Nutshell

A final word:

Distracted as we are by various thoughts, if we would continually contemplate the Self, which is Itself God, this single thought would in due course replace all distraction and would itself ultimately vanish; the pure Consciousness that alone finally remains is God.  This is Liberation. Never to be heedless of one's own all-perfect, pure Self is the acme of yoga, wisdom, and all other forms of spiritual practice. Even though the mind wanders restlessly, involved in external matters, and so is forgetful of its own Self, one should remain alert and remember: 'The body is not I.  Who am I?' Enquire in this way, turning the mind backward to its primal state.  The enquiry 'Who am I?' is the only method of putting an end to all misery and ushering in supreme Beatitude.  Whatever may be said and however phrased, this is the whole truth in a nutshell.

 - Ramana Maharshi

Follow Your Bliss

Recognition of a new and central truth and relinquishment of everything we once considered reality characterize the jnana path to Advaitan realization.  It takes diligence and earnestness to begin and sustain the search, nearly thirty years in my case meandering every which way through various flavors of wisdom literature, and whatever that flavor, always maintaining a discipline of daily meditation.

Delve in, dive deep and open to the currents of intuition such exposure initiates.  Each succeeding revelation amplifies the magnetic pull towards our goal.  Nothing is wasted, no time, no practice; all of it serves in clearing a path through "this is not so" and paving a road of "this is so."  At some point, at first unbeknownst to us, we pass through the gateless gate and find roads and vehicles no longer necessary.  We have arrived.

Here are some suggested primers for establishing a basic, simple practice to begin concentrating and stilling the mind:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunyru Suzuki
A Gradual Awakening by Stephen Levine
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
How To Know God by Patanjali

That last one might scare off your average Christian, so for you I would suggest Open Mind, Open Heart by Father Thomas Keating. His "centering prayer" sticks closer to the bhakti approach via Jesus, but know, too, that even this love of the Christ in the end resolves into jnani revelation. (Consider these words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas: "Split a piece of wood: I am there.  Lift a stone and you will find me there.")

Here are some intermediate texts to act as bellows to fire you forward:

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi

Here are a few more advanced, essential texts for extensive study and contemplation:

Talks With Ramana Maharshi
I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj
Vasistha's Yoga
Crest-Jewel of Discrimination by Shankara

Of course there are many, many more, preserved for us from the seed texts of the earliest Masters through centuries of commentary by awakened teachers who followed.  You will find gems in every faith, because every faith has the same truth buried within its depths.  Live with them, practice, ripen, bloom....




    

The Treasury of Wish-Fulfilling Gems

Chapter Eighteen:  ESTABLISHING THE NATURE OF REALITY

Once you have completed such contemplations,
You should develop experiential wisdom in your process.
Among the three paths of transcendence in the three Vehicles,
Here you enter the unexcelled, essential import.
First, devote yourself to understanding the nature of reality.
Although this takes many forms, depending on the Vehicle,
The definitive essence is the indivisible reality
Which is the secret treasury of the Buddhas.

It is the natural transparency intuition
Beginninglessly peaceful, free from perplexity.
Like sun and sky, spontaneous and uncreated.
Since its natural great purity is primally present,
It is vision and voidness inseparable,
Free of proof and rejection, going and coming.
Beyond the realm of superficial determinations and distinctions,
Beyond dual-reality notions, it resolves all perplexities.
Its indivisible reality is neither proven nor unproven,
Experientially vision and voidness are naturally nondual;
This reality is called "indivisible."

When analyzed by the conventional two realities,
All things in cyclic life are mistaken appearances;
Untrue and deceptive, they are superficial realities.
Things of Nirvana are profound peace of translucency,
Accepted as ultimate reality, changeless in nature.

This manifold appearance is thus superficial.
Illusion, like the reflection of the moon in water,
It lacks the intrinsic reality it appears to have.
When examined, it lacks basis, root, and substance,
Free of intrinsic identity, empty as space.
When unexamined, this illusory, enticing diversity
Evolves as a relativistic distortion of instinct.

Thus, just like a datura hallucination,
These things are selfless and unreal.
Since that, in reality, is their way of being,
The "ultimate" appears but superficially,
Though appearing, in reality it is unborn;
So naturally its reality is indivisible.
Its natural primal purity
And its transparent ultimacy are nondual,
So the life-cycle and liberation are nondual,
And its reality is indivisible.

Since the life-cycle appears while lacking reality,
In that ultimate realm of intrinsic realityness
Nothing can be distinguished as separate and distinct,
And life-cycle and liberation are taught as equality.
Other ideas are false intellectual notions,
Quite confused about the nature of reality.
Causality exists as it appears to deceptive experience,
So cherish understanding of ethical choice.

The changeless nature of ultimate reality
Is transparency, the Bliss Lord essence, spontaneity,
Natural indivisible awareness of clarity-void.
This is the mandala of natural spontaneity
Primal nature perfection, essence of enlightenment,
Purity, unfabricated, free from partiality,
Profound peace, body and wisdom inseparable.

It has examples known to all beings;
Known by the wise as like underground gold,
A lamp in a vase, a body in a lotus.

Just as a pauper has a treasure underground
But doesn't know and so stays poor,
Though you possess natural enlightenment,
It is hidden by the earth of body, speech, and eightfold mind,
So you stay poor, impoverished by the ills of life.

Just as a clairvoyant person can see
And find a way to take out the treasure
To perfect the wealth of self and other,
So the holy ones teach that reality
And show how enlightenment can be found within,
The wish-granting gem that fulfills both aims.

Just as a lamp in a vase might be bright
But cannot illuminate, blocked by the vase,
So the essential Truth Body abides within
Yet does not show, blocked by the vase of obscuration.
But it does show when the vase is broken,
Just as the world lamp illumines all the lands,
When all obscurations are removed.

Though the Bliss-Lord is in the lotus,
It does not show when the lotus is closed
So the thousand petals of subjects and objects block
One's vision of the self-luminous Lord of Victors.
When the petals open, it is clear,
There is great liberation from the lotus of duality.
The three Buddha Bodies become naturally evident.
Thus please understand the reality
That ultimate realm translucency
Exists within yourself!

This reality has names of many different kinds.
It is "the realm" that transcends life and liberation
And the primally present "natural spontaneity,"
As the "essential realm" obscured by defilements,
As the "ultimate truth" the condition of reality,
As the originally pure "stainless translucency,"
As the "eternal reality" that dispels extremisms,
As the "transcendent wisdom" beyond fabrications,
As the "indivisible reality" clear-void purity,
As the "Suchness" reality free from death transitions.
Such names are accepted by the clear-seeing wise.

Not understanding this, one adopts a nihilistic voidness,
Though claiming to avoid extremes of being and nothing.
Since one does not know the ground of freedom
And longs to escape to the peak of existence,
One falls outside this profound teaching,
Sits empty-minded, fit to rub with dust!

The Teacher taught the treasury of Dharma,
The path of the pinnacle, clear light, essence of all,
The "reality of the ground of spontaneity."
Understanding this ultimate profound view,
Liberates one from resistance and obscuration,
Frees from all absolutism and nihilism.
One's practice is fruitful, one soon becomes enlightened,
One gains the eye to see all Sutra and Tantras.
Therefore be sure to realize the reality of clear light!

 - Kunkyen Longchen Rabjam 

Liberation

Because the individual self, which is nothing but the mind, has lost the knowledge of its identity with the real Self, and has enmeshed itself in bondage, its search for the Self, its own eternal primal nature, resembles that of the shepherd searching for a lamb which all the time he bears on his own shoulders.

However, the Self-oblivious ego, even when once made aware of the Self, does not get Liberation, that is Self-Realization, on account of the obstruction of accumulated mental tendencies.  It frequently confuses the body with the Self, forgetting that it is in truth the Self.  Long-cultivated tendencies can indeed be eradicated by long-continued meditation: 'I am not the body, the senses, the mind, etc., I am the Self.'  Therefore, the ego, that is, the mind, which is nothing but a bundle of tendencies, and which confuses the body with 'I', should be subdued, and thus should the supreme liberated State known as Self-Realization be reached after prolonged devotional worship of the divine Self, which is the very Being of all the gods.  This self-investigation annihilates the mind, and itself gets destroyed eventually, just as a stick used to stir the funeral pyre is itself finally burnt. This is the state of Liberation.  Self, Wisdom, Knowledge, Consciousness, the Absolute, and God denote the same thing.

Can a man become a high officer by merely once seeing such an officer?  He may become one if he strives and equips himself for the position.  Similarly, can the ego, which is in bondage as the mind, become the divine Self, simply because it has once glimpsed the Self?  Is this not impossible without the destruction of the mind?  Can a beggar become a king merely by visiting a king and declaring himself one?  Similarly, unless the bond of the mind is cut asunder by prolonged and unbroken meditation, 'I am the Self, the Absolute,' it is impossible to attain the transcendental State of Bliss, which is identical with the annihilation of the mind.  'The Self is the Absolute and the Absolute is the Self.  The Self is the Absolute alone.  That which is covered with husk is paddy, and when husked becomes rice.  So also, when under bondage of action one is the individual self, and when the veil is removed one shines as the Absolute.'  Thus proclaim the scriptures, which further declare: 'The mind should be drawn within and restrained in the Heart until the ego-sense, which sprouts as the ignorant mind, is therein destroyed.  This is wisdom and meditation as well; all else is mere lecturing and pedantry;' and in in consonance with this final word, one should fix the mind on Him, be aware of Him and realize Him by every possible endeavor.

Just as a Brahmin actor does not forget that he is a Brahmin, whatever part he may be acting, so also a man should not confuse himself with his body, but should have a firm awareness of his being the Self, whatever his activity may be.  This awareness will manifest as the mind gets absorbed in its own primal State.  Such absorption leads to Bliss Supreme when the Self reveals itself spontaneously. Then one will not be affected by pleasure and pain, which result from contact with external objects. Everything will be perceived without attachment, as in a dream. Such thoughts as 'Is this good or that?', 'Is this to be done or that?' should not be allowed to arise.  Immediately a thought arise, it should be annihilated at its source.  If entertained even for a little while, it will hurl one down headlong like a treacherous friend.  Can the mind which is fixed in its original State possess an ego-sense, or have any problem to solve?  Do not such thoughts themselves constitute bondage?  Hence when such thoughts arise due to past tendencies, not only should the mind be curbed and turned back to its true State, but also it should be made to remain unconcerned and indifferent to external happenings.  Is it not due to Self-forgetfulness that such thoughts arise and cause more and more misery?  Though the discriminating thought, 'I am not the doer; all actions are merely the reactions of the body, senses and mind', is an aid for turning back the mind to its primal state, nevertheless it is still a thought, but one which is necessary for those minds which are addicted to much thinking.  On the other hand, can the mind, fixed unswervingly in the divine Self and remaining unaffected even while engaged in activities, give in to such thoughts as 'I am the body, I am engaged in work', or again to the discriminating thought, 'I am not the doer, these actions are merely reactions of the body, senses and mind'? Gradually one should, by all possible means, try always to be aware of the Self. Everything is achieved if one succeeds in this.  Let not the mind be diverted to any other object. One should abide in the Self without the sense of being the doer, even when engaged in work born of destiny, like a madman.  Have not many devotees achieved much with a detached attitude and firm devotion of this nature?

Because the quality of purity (sattva) is the real nature of the mind, clearness like that of the unclouded sky is the characteristic of the mind-expanse.  Being stirred up by the quality of activity (rajas) the mind becomes restless and, influenced by darkness (tamas) manifests as the physical world.  The mind thus becoming restless on the one hand and appearing as solid matter on the other, the Real is not discerned.  Just as fine silk threads cannot be woven with the use of a heavy iron shuttle, or the delicate shades of a work of art be distinguished in the light of a lamp flickering in the wind, so is Realization of Truth impossible with the mind rendered gross by darkness (tamas) and restless by activity (rajas).  Because Truth is exceedingly subtle and serene, Mind will be cleared of its impurities only by a desireless performance of duties during several births, getting a worthy Master, learning from him and incessantly practicing meditation on the Supreme.  The transformation of the mind into the world of inert matter due to the quality of darkness (tamas) and its restlessness due to the quality of activity (rajas) will cease.  The the mind regains its subtlety and composure.  The Bliss of the Self can manifest only in a mind rendered subtle and steady by assiduous meditation.  He who experiences that Bliss is liberated even while still alive.

When the mind is divested of the qualities of darkness and activity by constant meditation, the Bliss of the Self will clearly manifest within the subtle mind.  Yogis gain omniscience by means of such mind-expanse.  He alone who has achieved such subtlety of mind and has gained Realization of the Self is Liberated while still alive.  The same state has been described in Rama Gita as the Brahman beyond attributes, the one universal undifferentiated Spirit.  He who has attained the unbroken eternal State beyond even that, transcending mind and speech, is called videhamukta; that is, when even the aforesaid subtle mind is destroyed, the experience of Bliss as such also ceases.  He is drowned and dissolved in the fathomless Ocean of Bliss and is unaware of anything apart.  This is videhamukti. There is nothing beyond it.  It is the end of all.

As one continues to abide as the Self, the experience 'I am the Supreme Spirit' grows and becomes natural; the restlessness of the mind and the thought of the world in due course become extinct. Because experience is not possible without the mind, Realization takes place with the subtle mind. Since videhamukti connotes the entire dissolution of even the subtle mind, this State is beyond experience.  It is the transcendental State.  'I am not the body.  I am the pure Spirit' is the clear and indubitable experience of the jivanmukta, that is one who is liberated yet alive. Nevertheless, if the mind is not totally destroyed, there is the possibility of his becoming apparently unhappy in his incidental association with objects, as ordained by his destiny.  He may also appear to the onlooker as not having realized the unbroken eternal Bliss, because his mind seems to be agitated.  However, the Bliss of Liberation in life is possible only to the mind made subtle and serene by long continued meditation.

 - Ramana Maharshi

  

Ineffable

That which is unqualified, absolute Knowledge, eternal. steady, infinite, indescribable, being no effect of a precedent cause, without parallel and without form, undecaying, calm, transcending the senses, unmanifested, and yet ascertained without a doubt, is I myself.  

Mind Games

To deny the reality of existence as we know it and to affirm it to be pure consciousness alone is only a mind game without the experience of liberation.  Even a descriptive term such as "unqualified" merely charts deep space from an orbit of mental conditioning.  To actually enter the brimming vacuum of enlightenment is to die, to dissolve, to merge what was once personal and limited into the infinite and eternal.  The path to this requires us to immerse ourselves relentlessly in the teachings of authentic, realized sages, to bathe in their light until we become the light, or, more to the point, until we, too, realize with complete conviction that we always already consist of this fathomless, boundless fabric of pure consciousness.  The experience has been signified by these sages as Being-Consciousness-Bliss.  It is the permeable edge of mental possibility, the event horizon of what we think we are as it evaporates into what we really are.

It is not something that can be thought of, nor anything that cannot be thought of; it is both thought and non-thought.  Realize the Self which is not attached in any manner.      

Vulture Heap Peak

"No Trespassing" it says, the gate padlocked
I slip the barbed-wire, follow the humming
Along this gravel path through swamp scrub slashed
To the foot of the first steel stanchion.
Above they perch like black blossoms
Gorged fat and sleeping, at home here
Attuned to the crackling lullaby of power wires.
This flock of vultures, carrion crows,
Slow to digest but quick to smell death
Patiently await the Mother, electrified
And fossil-fueled, to fill their trough.


Realize the Self to be without abode, unsupported, immeasurable, unparalleled, inherently pure, and eternal.
  

Immolation

"Self" is a word loaded with connotations difficult for our conditioned minds to ignore, especially the "Self" capitalized and used by Ramana Maharshi to signify the Absolute One without a second. For most of us this word has always denoted the personal self, "I," the body-mind we have been born and bred to preserve at all costs.  In his teachings Ramana tried to signify this distinction by referring to "I-I" as a means of separating the Absolute from the personal; but again, all letters, words, thoughts, concepts and best intended substitutes amount to halting, stammering attempts--pointers--to convey ineffable, transcendent Reality.  No matter how real it seems, a mirage is only a mirage, and the moon reflected in still waters is not the moon.

But "Self" is serviceable when we digest it parsed in relative terms such as "void," "non-void," or that which is neither "void" or "non-void," nor any aggregate between.  "Void" does not escape relativity (void compared to what?), and even terms such as "all-pervading," "all-encompassing," "pure," "unbroken," "stainless," "uncreated," "eternal," et.al., dance in a field of opposites. It is clear that this Self of Advaita Vedanta can never be comprehended in terms of the self between our ears.

However, simply abiding near the flame will eventually, inexorably kindle and consume ignorance. We can experience Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Our illusory personal selves are always already this Self of Ramana's instructions.  There may be no intrinsic reality in what we think or perceive, but just as a dreamer awakens from interminable, restless sleep, we, too, can awaken, recognize, realize and abide as this One without a second.

Realize the Self to be undefiled, unsupported, beyond caste, creed, name, or form, uncontaminated, and unqualified.             

Dissolution

To our mind a phrase such as "beyond the sublime void" is like the sun: too hot to approach, too bright to observe, too gargantuan to conceive from our perch here on earth.  Yet from millions of miles away the sun's effulgence illuminates and enlivens everything on this planet, and just so will basking in this phrase illumine seekers after enlightenment.  We will never wrap our mental arms around it, but like seedlings sprouting towards this sun our spiritual lives begin to quicken and flourish as we contemplate the ineffable. That is its purpose in these instructions, to impel us beyond assertion and discrimination, beyond negation or cessation, beyond thought or concept or anything born of or apprehended by mind. Ultimately we realize that even "beyond the sublime void" amounts to a veil over what it signifies.

Realize the Self as pervading and subsisting in the void and in the non-void, as different from both void and non-void, not as intermediate between them, nor as partly void and partly non-void.     
  

The Shining

Realization dawns as discrimination perforates and ultimately obliterates our mistaken identity with transience.  In most cases, yogas and meditative techniques are necessary--for a time--to fray and ultimately sever the ties that bind us. But in the end all of this must be abandoned when our boat reaches the far shore, because in reality there are no bonds, no boats, no shores--never have been, never will be.  That is the realization.  It transcends all of the pairs of opposites ("neither within, nor without, nor far, nor near").  All of that is discarded as born of mind, the veil of veils, from which our long years of servitude have created a Stockholm syndrome concealing our true nature.

Once  the bubble of mis-identification bursts, mind dissolves back into pure consciousness, here described as "Transcendence," and there we remain so long as we are not drawn back into the relative, transient, conditioned habits left behind.  At first blush this requires concentration, mindfulness, vigilance, but once ingrained as our primary orientation and recognized as the only reality, being the selfless Self is no more complicated than raising our eyes to the sky.

Realize the Self always to be neither above nor below, nor on either side, not without nor within, but to be eternal and shining beyond the sublime void.    

Open

So, neither our supposed selves nor our apparent world has any more intrinsic reality than a reflection in a mirror.  This is the fact, but how do we realize it, live it, despite every indication to the contrary? How do we penetrate the veil and experience this bliss promised by the Masters?

We are fortunate.  The father of self-enquiry meditation, Sri Ramana Maharshi, has left us specific instructions in his translation of Atma Sakshatkara (''All-Comprehensive Knowledge").  They are not for beginners, but should be preceded by prolonged practice of self-enquiry and discrimination. These practices soften the rigidity of a lifetime of conditioning, pounding the wood into paper and the paper into tissue in preparation for the flame.  As we begin to experience their fruits, quiescence and insight, the process of awakening will gain momentum of its own.  In time and with diligence and earnestness, the thousand-petaled lotus opens, ready now to bask in the effulgence of these teachings.

Here is the first:

Concentrate the mind neither within, nor without, nor far, nor near, but on pure Transcendence. 

     

Pointers

Enlightenment is direct experience of reality as it is, untainted by thought or conditioning.  Advaita is a philosophy describing reality as it is--non-dual, unbroken by subject and object, sans perceiver, perceived and perceiving, One without a second--but it must do so in words that cannot quite escape the baggage of conditioned thought.  Advaita points, enlightenment reflects.  Advaita describes an autonomic nervous system, while enlightenment is the heart, itself, beating in accordance with its nature.  Our heart beats continuously, although we rarely heed it.  Advaita turns our attention inward--a first, critical step in the "how," "what" and "why" of awakening.

Relinquish

Body-mind, subject, object, creation, none of it exists.  They are moon and stars guiding a ghost ship across a sea of dreams.

We are the architects of our own ignorance.  Within the empty space of an open field we construct walls of this and that, floors of me and ceilings of mine.  It is a rickety, termite-ridden habitation for tenants of childhood, youth, maturity and old age.  Eventually it will collapse of its own, but why wait when we already possess the tools to demolish it?  "Who am I?" is the powder-charge, "not this, not this" the fuse, and intuition of truth the spark  We must ignite every nook and cranny of this false, temporal structure, whittle it down brick by brick, wall by wall, until one day so little remains it simply implodes in a cloud of dust.  Perhaps a cornerstone called "I" will survive.  Blow it up, too.  Then the dust finally settles into clarity, reality, the empty space of an open field, there all along.