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Re: Ramana Maharshi
rkubarych@aol.com (RKubarych) wrote:
> I have heard of this great Indian Saint and I am interested in
>practicing self inquiry as he expounded. He seems to be the most genuine
>seer of our era. I have read a book on the subject by Sri Sadhu Om
>entitled "The Path of Sri Ramana." It is a good book but as of yet I
>have not been very successful in self enquiry. It seems that when I sit I
Other good books would be - Talks with Ramana Maharishi, Vicharasangraham (Who
am I?). Another particularly useful book is Vivekachudamani of Sankara.
>am bombarded with fleeting thoughts and that I am only repeating to myself
>who am I? and coming up with an intellectual response. If anyone could
>offer some insights as to what this question really means I would be
>grateful.
> Sincerely,
> Robert Kubarych
As I understand, self enquiry is not constantly asking the question "Who am I".
Rather, it is to observe the source from which all thoughts arise. The ego
arises as the "I", and self enquiry is to observe from where this "I" arises
from. The "Who am I" question is merely an intellectual tool to argue how the
"self" forms the basis for all experiences, i.e., waking, dreaming and deep
sleep. This has been clarified by Ramana Maharishi himself (refer for ex.
'Talks with Ramana Maharishi'). The same kind of explanations have been given
by others also (ex. Sankara, Zen master Bassui etc).
Fleeting thoughts are quite common and the only way is to bring back the mind
to self enquiry (as Lord Krishna advises in the Gita). May I also suggest doing
pranayama? It has made a significant difference for me.
Ramakrishnan.
