My first post -this is on self enquiry

Dear Friends,

We are living in a world,where to have a successful living,we have to wear three hats successfully,as the occasion demands .The professional hat symbolizing, how we come across in our professional interactions, the personal hat that we have to wear while interacting with our near and dear ones and the spiritual hat,symbolizing the ground reality of things and our true nature.
Based on my  about 48 years of existence , I would like to pen my thoughts on various subjects pertaining to above.

 I would like to start with few thoughts on spirituality as propounded by Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.Bhagavan Ramana would repeatedly stress that we are essentially that i.e existence conscious bliss or Sat Chit Anand. All our interactions, result from the dynamic energy inherent in us.

But we still seem to be unhappy, because we have hypnotised ourself into believing that we are something other than what we naturally are i.e existence conscious bliss.
Bhagavan brought into the fore the  ancient technique of self enquiry to de-hypnotize ourselves so to speak,and remain in our true nature.Repeated practice will help stabilise ourselves in our true nature.

I quote the below from Bhagavan's treatise 'Who am I'.
"

That which rises as ‘I’ in the body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the body the thought ‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it rises in the Heart. That is the place of the mind’s origin. Even if one thinks constantly ‘I’, ‘I’, one will be led to that place. Of all the thoughts that arise in the mind, the ‘I’ thought is the first. It is only after the rise of the “I-thought” that other thoughts occur.

The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre, it will itself be burnt up in the end. Then, there will be Self-realization. When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them but should diligently inquire: ‘To whom do they occur?’ It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquire with alertness, “To whom has this thought arisen?” The answer that would emerge would be “to me”. Thereupon if one inquires “Who am I?” the mind will go back to its source; and the thought that arose will subside.

With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the power to stay in its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the names and forms disappear. Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called “inwardness”. Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as “externalization”. Thus, when the mind stays in the Heart, the ‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self which ever exists will shine.

"

The purpose of the sequence of words,namely, asking 'to whom has this thought arisen,to me,who am I'is only to  shift the attention back to the 'I'.Having put the question who am I i.e having put oneself in this position,the question asked should be left alone i.e no attempt is to be made for any intellectual answer.This inquiry is made to cutoff the thoughts that stand in the way of meditation .(i.e being in our true nature).The question should be asked as many times as the thoughts come up.The aspirant will discover in this process of continuous Who am I enquiry that there have been occasions when no thought occurred and calm prevailed. Bhagavan has assured that repeatedly practising will make the peace which is our true nature permanent.The verbal articulation of 'to whom has this thought arisen,to me,who am I' may be dispensed with when we develop the ability to naturally shift(i.e change focus) to our being in the face of distracting thoughts .

A few lines on the Heart i.e the first  underlined portion of the above extract 'who am I' "may be mentioned.Since we associate ourselves with our body ,Bhagavan in his treatise suggested  to start the enquiry, from the part of  the body where we perceive the 'I' thought originates but the truth is the'I' though has no physical origin- it commences from  the ether or consciousness  that permeates all existence and which again is our true nature .

The above is only an introduction to the spirituality propounded by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.For more information you may refer to www.sriramanamaharshi.org and its publications.

Thanks,

Anand Sundaram.