Who is looking?

 "The joke of it all is that you are looking

from your true nature right now

without knowing it. If you would stop

being fascinated with the contents

of your mind, you would experience

what I am saying.

 

Feel your way into

what I am saying

rather than thinking about it."

 Adyashanti

Conditioned mind—our psychological “I”-identity—is goal oriented. It wants something, that is, it is either attached to something or wants to avoid something else. We all have those moments of alertness, openness and equanimity when our view is not obstructed, but what to do when we see the biased mind at work. Can we look, see and sense what this bias is all about? What happens to the bias when we watch without judgement? Who is looking?

Let Self call the shots

 "Take no notice of the ego and its activities 

but see only the Light behind."

Sri Ramana Maharshi

It's knowing in the Silence of being.

It's the sensing of vibrating inner Energy.

It’s Love for people, happenings and the moment.

It’s a Flow of life that mirrors our inner state of being.

The conditioned self is what it is—let S-E-L-F call the shots.

Can we become more spiritual?

 Devotee:  How can one quicken this coming of realization?

Ramana Maharshi:  As one strives to know the true ‘I’ the attachment to objects, the bad and degrading thoughts gradually drop off. The more one does not forget the Self, the more do elevating qualities become ours. Realisation will come eventually.

We hear that often from spiritual teachers, follow this practice and you are connected to the workings of the Way “more and more.” Life is non-linear for a good reason, to confront us with the self-imposed interferences that keep us from enjoying the harmony of the Way. 

A spiritual quest is like spring-cleaning. We address what we perceive to be the self-imposed obstacles and God cleans out the subconscious for us. We always travel the Way, it just takes us a little time to consciously get our arms around that fact. Keep cleaning!

#ramanamaharshi #spirituality #awakening #ethics

Let Oneness work through “you”

 You cannot get rid of your shadow,

but you need not believe that is who you really are.

Ramana Maharshi 

A conditioned mind is what it is. Good luck in your attempt to consciously change it. Maybe the bio-robot will always remain what it is after it has been set in motion, but we can take the wind out of its sails by seeing the bigger picture.

An example. Schooling and professional choices have been a source of conflict in our house for a while now. My wife is from Asia where enormous pressure was applied to her to go to the best schools and choose high paying jobs, whereas in my household there always was a laissez-faire attitude to the degree of too little intervention. Essentially, I could do what I wanted but opted to put all my effort into competing with the best and brightest both in academics and later professionally. My wife and I met at Brown University and we both ended up in the same financial industry working as economists. 

Somehow we carry these conditionings with us. Schooling and professional choices for the boys have been a heated subject in our family for a while now. I refuse to get involved much while my wife works endlessly in encouraging them to sign up for internships and jobs all while they are already doing their demanding course work. I am grateful for everything she has already done for them but I also worry that we put too much pressure on them. 

Something has changed in me recently though. These days I look at everything more holistically. I see how both boys are taking their initiative to accomplish their goals and I now see myself as simply a cog in the family machine that helps to keep the wheels turning. This entity “me” might still get triggered in certain situations but somehow the energy has dissipated as I see the generally productive interplay of all family members who love each other. 

It is as it is. See the “me” as it is and see life in its interplay with “you,” and Oneness has a shot to work through “you.” 

#spirituality #awakening #wholeness #ramanamaharshi 

Presence with “me” tagging along

 Take no notice of the ego and its activities 

but see only the Light behind it.

Ramana Maharshi 

Presence can be compared to a humming sound in the background. One can have an ear for it even while being aware of the pleasures and pains of this entity we often identify with. 

It’s a feeling of heaviness when the going gets tough that we are aware of and a state of excitement when things are going our way. Normally in those heavy cases we project, escape, vent, while running with the “me” energy when the going gets good. This time around though, the feeling of heaviness or excitement just co-exists without owning us. There is no follow through when this identification is missing. The humming in the background calls the shots and the “me” goes along come rain or shine.

Rising vibration

 The masters say that arising thoughts can be popped just like bubbles floating in the air, but for many of us the process feels like pushing a basketball under water—it bounces back with a splash. Attack repressed thinking and the thoughts will attack you! What’s the difference?

Actually, nature has a great analogy. Water can be steam, fluid and ice dependent on the temperature. Likewise, we are our thoughts when we are in a low vibration state, and the thinking process is alien in a high vibration state; in the intermediate states, we can awake and separate one from to the other.

This is why the messages of the masters seem so obvious yet so hard to manifest in real life. The thinker is the thought, whereas in silence and love, the “I Am” state cannot be affected by a thought that might rise to the surface and burst into nothingness soon after. Emptiness is!

If thoughts and feelings run “you”, what can “you” do about it? Who wants to do something about it? What created the conditions when we are cold as ice in the first place? Inquire into the nature of arising feelings and thinking and the temperature—the vibration—rises accordingly.

The story of the struggling swing coach

 There was once a golfer who was really good at the game. His swings were effortless, elegant, occasionally even magical. There was only that much money he could earn on the pro tour and the endless travel was hard on his family so he decided to take up coaching as well. He was a good coach and helped many people remove the swing mistakes they made, but his game suffered. After all the swing analysis he was suddenly thinking too much. One day he just went for a game with his son, and suddenly, his magic swing was back.

The story of the swing coach is a good analogy of the spiritual path. With Awakening—at least that happened to me—there was no path. From one day to the next the world I was living in changed. All that I remember of this time was the innocence and the Light and seemed to be everywhere, but then came the avocation to share this Light with others and suddenly obstacles popped up. “God” can’t be understood and can’t be explained, but we can bathe in “His” Energy that is everywhere when we stop looking for it.

One day the magic returns. Teaching is not the obstacle, the teacher is.