Gathered Blooms

Just a shift in our perception of ourselves can bring about a change in how we look at the world. The Illusory nature of the world can be understood by first-hand experience from our day to day life  of  the waking state, dream state and the deep sleep state, the three states in Consciousness. We actually perceive and experience the world through the mind. Our mind is nothing but a collection of thoughts, which have the ‘I thought’ as the primary thought. The ‘I thought’ is an impostor that springs from Consciousness donning the appearance of Consciousness, which is the REAL I. If but for the thoughts, there is no such thing called the mind, states Ramana Maharshi. In deep sleep, the mind is lost along with the world, but when we wake up, the individual self (identification with the body and the mind), or the ‘I thought’ rises after which we begin to experience the world for the day. When we view the world as the individual self or the ‘I thought’ in th...

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya It is not some dry philosophy, but the day to day happening in each of our lives, from birth to death that we have missed to pay attention to- the waking state, the dream state and the deep sleep state. "The world is a changing phenomena, an illusion." A spiritual comrade uttered in the course of a casual conversation. The conversation drifted to the three states of consciousness-the waking, dreaming and the deep sleep states. They are alternating phases. A little scrutiny, and we can understand about these three states, which we experience every day from birth to death. By the term "Real", we mean "Original", in the things that we encounter in our day to day life. We call "Original" because there is no change in them ever. So are the three states of consciousness, the waking state, where we engage in day to day activities; and the dream state, where we move about in our dreams with a different set o...

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya I am not the body nor am I the mind (Please read the previous posts for details) So 'Who am I?' The small booklet 'Who am I' of Ramana Maharshi is enough to dispel all doubts. What is left over is a vibrant silence, being-ness or consciousness. So if  I am this silence or consciousness, then the essence of everyone, should be the same. A oneness in consciousness is experienced (Universal oneness) Division can exercise only with the body or the form as 'you,' 'me,' 'they,' 'them' 'it' etc. Division is out of question beyond forms (body), (IE) when we understand that we are not the body. A small exercise suggested by Swami Ashokananda in His 'Not many but one' is really interesting. When one happens to see a person, a dog, a tree or anything else for that matter, He asks one to pierce through the form to identify the oneness in consciousness, spirit or silence (all means the same). Th...

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya! When there is a knower within oneself who knows the body, and surpasses the mind, then I cannot be the body that I had identified myself so far with! (Read The Meaning Of Consciousness for a better understanding of this statement) So whatever remained, after banishing the mind and the body is the ‘Self’. There is a being-ness that is alive, before the mind soon slips away in its vagabond ways which is self- consciousness. It is the Grace of the Master that gets one to persevere in his efforts. The Seers say that the endless extension of this vibrant stillness is what the ultimate state is. It is an interesting fact to notice the truth that goes unnoticed in our day to day life. We say ‘My body,’ ‘My mind,’ ‘My hand’ etc. The ‘My,’ the truth goes unnoticed and the focus is on body, mind hand etc. Whose hand, body or mind? “It is mine (I)” So we are essentially self-conscious, just that we lose track of it. So what happens of the body? In ...

Om Namo Bhagavate Shri Ramanaya! The word ‘Consciousness,’ was not more than a spiritual term, until I came across a book that introduced me to its deeper meaning. In one of my visits to Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, in the book store, I happened to pick up a book by Swami Ashokananda, “When the many become one.”  The title was nevertheless catchy and promised a detailed expression of the truth. It is a book very potent in knowledge and to be read slowly in order to grasp and digest the lofty truth that the words tried to portray. The word ‘Consciousness,’ as the book revealed, is the simple fact that all objects existed in our own consciousness (i.e.), any object that we perceive is in our own consciousness.  They will have to remain in the field of our consciousness in order to exist.  In other words we will have to be conscious of objects, only then can they be perceived. For example we perceive a glass only because we are conscious of it. We perceive an ant only because we...