The Maharshi and His Message by Paul Brunton

The Maharshi and His Message by Paul Brunton.

Published by Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai

Ramana Maharshi guidance:

1.       Know first that ‘I’ and then you shall know the truth.

2.       There is only one thing to be done.  Look into your own self.  Do this in the right way and you shall find the answer to all your problems.

3.       Through deep reflection on the nature of one’s self and through constant meditation, the light can be found.

4.       How do you know that no progress has been made?  It is not easy to perceive one’s progress in the spiritual realm.

5.       Guru can give his discipline all that he needs for his quest. 

6.       Getting enlightenment depends upon the maturity of the seeker’s mind.  The gun powder catches fire in an instant, while much time is needed to set fire to the coal.

7.       Why should you trouble yourself about the future? You do not even properly know about the present!  Take care of the present; the future will then take care of itself.

8.       As you are, so is the world.  Without understanding yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world?  People waste their energies over all such questions.  First, find out the truth behind yourself; then you will be in a better position to understand the truth behind the world, of which yourself is a part.

9.       When you go back there, you shall have this peace which you now feel, but its price will be that you shall henceforth can’t aside the idea that you are this body or this brain.  When this peace will flow into you, then you shall have to forget your own self, for you will have turned your life over to THAT.

10.   The life of action need not be renounced.  If you will meditate for an hour or two every day, you can then carry on with your duties.  If you meditate in the right manner, then the current of mind induced will continue to flow even in the midst of your work.  It is as though there were two ways of expressing the same idea; the same line which you take in meditation will be expressed in your activities.

11.   As you go on you will find that your attitude towards people, events and objects will gradually change.  Your actions will tend to follow your meditations of their own accord.

12.   A man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world.  Giving up the false self is the true renunciation.

13.   You have to ask yourself the question, ‘Who am I?  This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind.  Solve that great problem, and you will solve all other problems thereby?

14.   Man’s real nature is happiness.  Happiness is inborn in the true self.  His search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true self.  The true Self is imperishable; therefore when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end.  All men, without exception, are consciously or unconsciously seeking happiness.  Even a sinner is trying to find the Self’s happiness in every sin which they commit.  This striving is instinctive in man, but they do not know that they are really seeking their true selves, and so they try these wicked ways first as a means to happiness.  Of course, they are wrong ways, for a man’s acts are reflected back to him.

15.   To understand SELF, it is first necessary for a man to analyse himself.  Because it has long been his habit to think as others think, he has never faced his ‘I’ in the true manner.  He has not a correct picture of himself; he has too long identified himself with the body and the brain.  Therefore, I tell you to pursue this enquiry, “Who am I”.

16.   The first and foremost of all thoughts, the primeval thought in the mind of every man, is the thought ‘I’.  It is only after the birth of this thought that any other thoughts can arise at all.  It is only after the first personal pronoun ‘I’ has arisen in the mind that the personal pronoun ‘you’ can make its appearance.  If you could mentally follow the ‘I’ thread until it leads you back to its source, you would discover that, just as it is the first thought to appear, so is it the last to disappear.  This is a matter which can be experienced.  It is possible to go inwards until the last thought ‘I’ gradually vanishes.

17.   The sense of ‘I’ pertains to the person, the body and the brain.  When a man knows his true Self for the first time, something else arises from the depths of his being and takes possession of him.   That something is behind the mind; it is infinite, divine, eternal.  Some people call it the kingdom of heaven, others call it the soul, still others name it Nirvana, and we Hindus call it Liberation; you may give it what name you wish.  When this happens, a man has not really lost himself; rather, he has found himself.

18.   ‘Who am I?, if you begin to perceive that neither the body nor the brain nor the desires are really you, then the very attitude of enquiry will eventually draw the answer to you out of the depths of your own beings; it will come to you of its own accord as a deep realization.

19.   Know the real Self and then the truth will shine forth within your heart like sunshine.  The mind will become untroubled and real happiness will flood it; for happiness and the true self are identical.  You will have no more doubts once you attain this Self-awareness.

20.   The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature.  Every man is divine and strong in his real nature.  What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself.

21.   Who am I?

Am I this body of flesh, blood and bone?

Am I the mind, the thoughts and the feelings which distinguish me from every other person?

22.   Pursue the enquiry ‘Who am I? Relentlessly.  Analyse your entire personality.  Try to find out where the I-thought begins.  Go on with your meditations.  Keep turning your attention within.  One day the wheel of thought will slow down and an intuition will mysteriously arise. Follow that intuition let your thinking stop, and it will eventually lead you to the goal.

23.   Trace thought to its place of origin.  Watch for the real Self to reveal itself, and then your thoughts will die down on their own accord.

‘The Maharshi and His Message’ is a small book of around 80 pages which are the extracts of three chapters from the Paul Brunton’s ‘A Search in Secret India’ book.  This book starts with the invitation to Brunton to visit Tiruvannamalai from a disciple of Ramana Maharshi and explains about all the personal experiences and discussions he had with Maharshi.

I like the second chapter “The Hill of the Holy Beacon” more.

Source: The Maharshi and His Message – Paul Brunton.  Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai.  Price Rs.20/-. Pages – 77.

For more information and guidance, visit www. ramana-maharshi.org  or ashram@ramana-maharshi.org

Disclaimer – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “The Maharshi and His Message” written by Paul Brunton. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com

Book: Science of Psychic Phenomena by Swami Abhedananda

Book: Science of Psychic Phenomena by Swami Abhedananda,

Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Kolkotta. Price Rs.60/-

If you want to know how someone is healed by praying, or visiting a temple or by any swami or about the miracles done by few people of removing physical and mental problems of others, then this book provides the basic information. This book also deals with the subjects like why someone gets illness – Physical and Mental and about all other alternative treatments and so on. Extracts from the book:

v Those, who care for name, fame and worldly prosperity, may run after psychic powers and exercise them for their selfish motives; but the True seekers after spiritual perfection never crave them, but shun them as obstacles and source of bondage and self-delusion.

v The path to spiritual perfection is never smooth or easy going, but from time to time, these appears high hills of temptations as pseudo-gems of siddhis or psychic powers, which delude and mislead to individual soul. The real aspirants of the divine knowledge never deluded by them.

v Human mind is nothing but a continued adoption to environments. The more perfect the adaptation, the more perfect is the manifestation of life. The law of adaptation is not mechanical or chemical, but it is what we call the manifestation of the life-force or vital energy. Everything in this universe is governed by this law, and the violation of this law brings disorder in the body and the mind. It also brings ill-health, diseases and similar disturbances. Life-force or prana is the prime mover of the mind. It is also the sustainer and preserver of the organism in the universe. So, if anyone can control this life-force, he becomes the master of the body and the mind.

v There are three spaces – Physical, Mental and Spiritual. Spiritual space is higher than the mental space and mental space is behind the physical space. So, messages can be sent on the mental space and can be received.

v According to the science of breath, each living soul possesses the power of prana, by which are caused the activities of the motor and sensory nerves. The nerve-currents which travel through those nerves are produced by the vibration of prana. The nerve-centers in the spine are the storehouses of this life-force, where it is generated and kept. In the healing powers, the more we can store up this power of prana, the stronger we shall be physically and mentally. He, who possesses a sufficient quantity of this breath of life or prana, has perfect health and enormous vitality and strength, which he can impact to others, if he wishes to do so. This is the secret of magnetic healing. The loss of prana or nerve-force is the cause of nervous prostration and of all other diseases.

For more information and guidance, visit http://www.ramakrishnavedantamath.org or ramakrishnavedantamath@vsnl.net

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Science of Psychic Phenomena” written by Swami Abhedananda. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com

Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)

Book: Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life) – Sudha Murthy MAMI (as we call Narayana Murthy as MAMA)

Published by East West Books Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad.

Is there any relation with the book title with book publisher? Wise or other wise published by east west publishers. Think!

This book I have read in State Library, Hyderabad. In those days, MAMI was writing columns in newspapers every week and I was a regular reader of those columns. I came to know few things about Sudha Murthy Father, about her son and also about how marriage proposals are decided and how they are rated.

Below are the extracts/notes I have taken from that book.

· There is a grace in accepting also.

· Had our lives become so busy that grief had become proportionate to the usefulness of the loved one we have lost?

· The youngsters listened without saying a word. And without chewing. (Thiru – we always did the same in the class and now in the boardroom)

· Friendship means faith between the two.

· If you want to be happy, you will learn on your own.

· Education doesn’t mean scoring good marks in exams or getting certificates. (Thiru – I am not in Infosys because of good marks only. No campus selection without good grades. No Infosys campus interviews if you are not from the good engineering college. I am one of those unlucky guys with no campus selection, no good marks….)

· Life is an exam where the syllabus is unknown and question papers are not set. Nor are there model answer papers. There are various types of questions, which can come from any direction, but one should not run away.

· To face difficulties, education and financial independence are just tools, but one must develop confidence throughout life.

· Your best friend is yourself and your worst enemy is also yourself, isn’t it? (Thiru – it depends …situation based. Best friends are few but we have worst enemy always. Teacher in the school, lecturer in college and manager in the office)

· Educated people always comment on others. Their intelligence is spent in criticizing others. They always think that there is foul play in everything. We dream of so many things in life, but we may not be able to achieve it. Achievement is the product of many factors and not of hard work alone. You require the right opportunity, the right people to work and the right time. May be, there is an element of luck too.

· An achiever has to work hard and have faith in his works. So many times, people may work hard but may not achieve much. That does not mean that they are any less than others who are more successful. If I am unable to realize my dream and somebody else does, it is better for me to feel happy for the other person rather than to feel sorry for myself. (Thiru – I suffered from this problem throughout my college life. But the feeling of myself not able to achieve is more than the feeling of happiness for someone success. Only recently I realized how much happy I felt when one of my close college friend achieved success in his life. It was a tremendous feeling altogether. But for everyone I don’t. Many times we feel jealously for those unknown and unrelated people who had the success. May be, the craving for the success is making us to behave like that.)

· The best culture is one in which we rejoice in each other’s glory. We should have a positive attitude. We should be able to admire, rather than feel jealous or resentful of the achievement of others.

· Be fair to others. One may not achieve a lot in real life but being fair to others is a great quality. We must realize that.

· Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision is merely passing time; but vision and action together can change the world (Thiru – I think this is my MAMA’s saying……)

· Every drop makes an ocean; every grain makes a granary. (Thiru – likewise, every employee makes an company)

· It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. (Thiru – what if u don’t have the candle, what if u have the candle but not the matchbox, what if u have the both, but there is heavy wind and rain, what if u have both, but your manager has told not to light them and more over what if – u have candle, matchbox, no wind or rain, permission, but u r unable to light up the candle)

A good parable or story: by Sudha Murthy

A beggar and the young girl were playing on the road because there was no traffic. They were laughing, clapping and screaming joyously as if they were in paradise. Hunger and rain did not matter. They were totally drenched and totally happy. In envied their zest for life.

That scene has forced me to look at my own life. I realized I had so many comforts, none of which they had. But they had the most important of all assets, one which I lacked. They knew how to be happy with life as it was. I felt ashamed of myself. I even started to make a list of what I had and what I did not have. I found I had more to be grateful for than most people could imagine. That day, I decided to change my attitude towards life using the beggar as my role model. (Thiru – almost same incident happen with me..after 2 0r 3 years into my career, there came a time where there were lot of doubts on job security and it started affecting my professional and personal life. During the same period, I happen to read an excellent article by Mind Tree CEO about a ‘Tomota seller’. [ I will try to blog that column soon…I have the paper cutting somewhere..i need to search it] It was an eye-opener for me and made me realize that there is more in life than just a good career and there are lot more people who look very ordinary to us but are leading life on the edges of danger but are able to enjoy the life as it is. That is what we have to learn…..the art which our school or college education has not given…but definitely life will teach us..but even better if we can learn as soon as possible before life teaches its own lessons. Because life lessons are always painful, which the world calls them as “experiences”.)

Sayings of Sudha Murthy Father:

Tears cannot solve age-old problems. We can only try to reduce them. You cannot change the life of every single person. In your lifetime, if you can rehabilitate at least ten such people, I would be a proud father. Proud that I have given birth to a daughter who could change the lives of ten helpless women.

Everybody should know their own capacity and strength. One should also know one’s own limitations. It is more difficult to recognize our weaknesses than our strength. Don’t aim for the sky. Keep your feet firmly on the ground and work around you. There is so much misery and darkness. Try to light as many candles as possible.

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Wise and Other Wise (A salute to Life)” written by Sudha Murthy. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com

Book: Gita-In-Action

Book: Gita-In-Action
By - O P Sharma, University Book House.

It is a small but very good book written telling us how to manage ourselves. I have read this book very long back may be in 2004 or 2005 and below are the extracts/notes I have taken.

· SELF is the CAUSE and SELF is the EFFECT.

· Action is thy concern & not the results. (Thiru - I don’t this…as whatever we do…we do it for the result)

· Keep working. Results will follow.

· Perform your worldly duties enthusiastically according to your respective positions in life for the universal good without concerning yourself with the results with a self identifying vision.

· Self realization is activated by the individual’s initiative and abiding sense of commitment.

· VED – means to know, to be, to obtain, to consider, to feel, to tell, to dwell.

· Why do you worry; Fear what; who can kill you; the soul never takes birth nor it dies.

· What has happened is good; whatever is happening is good; whatever will happen will be good. (Thiru – I used get angry when I read or hear this sentence in the past. But after reading this book, I realize that whatever has happened in the past, either good or bad is due to your past karma. And your karma is what you have done in the past. If you have done good, u would have acquired good karma and good things will happen to you. So if something or someone or you have done good or bad for you, then it is due to your karma. If bad things happened to you, u must realize that the bad karma u have done in the past has been worked out and u r free from that past bad karma. In the same way, based on your past karma, good or bad things will happen in the future also….This sentence alone can summarize the concepts of all the spiritual literature.)

· Do not regret the past. Do not worry for the future. The present is ongoing. Take care. (Thiru – Another great realization after reading this sentence from this book. Normally we have read or heard about these in our life, but it the greatest of the author who brings this point to the notice of the reader and makes him realize the important of that sentence by giving examples or explaining the same in detail. 90% percent of our worries are due to our thoughts on the past or on the future. If we look at ourselves, normally we will be OK in the present situation.)

· What have you lost; why do you cry; what did you bring with you; you accumulated everything here; you leave everything here; you enmassed things on his behest, you return these things to him; you came empty handed; you leave empty handed; what you possessed today belonged to someone else; it will pass on to an another after you depart. You rejoice taking all these possessions as your exclusive. That is what causes misery. (Thiru – rightly said above but the problem with all of us is not something we brought by birth. The biggest problem are with those things which we accumulated in this life (experiences, feelings, ambitions, relationships, attitude and many more) and more important we are not able to leave them even thought we know that these are harming our life to large extent. It is not about bringing something by birth and leaving by death but having something during this lifetime which is the problem. And we are not able to handle properly the possessions we have.)

· Change is the law of nature.

· You! Then fight for the cause of fighting, without considering the effects of happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat. By so doing you shall incur no sin. (Thiru – This I tried but not possible for me and for the people surrounding me. Everyone wants only the results and all we do in this life is for the results only….)

Note – The above points are notes I have scrubbed down while reading the book “Gita-In-Action” written by O.P.Sharma. I am blogging this material only to encourage the readers who see my blog to read the book and is not meant for any commercial purpose. It is just sharing information about a good book.

Regards,

Tirumalanath

tirumalanath@gmail.com