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I recently received an email from a longtime reader and friend with some questions about another spiritual teacher and his teachings. I’ll leave the details and the teacher’s identity aside for now, as they really aren’t relevant, but I want to address her main question publicly as it provides a great intro to something of value for you and your journey.
Her question was: “Do you know what he is talking about?”
Have we not all stumbled upon a teaching or two that left us scratching our heads? At times, we can even sense a real vitality, a real aliveness in the teacher or teaching that gives us a sense we might be served by paying attention. But try as we might, we just can’t figure out what the hell… Read the rest →
Tagged with: Ramana Maharshi, teaching
A while back, my friend Jonathan Mead over at Illuminated Mind wrote an article on enlightenment in which he said:
“Your realization that everything is non-dual will not break all of the previous self-limiting and fear-based beliefs you have with yourself. Breaking those agreements will require hard work and perspiration to change.”
I’ve intended for a while to write a brief article on this comment of Jonathan’s to offer a different perspective. So, here goes:
To be honest, his statement runs counter to my experience and that of others. When the realization of no-self dawns, not merely an intellectual understand, but a true realization, beliefs disappear. As Ramana Maharshi pointed out, the belief… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Ramana Maharshi
The other day I wrote a little article commenting on Eckhart Tolle and Oprah. A reader left some comments concerning Eckhart and the general issue of enlightenment, and rather than reply in the comments, I thought I would do a short article in response.
I think it is safe to say that my reader and I may not see eye to eye on the subject of enlightenment. I won’t try to summarize his point of view, but I encourage you to read the comments on that post.
Let me being by saying that I’m not really into the term enlightenment, so I will use the word awake or awakening. Just a matter of preference. Less… Read the rest →
Tagged with: enlightenment, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ramana Maharshi
What am I? To my mind, that is the question that all spiritual seekers need to answer. Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest sages of the twentieth century, emphasized over and over again that answering this question was, in effect, the only point to spirituality. “Find out who you are!” he would say.
So, before I write an article on this question and my experience of it, I’m curious to hear from you first. If you stop for a moment, and ask this question of yourself, what answer do you get? Do you get an answer? What is your experience when you ask this question? If Ramana is right, then finding out who you are… Read the rest →
Tagged with: inquiry, Ramana Maharshi
Q: This ‘I’-thought rises from me. But I do not know the Self.
A. All these are only mental concepts. You are now identifying yourself with a wrong ‘I’, which is the ‘I’-thought. This ‘I’-thought rises and sinks, whereas the true significance of ‘I’ is beyond both. There cannot be a break in your being. You who slept are also now awake. There is no unhappiness in your deep sleep whereas it exists now. What is it that has happened now so that this difference is experienced? There was no ‘I’-thought in your sleep, whereas it is present now. The true ‘I’ is not apparent and the false ‘I’ is parading itself. This false ‘I’ is the obstacle to your right knowledge. Find out from where this false ‘I’ arises.… Read the rest →
Tagged with: Ramana Maharshi
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