Ramana maharshi : awakening and Self-realization

[Someone here]

 

He was one of the most realized beings in all times.  When he suffered from arm's cancer and the doctors were  trying to help him.. he was barely caring about his health conditions because he was fully aware that he is not the body. The body can go through hell but he is fully aware that he is the eternal untouchable spirit. 

At the age of 16.. He experienced what he called afterwards "moksha" or liberation.  Then he left his house and went to live on a sacred mountain for hindu monks. And he announced  himself from now on as a "Atiasrami". A monk. And denied himself from having anything that exceeds the middle class possessions. And lived there for the rest of his life.  And became Sri ramana maharshi.. One of the greatest enlightened masters of all time. Seekers of the ultimate from all over the globe came to visit the young sage to be in the presence of the Self in his presence. 

Ramana's awakening experience:

"

It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle’s house. I seldom had any sickness and on that day there was nothing wrong with my health, but a sudden violent fear of death overtook me. There was nothing in my state of health to account for it, and I did not try to account for it or to find out whether there was any reason for the fear. I just felt “I am going to die” and began thinking what to do about it. It did not occur to me to consult a doctor or my elders or friends; I felt that I had to solve the problem myself, there and then.

The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inwards and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: “Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? “This body dies,” and at once dramatized the occurrence of death. I lay with my limbs stretched out stiff as though rigor mortis had set in and imitated a corpse so as to give greater reality to the enquiry. I held my breath and kept my lips tightly closed so that no sound could escape, so that neither the word “I” nor any other word could be uttered.

“Well then,” I said to myself, “this body is dead. It will be carried stiff to the burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death of this body am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the “I” within me, apart from it. So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means that I am a deathless Spirit.”

All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. “I” was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centered on that “I”.

From that moment onwards the “I” or Self focussed attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear or death had vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on". 

Ramana's self-inquiry to attain self-realization :

 

"Who am I ?
The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitive
sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their
respective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sense-
organs, viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have as
their respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the five
vital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing, etc., I am not;
even the mind which thinks, I am not; the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residual
impressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.
2. If I am none of these, then who am I?
After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, that Awareness which alone
remains - that I am. "
 

Quotes and pointers :

" when you realize the one. The many will not be seen. "

" There is no mystery bigger than this.. That we keep searching for the truth.. When in fact we ourselves are the truth "

" no matter how far you go.. You are always inside yourself". 

" anything capable of appearing is doomed to disappear and thus it will die. Except the Self.. It doesn't appear or disappear. Thus it is eternal". 

"real silence is a never ending talk" 

" the biggest embodiment of ecstasy and bliss is silence". 

"happiness is your real nature. It's not wrong to desire it. But it's wrong to search for it outside yourself.. When it's inside of you". 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Someone here

[Ananta]

@Someone here Yes, Ramana was a true Jnani, an enlightened sage.?

I like your post. Thanks.?

[Fran11]

A true spiritual giant ?

[Salvijus]

I was quietly sitting by the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh between Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, watching the fishes moving through the water. As I sat there I had an extraordinary vision of myself, the self that had been ‘Poonja’, in all its various incarnations through time. I watched the jiva [reincarnating soul] move from body to body, from form to form. It went through plants, through animals, through birds, through human bodies, each in a different place in a different time. The sequence was extraordinarily long. Thousands and thousands of incarnations, spanning millions of years, appeared before me. My own body finally appeared as the last one of the sequence, followed shortly afterwards by the radiant form of the Maharshi. The vision then ended. The appearance of the Maharshi had ended that seemingly endless sequence of births and rebirths. After his intervention in my life, the jiva that finally took the form of Poonja could incarnate no more. The Maharshi destroyed it by a single look.

As I watched the endless incarnations roll by, I also experienced time progressing at its normal speed. That is to say, it really felt as if millions of years were elapsing. Yet when my usual consciousness returned, I realized that the whole vision had occupied but an instant of time. One may dream a whole lifetime but when one wakes up one knows that the time that elapsed in the dream was not real, that the person in the dream was not real, and that the world which that person inhabited was not real. All this is recognized instantly at the moment of waking. Similarly, when one wakes up to the Self, one knows instantly that time, the world, and the life one appeared to live in it are all unreal. That vision by the Ganga brought home this truth to me very vividly. I knew that all my lifetimes in samsara were unreal, and that the Maharshi had woken me up from this wholly imaginary nightmare by showing me the Self that I really am. Now, freed from that ridiculous samsara, and speaking from the standpoint of the Self, the only reality, I can say, ‘Nothing has ever come into existence; nothing has ever happened; the unchanging, formless Self alone exists’. That is my experience, and that is the experience of everyone who has realized the Self. A few years later, when I was staying in Paris, someone showed me a copy of the Nirvana Sutra. I read it and found that the Buddha had had a similar experience. ❤️ Papaji Excerpt from book: Nothing Ever Happened, Volume Two. By David Godman

Edited September 20, 2020 by Salvijus

[Psychventure]

@Someone here I'm so blessed that my house is near Ramanashram. Every evening I meditate in meditation hall. Meditation happens automatically. Such a powerful place. 

[Psychventure]

@Someone hereThe first place that Ramana stayed in Tiruvannamalai was the great temple. For a few weeks he remained in the thousand-pillared Without moving he sat deeply absorbed in the Self and was unaware of being bitten up by the ants and vermin living there. 

The youth was so absorbed in the Effulgence of Bliss  that he didn’t even realize when some devotees finally came, lifted him out of the pit and brought him to the nearby Subrahmanya shrine. For about two months he stayed in that shrine paying no attention to his bodily needs. 

To make him eat, food had to be forcefully put into his mouth. Fortunately someone was always there to take care of him

[Someone here]

@Ananta @Fran11 @Psychventure

❤️?

[Someone here]

7 hours ago, Salvijus said:

Now, freed from that ridiculous samsara, and speaking from the standpoint of the Self, the only reality, I can say, ‘Nothing has ever come into existence; nothing has ever happened; the unchanging, formless Self alone exists’. That is my experience, and that is the experience of everyone who has realized the Self. A few years later, when I was staying in Paris, someone showed me a copy of the Nirvana Sutra. I read it and found that the Buddha had had a similar experience. 

This is what I became aware of few days ago during a meditation session. And I posted a thread about it. It's hard to put into words or to explain it conceptually. People will accuse you of being insane!  But to you(if you had the insight) it will seem so obvious and unquestionable. 

[Breakingthewall]

17 hours ago, Salvijus said:

, ‘Nothing has ever come into existence; nothing has ever happened; the unchanging, formless Self alone exists’. That is my experience, and that is the experience of everyone who has realized the Self

I realized that a couple of times and both times my felling was: i prefer the samsara, the movement, the time. I don't want to be the unmoving eternal self. I prefer the illusion. Sure I felt that because my realizations wasn't natural, was inducted by psichodelics. But that quote is real, all except the self is illusion. Well ....who knows if our understanding, or even the understanding of the self can understand all the reality

[Someone here]

5 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

 I don't want to be the unmoving eternal self. I prefer the illusion. 

 Lol you are the unmoving eternal self.. Like it or not lol 

[Breakingthewall]

26 minutes ago, Someone here said:

 Lol you are the unmoving eternal self.. Like it or not lol 

I know...better to like it, but I know well Samsara and I like it a lot, and I don't know the unmoving eternal self, I almost don't perceive it, some glimpses of love, wonder...I only perceived that samsara is an illusion and there is no time , no movement. I hate the no-movement, I as an ego I guess. Today I perceived that so clearly , yesterday sleeping I had an ego death...so I think that I have to accept the eternal self , like it or not , because is the reality. But what strange reality. Eternal . How its possible? Why exist? We are the only self? There are more dimensions and more selfs? What the hell is that?? I'm perceiving it more and more and it's a nonsense. The mind can't manage that.

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Breakingthewall

[Someone here]

7 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

 I know...better to like it, but I know well Samsara and I like it a lot, and I don't know the unmoving eternal self, I don't perceive it...I only perceived that samsara is an illusion and there is no time , no movement. Today I perceived that so clearly , yesterday sleeping I had an ego death...so I think that I have to accept the eternal self , like it or not , because is the reality. But what strange reality. Eternal . How its possible? Why exist? We are the only self? There are more dimensions and more selfs? What the hell is that?? I'm perceiving it more and more and it's a nonsense. The mind can't manage that

@Breakingthewall

Relax.  Nothing exists except the eternal formless self.  Look closely. There is nothing else. That's enough to know. That answers everything. 

[Breakingthewall]

6 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Nothing exists except the eternal formless self.

Do you realize how strange is this? Why? How? I don't underestimate the possible weirdness of the reality. 

[Someone here]

2 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Do you realize how strange is this? Why? How? I don't underestimate the possible weirdness of the reality. 

Nothing weird or strange here. It makes perfect sense both logically and experientially.  How could anything else exists?  That would be weird af.  Look around you and more importantly look inside yourself. . If you can find something else other  than nothing.. Let me know lol. 

[Breakingthewall]

4 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Nothing weird or strange here. It makes perfect sense both logically and experientially.  How could anything else exists?  That would be weird af.  Look around you and more importantly look inside yourself. . If you can find something else other  than nothing.. Let me know lol. 

Logically??? Why it exist? Who knows if there are more dimensions of who knows...if I were you I'd don't trust really much about my mental conclusions

[Someone here]

Just now, Breakingthewall said:

Logically??? Why it exist? Who knows if there are more dimensions of who knows...if I were you I'd don't trust really much about my mental conclusions

There is no contradiction. You become conscious of it and then however you frame it  has to be via language.. Thought.. And logic.  But ultimately this is not  it. 

There is more dimensions to infinity..  Be sure.. There is more everything and anything if you imagine them to be.. It's like a dream.. Your mind could dream up anything.. It doesn't have to.. But it can..... But whatever it dreams is just that.. A dream. A nothing. 

[Breakingthewall]

3 minutes ago, Someone here said:

. A dream. A nothing. 

A dream or a thought are different that nothing. Are real . Well, maybe if I awake I realize that I was wrong, that it's absolutely logical that it's a self , but for now it's a mindfuck

[Someone here]

@Breakingthewall you can think about it in terms of solidity. The more soild a thing is you can think of it as real. The more vapor-like it is.. You can think of it as illusory or unsubstantial.   So you see solid object around you and you think they are substantial.. That's how it appears in ordinary state of consciousness...if you become more conscious you can see how everything is vapor-like and there is no solidity whatsoever. Except the mind that is working so hard to solidify a "reality" out of the Flux. 

Anyways this is all conceptual bullshit basically lol... You gotta become directly conscious of it. 

[Breakingthewall]

7 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Anyways this is all conceptual bullshit basically lol... You gotta become directly conscious of it. 

I have been conscious of it but im not sure if it's another illusion

[Someone here]

1 hour ago, Breakingthewall said:

I have been conscious of it but im not sure if it's another illusion

Everything is an illusion except nothing. 

 

Alright enough smartassery and fancy paradoxical pointers lol.. You just sit down and meditate and verify what I'm talking about.