“When you feel parched in life..

bereft of your center,

Inner life will suddenly reach forward,

leap almost to the front and shout

I AM!”

~Manorama

Empty Yourself

Human nature became God, for God assumed the pure human nature and not the human person. So if you want to be this same Christ in God, empty yourself of everything which the eternal Word did not assume. The eternal Word did not

assume a human being, so empty yourself of everything which is purely personal and peculiarly you and assume human nature purely.... For your human nature and that of the divine Word are no different - it is one and the same.

~Meister Eckhart

The Infinite a sudden guest

Has been assumed to be,

But how can that stupendous come

Which never went away?

~ Bolts of Melody - New poems of Emily Dickinson

(New York: Harper and Row)

Q:  Who am I? How is it to be found?

M.: Ask yourself the question. The body (annamaya kosa) and its functions are not ‘I’.  Going deeper, the mind (manomaya kosa) and its functions are not ‘I’. The next step takes on to the question. “Where from do these thoughts arise?” The thoughts are spontaneous, superficial or analytical. They operate in intellect. Then, who is aware of them? The existence of thoughts, their clear conceptions and their operations become evident to the individual. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the individuality of the person is operative as the perceiver of the existence of thoughts and of their sequence. This individuality is the ego, or as people say ‘I’. Vijnanamaya kosa (intellect) is only the sheath of ‘I’ and not the ‘I’ itself. Enquiring further the questions arise, “Who is this ‘I’? Wherefrom does it come?” ‘I’ was not aware in sleep. Simultaneously with its rise sleep changes to dream or wakefulness. But I am not concerned with dream just now. Who am I now, in the wakeful state? If I originated from sleep, then the ‘I’ was covered up with ignorance. Such an ignorant ‘I’ cannot be what the scriptures say or the wise ones affirm. ‘I’ am beyond even ‘Sleep’; ‘I’ must be now and here and what I was all along in sleep and dreams also, without the qualities of such states. ‘I’ must therefore be the unqualified substratum underlying

these three states (anandamaya kosa transcended). ‘I’ is, in brief, beyond the five sheaths. Next, the residuum left over

after discarding all that is not-self is the Self, Sat-Chit-Ananda.

~ Ramana Maharashi

Excerpt from: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. ‘I am that I am’ sums up the whole truth.

The method is summed up in the words ‘Be Still’.  What does stillness mean?  

It means destroy yourself.  Because any form or shape is the cause of trouble.

Give up the notion that ‘I am so and so’.  All that is required to realize the Self is to be still.

What can be easier than that?  Hence atmavidya [Self-knowledge] is the easiest to attain.

The truth of oneself alone is worthy to be scrutinized and known.  Taking it as the

target of one’s attention, one should keenly know it in the Heart.  This knowledge of

oneself will be revealed only to the consciousness which is silent, clear and free from

the activity of the agitated and suffering mind.  Know that the consciousness

which always shines in the Heart as the formless Self, ‘I’ and which is known by one’s

being still without thinking about anything as existent or non-existent, alone is the

perfect reality.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

Excerpt from “Be As You Are”

The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi – Edited by David Goodman - pg 69

© Sri Ramanasramam, 1985

“When the self is not we discover what we really are. Thou art love, when the

self is not. Like a drop of water returning to the ocean and discovering one is

the whole living ocean.”

~ Adonis Alexander

It is because the world is so full of suffering,

that your happiness is a gift.

It is because the world is so full of poverty,

that your wealth is a gift

It is because the world is so unfriendly,

that your smile is a gift.

It is because the world is so full of war,

that your peace of mind is a gift.

It is because the world is in such despair,

that your hope and optimism is a gift.

It is because the world is so afraid,

that your love is a gift.

~ Robert Holden, Ph.D

Excerpt from "I AM THAT"

"To myself, I am neither perceivable nor conceivable; there is nothing I can point out to and say: "this I am". You identify yourself with everything so easily; I find it impossible. The feeling "I am not this or that, nor is anything mine" is so strong in me that as soon as a thing or a thought appears, there comes at once the sense "this I am not".

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

From: I AM THAT  - page 268

“There is only one real book to study and learn from -

the greatest of all books - and that is the very

manuscript that you, yourself, are.”

~ Swami Rama

Remember your beingness.  The knowledge that "I AM" has come to you out of your satva guna; that is beingness.  Satvas, rajas, and tamas: three gunas are playing here in manifestation.  The quality of the satva, the essence, is to know that you are, and to provide you with that basis on which to act.  Rajas is the motivating factor, it makes you move about, and tamas is inertia, consolidation.  This knowledge "I AM" comes to you after your body is born; after that the body of childhood grows on its own and becomes old.  What is left after all the ambitions, all the desires, have been fulfilled, all the actions have been done in accordance with the natural disposition?   What remains in the end is only one thing, "I AM".

So all through life you have to remember to investigate who is this  "I AM"; otherwise birth and death will have no meaning for your beingness, because that beingness also will be dissolved after the death of the body.  

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

Excerpt from "Seeds of Consciousness - page 51"  

Copyright August 18, 1979

edited by Jean Dunn

Song of the Soul

I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,

I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever

caught:

In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky -

Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breathe no vital air,

No elements have molded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:

I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution -

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;

No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:

Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,

Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:

I am neither food nor eating, nor yet the eater am I -

Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

I have no misgivings of death, no chasms of race divide me,

No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:

I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend -

Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,

I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:

Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound -

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

~Song of the Soul, by Shankaracharya

The Seeker is He Who is in Search of Himself

Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality.

To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not.

Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings thoughts, time, space, this or that -- nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive.

The clearer you understand on the level of mind you can be described in negative terms only, the quicker will you come to the end of your search and realize that you are the limitless being.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

 “Guru ji (Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati) used to say that everyone will have to ask this question in life. We feel afraid hearing it of its magnanimity or is vastness. We say it and then defend against it by trying to qualify and quantify it. I have found that often not having the answers and sitting with the questions teaches the deepest lessons. Practice sitting with the questions themselves. It is a bit Buddhist and/or particularly Zen like. This process makes each experience in life into a kōan.

The wise sages say, all questions contain the answers in them. If we use the Yogic formula and turn everything on its head, so to speak and instead of seeking resolution and answers we learn to sit with the deepest questions in life like 'Who am I?' we will see how being with the question prepares us for the relationship with the eternal unknown, the luminous Self.”

~ Manorama

www.sanskritstudies.org

Copyright 2009 Manorama & Luminous Shabda

A human being has so many skins inside, covering

the depths of the heart. We know so many things,

but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty

skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's,

cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to

know yourself there.

From 'Original Goodness' Eknath Easwaran on the Beatitudes

www.thedailyinspirations.com

Excerpt from The Ultimate Medicine

As Prescribed by Nisargadatta Maharag

January 1, 1979

There is only one principle; the principle is that "you are." Because you are, everything is. Hold it firmly to yourself. What is your aim? Do you really want what I am talking about? You have heard what has been said. Now live accordingly, and remain with it. You are indulging in worldly activity continually. Now before you go to sleep, forget about all that and start reflecting on reality. Because we can all break away from society. And the next thing is: don't run from door to door. I am of the opinion that most of you are doing that, just amassing knowledge; there is no point in that. Take one sentence of what has been said here, and stay with it. That is enough; that will lead you to your source. My word, as knowledge, if planted in you, will remove all other words, all concepts.

“To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is. ”

~ Pema Chodron

‎

"Having realized that I am with, and yet beyond the world, I became free from all desire and fear. I did not reason out that I should be free, I found myself free, unexpectedly, without the least effort. This freedom from desire and fear remained with me since then. Another thing I noticed was that I do not need to make an effort; the deed follows the thought, without delay and friction. I have also found that thoughts become self-fulfilling; things would fall in place smoothly and rightly. The main change was in the mind; it became motionless and silent, responding quickly, but not perpetuating the response. Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real. And above all, infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious."

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

“You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space. You are the witness of those five elements as Consciousness. Understanding this is liberation.” (3)

“If you detach yourself from the identification with the body and remain relaxed in and as Consciousness, you will, this very moment, be happy, at peace, free from bondage.” (4)

Ashtavakra Gita verses 3 & 4

Translation: Balsekar, Ramesh S. (2011-11-02). Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue (p. 16).  . Kindle Edition.

“You” are not the physical organism but Consciousness which works not as someone in charge of the operations of the physical organism but merely as the witness of the operations.  You have wrongly identified yourself as the individual, as the doer of all actions that take place through the physical organism, and thereby unnecessarily assume the responsibility for the actions which take place, and thus assume the bondage from which you are seeking liberation.

Balsekar, Ramesh S. (2011-11-02). Duet of One: The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue (p. 17).  . Kindle Edition.