectual discernment of the real from the unreal is not of any great use. The unreal must be totally shunned, that is to say, the mind must be divested of any inclination to pursue it. One’s vasanas [ tendencies of mind] must be incinerated to the point of complete annihilation in the fire of vairagya; otherwise rebirth cannot be successfully avoided. Viveka may stop with intellectualisation and mental contemplation of the truth. But without vairagya Jnana cannot be achieved

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Only the Self, No God

Q.: What is the difference between jivanmukti[ and videhamukti?
B.: There is no difference. They say that the jivanmukta attains videhamukti when the body dies. But think can there be anything which he has yet to attain? Such differences are exclusively from the point of view of the onlooker. They do not exist from the Jnani’s point of view. There is no change in the Jnani’s state before or after abandoning the body.

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Illusion and the Body

Q.: Bhagavan asserts that ‘Awareness’ is the real nature of “I”. But what exactly is this awareness? Awareness of what?

B.: Do you exist or do you not?

Q.: Yes.

B.: How do you know?

Q.: I don’t understand what Bhagavan is trying to tell me.

B.: Do you need a mirror to be placed in front of your eyes in order so as to enable you to infer that you have eyes?

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The Count

A sallow-faced gentleman, a foreigner, wearing a pencil moustache approaches Bhagavan after everyone has left the hall. I am instantly reminded of Count Orlok in Nosferatu, played so memorably by Max Schreck. He creeps near the Sofa, his long hands slightly outstreched in Bhagavan’s direction. I am glad he does not notice me, hidden away as I am in the Shadows at the back of the Hall. The attendants are asleep a yard or so away from me, and these prone bodies have also evidently escaped his attention. I want to cry out a warning to Bhagavan, but I am worried for my own safety. I wait with bated breath for the anticipated lines to be spoken.

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A Poem From Nataraj

I am nothing
I am everything

Everything I thought I was is just a thought
Nothing real, or grabbable.

I feel like I don’t exist
Im in oneness with everything I see
I walk and I am empty
I write but I don’t write
It’s a happening
No ones there doing anything
Free from my illusion
I feel safe

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Unrealise the not-Self

Q.: If the theological pronouncements of the Christians are to be believed, we are all born mired in sin. Is the doctrine of original sin correct?
B.: What is born is born only in sin. The Unborn is sinless; therefore He is never born. Birth into samsara is the harbringer of agony. In fact you are the one original Absolute.

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Jaws of the Tiger

Q.: Has anyone succeeded in winning the admiration of Maharshi himself?
B.: Oh! yes.
Q.: Who?
B.: You.
Q.: [face superciliously lights up with pompous joy, but manages to modestly utter] How can that be? I am a spectacularly worthless creature. Even after years of repeatedly visiting the sacred soil of Tiruvannamalai, I remain an unenlightened person.
B.: That is it.

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Samadhi

Chad.: I asked my master if He would mind giving me a detailed explanation concerning the term Samadhi, and its various kinds. The Lord Ramana graciously assented and sweetly spoke the following words:—
B.: The meaning of the word Samadhi is generally given as Union with Reality, but it is not so. Samadhi means the State of non-differentiation from Reality or THAT-WHICH-IS. The following are its kinds:

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Realise the Self.

Q.: What is the guarantee that I shall Realise the Self if I surrender?
B.: You are missing the point of surrender.

Q.: How so?
B.: To surrender is to let go of everything without anticipating or expecting anything in return. Letting go of everything also encompasses abandoning the aspiration to Realise the Self. Suppose you are holding a red-hot iron-ball. Your hand is quivering in unbearable pain. Somebody suggests unto you that you let go.

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Gossip

Chad.: How had she come to know about Bhagawan? Paul Brunton’s Secret India was not published then.
B.: She had read about me in the International Psychic Gazette, but that article had not motivated her visit. Reading that article, she had become briefly fascinated with the ‘Hindoo-saint’ described therein; later on she forgot all about him. One day, she seems to have heard a knock on the door of her apartment, situated near Stonewall Inn in Manhattan. On opening it, who should be standing there but Sri Ramana Maharshi himself! [laughing]

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Destiny

Q. Is it true that Bhagavan has said, “If a man is destined not to Realise the Self, no matter what manner of aid or assistance is offered unto him or stands available so as to be plunged into ready deployment by him, he will not Realise the Self. On the other hand, if a man is destined to Realise the Self, no matter what manner of hindrance or trammel is placed across his path or is forced to be encountered by him, he will Realise the Self.”?
B.: The statement is correct.

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I have a body

Q.: So, it is the thought ‘I have a body.’ that is responsible for creating the false impression that I have a body, whereas in truth I have none. Am I correct? _
B.: Yes. _
Q.: In that case, if I think, ‘I have no body.’, the body should disappear, but it does not disappear. Why is this so?
B.: Intensely thinking about the disappearance of the body does make it disappear; but accquisition of such worthless siddhis [Psychic Powers] is not our objective.

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Consciousness

Q.: After investigating ‘Who am I?’ I find that blankness prevails. What do I
do?
B.: Did you exist or not whilst the blankness mentioned by you prevailed?
It is only because you existed then that you now are able to recollect having experienced something at that time. Is that correct?

Q.: Yes.
B.: So, blanknesses come and go, but YOU always ARE. For YOU there is
neither coming nor going. YOU ARE now as YOU always WERE and YOU
will BE always as YOU ARE now.

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J.Krishnamurti’s, Dissolution of the Order of the Star

Q.: I cannot so easily let go of everything as suggested by Bhagavan, because my family will raise objections if I try to renounce the world.
B.: There is no need to leave home. Discard the contents of the mind and thus throw the faculty of mind away. That is real renunciation. Physical renunciation will make you think, ‘I have renounced everything.’ Nothing could be more dangerous. Here we practise only mental renunciation.

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What is the Purpose of Life?

Q.: What is the purpose of life?
B.: It is to discover the correct answer to this question.
Q.: What is the correct answer?
B.: Life.
Q.:I do not understand?
B.: Life does not question its own purpose. It has no questions to ask. It has no complaint to raise. It has no grudge to bear. Therefore it is in perpetual peace.

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Guru’s Grace

Q.: The terms Aham-sphurana [Self-realization] and Sahaja-asamprajnatha-samadhi [oneness with God] are synonymous. Am I correct? _
B.: No.

Q.:Why not?
B.: Sometime after a fire is lit underneath a pot containing water, only an empty pot will be left. Yet, the space inside the pot is always vulnerable to being filled-up again. If the pot is smashed into pieces, it is quite ruined and there can be no scope any more for depositing anything into it.

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The Answer is to Enquire,”Who Am I”

A curious, altogether ridiculous personality has arrived at the ashram gaudily dressed in a three-piece suit, a beaver hat, and an ascot cravat. In this weather, his skin ought to catch fire; I wonder how it still seems to be intact. He carries an ebony cane mounted with a miniature bronze, roaring lion’s head.

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Vichara, Self Enquiry

Q.: What are the indicators based on which I shall be enabled to find out for myself whether I am doing vichara [Self enquiry] correctly or not?

B.: If vichara has resulted in a state of mind wherein it abides as identical with pure Subjective Consciousness, then you have done it correctly.

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Meditation

Q.: I am unable to Realise the Self by means of meditation.
B.: Where are you now? Are you in the Self or out of it? Can there be anything apart from the Self?

Q.: I understand that the Self is non-dual. Yet ignorance prevents me from realising the non-dual Self.
B.: Who is ignorant of what? Are there then two selves, so that one of them can be ignorant of the other?

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Day by Day with a Jnani

Q : Does the Jnani have no sensory perceptions? For instance, if Bhagavan inadvertantly stubs his toe against a brick, is there no sensation?

B : The sensation is there, but not the idea, “I am feeling this sensation.” The Jnani’s state can be correctly comprehended only by the Jnani; others merely wonder about with complicated sounding words without actually Knowing. The Jnani or Jivanmuktha is said to be like a person fast asleep inside a house whose doors and windows are wide open.

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Aham Sphurana

B.: The importance of Summa Iru is, “Keep your mind idle or asleep in the Beingness of the Self.” As for the body, it has its own prarabdha (destiny that effects our life now) to attend to. You have no right of say over the body. You cannot decide whether the body should work or remain idle. What is bound to happen will happen. If the body is destined to remain without working, work cannot be obtained even if you hunt for it. If the body is destined to work you cannot alter such destiny, for the body will be forced to engage in it. So leave it to the Higher Power.

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Summa Iru

There are two things an individual is normally engaged in; either his body is busy doing something or his mind is engaged in thinking something. Seldom does he remain as ‘himself’, free from all influences. Seldom does he remain in his natural state of peace and happiness. When he remains thoughtless and speechless, he attains his natural state of serenity and peace.

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Awareness

Awareness is not a commitment to something. Awareness is an observation, both outer and inner, in which direction has stopped.
You are aware, but the thing of which you are aware is not encouraged or nourished. Awareness is not concentration on something.

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Qualifications for Satsang

There are certain qualifications to be fulfilled before one goes to a teacher for freedom.

The first requirement, discernment, is discrimination between what is real and what is unreal. This distinction is essential. You must desire what is real and reject what is unreal. What is real can only be truth. Your own Self. There is nothing beyond this. All the rest is falsehood…

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Wisdom from Steve Jobs

′′ I have reached the epitome of success in the business world. In other people’s eyes, my life is a success.
However, aside from work, I had little joy. Ultimately wealth is just one fact I’ve gotten used to…

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Albert Einstein Quotes

“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. Matter is spirit reduced to point of visibility. There is no matter.”

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Guru Purnima Day

When I was living with Papaji I still had very strong issues with my father, and sometimes I was looking to Papa to come and tell me I was a good boy. I guess he knew that.

It was a special day; it was Guru Purnima day when everybody gives a garland to the Guru. We all came in a long line, each holding a garland, and slowly we came closer to Papaji.

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Planet Crisis and Self Awareness

I’m constantly talking about self awareness, self awareness, self awareness. The reality of climate change is that unless we do really drastic things, it actually may be too late. Too late for what? We may have already destroyed our planet. Can you imagine that? We clever human beings may actually without realising it, step by step by step, may have pushed the effect of global warming, which is all human made, we may have pushed it to a point where it can’t be stopped, it can’t be re-stabilised. That’s what they’re discussing…

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Our True Nature

Hans was one of Papaji’s earliest western students. When they first met he lived in Germany and he would go to India, to Haridwar, for about three months at a time, often staying in a guesthouse with Papaji. They would share a room and go on long walks along the river, mostly in silence, which is where he asked Papaji this question….

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Meditation

Practiced diligently, meditation techniques purify the mind because they bring awareness to unholy patterns of thought and feeling. Unhealthy thoughts cannot survive the penetrating light of awareness. Nothing purifies like experience of the Self, which releases a flood of healing, cleansing, spiritual energy into the conscious and unconscious minds.

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Got it – Lost it

The most important part of the story of my time with Papaji actually came later. I realised I had been a long time in the dilemma of appearing to be ‘in’ and ‘out’ of Self. Papaji would often talk about the memory of spiritual experiences being just another memory, the past.

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Papaji on Enlightenment

What is enlightenment?
‘I am bound’ is a concept that everyone has clung to [but] he cannot show any chains or fetters by which he is bound. This is his concept. He must have been told by someone, or read some books, or heard from his parents or priests or…

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An Open Heart Is Beautiful – be a Knower,a Jnani

We all know it’s beautiful when the heart opens and the tears flow, and the love is gushing out. What more could we want at that time? Because when we are in that type of love – which is devotion itself – there’s almost no mind. The mind just disappears in that love and in that devotion, but as one teacher said to me, “And in that place no one wants to enquire.”

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Osho´s dentist left his Body

Devageet – Osho’s personal dentist recently left his body. He wrote this poem after having been diagnosed with cancer. He was a giant made of gold who left this world a better place through the richness of his generous sharing… I bow down in gratitude to his roaring sprit..

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Diamond Thief

There was a diamond thief who thought to steal only the most exquisite of gems. This thief would hang around the diamond district to see who was purchasing a gem, so that later he could pick their pocket. One day he saw a well-known diamond merchant purchase the jewel he had been waiting for all his life…

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An Individual Connection to the Master

“Wow, this silence and bliss is so beautiful.” He gets up and says, “I’m going downstairs to make some yoghurt.” So, I follow Him down, and I said, “Why did you do that?” He said, “Where’s your silence now?” I said, “Well, it’s still here.” He said, “This is why I did it.”

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Got It !

As I sat there looking at him doing what I could to just be and when the five seconds were over he asked me what happened. I said well I’m just sitting here.  He said, no, no, I told you no thinking. I am sitting here thinking. So let’s do it again.  So we did it again.  At that point I…

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Suppressing Our Mechanisms

I would say that that seeing of our nature is like the first step in an ongoing process that reveals everything that’s been suppressed or been jumped over, and in that process it’s really a fire, but ultimately the fire is not for any person, it’s actually for the benefit of all beings.

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My Job is to Destroy You

Then one day, this was the big change, I’ll never forget it, never to this day.
He sat up cross-legged on His bed and I was sitting on the floor in the hospital.
He drew a line and He said, “Look.” He said it like, “Look (gruffly), this is a line. On this side of the line is everything you’ve ever known, everything…

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The Thinking Mind

I went into stillness immediately. But I kept going back to my mind and believing my mind and feeling caught up. Mind is a tricky thing, it can make you believe it, even when it’s a lie, it can make you believe it’s not a lie.

        That’s why I say forget everything the mind tells you, because it’s a deceitful thing the mind…

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A Glimpse is Enough

There are a couple of things that Papaji says: ‘Having the longing for enlightenment is enlightenment.’ I think that is a very beautiful statement; it’s both profound and compelling at the same time. One other thing: ‘A little bit is enough. There is no more, a glimpse is enough.’

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Have the Conviction that You are Free

It’s simple, even if you don’t think you’re free, or even if you’re not completely free, have the conviction that you are free. Even if you know it intellectually that you’re free, hold on to that. It may be just intellectual, but it will help you because it won’t let your mind disturb you so much.

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Realisation and Doubts

A person like Ramana Maharshi or a person like Eckhart Tolle, who I know quite well, who realised, and that’s it, end of doubts, end of everything, end of the vasanas, the tendencies, is very, very rare. It’s a very, very rare occurrence.

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What do you really Want

I urge all of you, to listen to the pull. To listen to your heart, to listen to your call, especially in this business that we’re involved with, or this what we’re involved with…

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Sunrise

SUDDENLY THE SOUND OF
SINGING BIRDS AT SUNRISE
PENETRATES MY BEING

AWARENESS
OF A SUBTLE POWER
THE EARLY MORNING SUN…

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Meeting Papaji

I asked the Master how much effort you have to make if you want to be free. Papaji whispered, he said, ‘You don’t have to make any effort to be free.’ The moment I heard those words, a vision appeared in my mind’s eye. I saw water flowing down the side of a mountain…

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Be Part of Creation

Alienation from nature and the loss of the experience of being part of the living creation is the greatest tragedy of our materalistic era. It is the causative reason for ecological devastation and climate change. Therefore I attribute absolute highest importance to consciousness change.

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Beauty

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but when you’re really, really Quiet, there’s so much Beauty! Everything is beautiful! It was one of those days: today, the ocean was beautiful, the houses were beautiful, the people were beautiful, the weather was beautiful, the paintings were beautiful, the lunch was great. It was just like a flow through Beauty, the whole day.

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The Simplicity of Being Here

Unfortunately we have been filled up in our education by all kinds of ideas. If we want to be really happy, then we have to be special, and if we do these special things, that will make us especially happy. So we aspire to having a big house or car or special clothes, because this is supposed to make us happy. This way of desire is actually the game of society, because societies are now-a-days based on this idea of desire.
But this game of desire simply doesn’t work, because it only can give you a feeling of satisfaction for a short moment.

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Awakening to your Essence

The only true way to step out of all the stories and all the nonsense is to really see with great clarity that this ‘me’ that we are so fond of referring everything to, simply doesn’t exist. Once you see it doesn’t exist then the whole thing falls away. Everything just falls away and you’re left with what is.
Often there is a tremendous release of energy.

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Enlightenment is an Illusion

The first thing I would say is that there are not any enlightened people. This word enlightenment is a wrong word. It is like sex or love or god. It is like some idea far away in the future. Maybe it has a value because it can bring people to find themselves, just as the peak of Mount Everest brings people to climb mountains.

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The Teachings of Vedanta

Some argue that because the Self is already realized, only the unenlightened mind-ego entity can get enlightened. Others say that since only the Self exists, there is no ego to get enlightened. These apparently opposing views suggest that ignorance both exists and does not exist.

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Love is our Being

Love is our Being, Being is existence, so love is existence. Your essential state is love. What distorts that is that we look outside for love not realising that the love we experience outside is a reflection of the love we have for our deepest self.

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Celibacy and Relationship

It’s quite clear that for almost everybody this issue of intimacy with another human being is a strong structure, a strong issue. In the eastern traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism there is a deep understanding that if you seriously want to become a spiritual seeker you become celibate and stay alone.

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Steve Jobs: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there.
And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be,because death is very likely the single best invention of life.

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Steve Jobs: The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. …

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My Second Dialogue with Papaji

On my last blog I published this exchange between Sosan and his Master Huike.
Apparently Sosan spent six years with Huike who had received the transmission of the Buddha’s teaching from Bodhidarma.
Osho told that many people…

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Zen Verses on Faith

Sōsan’s Master for six years was Huike whose Master was Bodhidharma who Buddha sent to China.

Sōsan: I am riddled with sickness. Please absolve me of my sin.
Huike: Bring your sin here and I will absolve you.
Sōsan: (after a long pause): When I look for my sin, I cannot
find it.
Huike: I have absolved you. You should live by the Buddha, the
Dharma, and the Sangha.

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Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When not attached to love or hate,
all is clear and undisguised.
Separate by the smallest amount, howe
and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth.

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Love as in Relationship Love

Love is an energy. It has nothing to do with boys and girls and falling in love and candlelight dinners. That’s not what I would call love. I would call that a disease.

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Stabilising in Truth

Andrew Cohen in his “Meeting with Remarkable People,” interview talked about the issue of stablising or embodying the new reality once a strong energetic opening has occurred. How easily the ego structures can close things down and therefore the need for work on strong inner mind patterns.

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Limits of the Intellect

Of course I respect that everybody here has read the same books that I’ve read. We all read the same books so we all know what the books say but of course we don’t really ‘know’ from reading books.

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Nothing to get

You’re all awakened. It’s very beautiful to realise that you’re already complete, you’ve already got everything, there’s nothing more to get from the outside. In fact the only thing to get from the outside is not to look so much on the outside and to look more on the inside.

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What is the Point of Life?

My understanding is that the point of our life, if anything, is to become Self-realised. This means that we see the ego, the movie of our life, is not who we are. When this is clearly seen, everything profoundly changes.

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Osho Ten Commandments

You have asked for my ten Commandments. It’s a difficult matter,
because I am against any kind of commandment. 
Yet, just for the fun of it.

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