'Sahaja-Samadhi' is nothing but 'Conscious-Sleep'.~ Swaathmaaraaman

In order to realize that inherent and untainted happiness, which indeed he daily experiences when the mind is subdued in deep sleep, it is essential that he should know himself. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Self is only one. If limited it is the ego. If unlimited it is Infinite and is the Reality. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi ...from 'Talk 146'; 26th January, 1936

*WORDS OF WISDOM* 'BRAHMAN', 'GOD', 'GURU', and 'SELF' are nothing but 'TRUTH'- 'BEING'- 'EXISTENCE'- 'CONSCIOUSNESS' and 'BLISS'; the omnipresent, omnipotent and eternal 'TRANSCENDENTAL' reality, beyond 'space', 'time' and 'causation', without 'CASTE', 'CREED', 'RELIGION', 'GENDER' and 'NATIONALITY'. -SWAATHMAA RAAMAN - There is only one Rama and He has a thousand names.'~-SREE RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA.

"The Brahmins insist that God is formless. Suppose they do. It is enough to call on Him with sincerity of heart. If the devotee is sincere, then God, who is the Inner Guide of all, will certainly reveal to the devotee His true nature.

"But it is not good to say that what we ourselves think of God is the only truth and what others think is false, that because we think of God as formless, therefore He is formless and cannot have any form; that because we think of God as having form, therefore He has form and cannot be formless. Can a man really fathom God's nature?

"This kind of friction exists between the Vaishnavas and the Saktas; The Vaishnava says, 'My Kesava is the only Saviour', whereas the Sakta insists, 'My Bhagavati is the only Saviour.'

"Once I took Vaishnavcharan to Mathur Babu. Now, Vaishnavcharan was a very learned Vaishnava and an orthodox devotee of his sect. Mathur, on the other hand, was a devotee of the Divine Mother. They were engaged in a friendly discussion when suddenly Vaishnavcharan said, 'Kesava is the only Savior.' No sooner did Mathur hear this than his ,face became red with anger and he blurted out, 'You rascal!' (All laugh.) He was a Sakta. Wasn't it natural for him to say that? I gave Vaishnavcharan a nudge.

"I see people who talk about religion constantly quarreling with one another. Hindus, Mussalmans, Brahmins, Saktas, Vaishnavas, Saivas, all quarrel with one another. They haven't the intelligence to understand that He who is called Krishna is also Siva and the Primal Sakti, and that it is He, again, who is called Jesus and Allah. There is only one Rama and He has a thousand names.'

"Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it 'jal'. From another ghat the Mussalmans take water in leather bags and call it 'pani'. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it 'water'. (All laugh.) Suppose someone says that the thing is not 'jal' but 'pani', or that it is not 'pani' but 'water', or that it is not 'water' but 'jal', It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.

All scriptures - the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras - seek Him alone and no one else, only that one 'Sat-chid-ananda'. That which is called 'Satchidananda Brahman' in the Vedas is called Satchidananda Siva in the Tantra. Again it is He alone who is called Satchidananda Krishna in the Puranas."

-SREE RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA.

*Glimpses of Self-Realization* - 'SELF-INQUIRY' and 'SELF-SURRENDER' are the 'pathless paths' leading towards the pathless land of 'SELF-REALIZATION' and 'SAHAJA SAMADHI'. -SWAATHMAA RAAMAN

*SURRENDER*


Question: What is unconditional surrender?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: If one surrenders oneself there will be no one to ask questions or to be thought of. Either the thoughts are eliminated by holding on to the root-thought ‘I’, or one surrenders oneself unconditionally to the highest power. These are the only two ways for realization.

Question: Does not total or complete surrender require that one should not have left even the desire for liberation or God?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Complete surrender does require that you have no desire of your own. You must be satisfied with whatever God gives you and that means having no desires of your own.

Questioner: Now that I am satisfied on that point, I want to know what the steps are by which I could achieve surrender.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: There are two ways. One is looking into the source of ‘I’ and merging into that source. The other is feeling ‘I am helpless by myself, God alone is all-powerful and except by throwing myself completely on him, there is no other means of safety for me.’ By this method one gradually develops the conviction that God alone exists and that the ego does not count. Both methods lead to the same goal. Complete surrender is another name for jnana or liberation.

Questioner: I find surrender is easier. I want to adopt that path.

Sri Ramana Maharshi: By whatever path you go, you will have to lose yourself in the one. Surrender is complete only when you reach the stage '‘Thou art all’ and ‘Thy will be done’.

The state is not different from jnana. In soham (the affirmation of ‘I am he’) there is dvaita (dualism). In surrender there is advaita (non-dualism). In the reality there is neither dvaita nor advaita, but that which is. Surrender appears easy because people imagine that, once they say with their lips '‘surrender'’ and put their burdens on their Lord, they can be free and do what they like. But the fact is that you can have no likes or dislikes after your surrender; your will should become completely non-existent, the Lord’s will taking its place. The death of the ego in this way brings about a state, which is not different from jnana. So by whatever path you may go, you must come to jnana or oneness.

Question: What is the best way of killing the ego?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: To each person that way is the best which appears easiest or appeals most. All the ways are equally good as they lead to the same goal, which is the merging of the ego in the Self. What the bhakta [devotee] calls surrender, the man who does vichara calls jnana. Both are trying only to take the ego back to the source from which it sprang and make it merge there.

Question: Cannot grace hasten such competence in a seeker?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Leave it to God. Surrender unreservedly. One of two things must be done. Either surrender because you admit your inability and require a higher power to help you, or investigate the cause of misery by going to the source and merging into the Self. Either way you will be free from misery. God never forsakes one who has surrendered.
~RAMANA MAHARSHI

*WORDS OF WISDOM* - 'I' AS THE FIRST DIVINE NAME - 'RAMANA MAHARSHI'- After finding the source of that 'I', merge your individuality in that oneness which is Self-existent and devoid of all duality.

The Name permeates densely the sky and the lowest regions and the entire universe… The Name itself is form. There is no distinction between Name and form. God became manifest and assumed Name and form… there is no mantra beyond the Name. The Name is Keshava [God] Himself… The all-pervading nature of the Name can only be understood when one recognizes one's 'I'. When one's own name is not recognized, it is impossible to get the all-pervading Name. When one knows oneself, then one finds the Name everywhere. To see the Name as separate from the named creates illusion… Surrender yourself at the feet of the Guru and learn to know that 'I' myself is that Name. After finding the source of that 'I', merge your individuality in that oneness which is Self-existent and devoid of all duality.

Krishnamurti Meditation - In that silence there may come something that is not touched by thought, because that silence is not created by thought.~ J Krishnamurthi .

Now we are asking a question: is there anything sacred in life? Sacred being that which is deathless, timeless, from eternity to eternity, that which has known no beginning and no end - do you understand? We are asking this. You can only find that out - no, you can't find it out, nobody can find it out - it may come when you have discarded all the things that thought has made sacred - the pictures, the museums, the music, the churches and their beliefs, their rituals, their dogmas, all that is understood and discarded completely. There is no priest, no guru, no follower. Then in that tremendous quality of silence you may find out - in that silence there may come something that is not touched by thought, because that silence is not created by thought. K

'Tripura Rahasya' (chapter IX, verses 68-71)- Is there any moment when the Self is not the Self? Neither is control of mind used to gain it.

Listen to me, my dear, closely. What you have now done to restrain thoughts with the mind turned inward (vichara) is a good beginning and praised by the worthy as the best way. Without it, no one has ever been successful anywhere. However, it does not produce Self-Realization, for the Self remains realized at all times.
If a product, it cannot be the Self. For, how can the Self be got anew? So then, the Self is never gained. Gain is of something which is not already possessed. Is there any moment when the Self is not the Self? Neither is control of mind used to gain it.
~ Tripura Rahasya (chapter IX, verses 68-71)