Food is Sacred

Vegan Salad with Mango pieces

Sri Ramana spent many years cooking for others at the Ashram and even gave precise instructions to those in the kitchen on cooking! He was a taskmaster and did not allow any food to be wasted.

The Upanishads remind us that food is sacred. “Food (anna) itself is Brahma” ~  Taittiriya Upanishad.

Bhagavan Ramana taught the devotees that food influences our body and mind, and should be selected with care, prepared well, and eaten in moderation.

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Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Mother: Mahasmadhi

Bhagavan and His Mother

Sri Ramana’s mother lived with him in physically difficult conditions and in poverty in the caves of Arunachala. Life was hard for her due to her age as well. One day, Bhagavan Ramana’s sister came and said to their mother, “Mother, you are not well. Come, I have a comfortable house.” She refused and turning to Bhagavan told him, “I want to die only in your arms. After my death you may even throw away my body into some thorn bushes, it does not matter.”

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People of intelligence examine their own mind! ~ Sri Ramana

People of intelligence examine their own mind! ~ Sri Ramana

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People of intelligence examine their own minds

This quote can be found in the “Letters from Ramanasramam” ~13th August, 1946. In this simple comment made in the conversation, Bhagavan teaches us that intelligent and reflective aspirants focus their energy in scanning their own mind and consciousness. It is only by carefully examining the mind, one realizes the ultimate nature of perception.

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Some Similarities between Jnana Yoga and Kundalini Yoga: by Vib “Vibri” Ribbon

Some Similarities between Jnana Yoga and Kundalini Yoga:

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Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini-Shakti is in traditional Indian spiritual sources described as the energy that propels man to liberation. Thus, awakening this energy in the body(mind) of the practitioner is central in some liberation teachings, most notably, the Kundalini Yoga systems and the Tantra Yoga systems. As the energy moves in the central channel in the body from its resting place and source in the Muladhara Chakra to the Sahasrara Chakra, and enlivens the passive element of the mind, liberation is said to ensue.

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The Method For Self-Realization: By Dr. Harsh K. Luthar

The Method for Self-Realization

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Sometimes we see people debating the language and methodology of Sri Ramana’s teaching. The question is often raised, “What is the purest form of Ramana’s teaching”?

The answer is obvious. That form of the teaching is the purest, which works for you. What bring you to Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization is the highest teaching.

Sri Ramana’s teaching is very straight forward. Despite the volumes of books and hundreds of expert commentaries, the essential teaching is simple. It is all an open secret for everyone to see.

Sri Ramana always emphasized that our nature is that of pure, unstained consciousness. “Awareness is another name for you”, the Sage of Arunachala used to say. Our spirit is of the nature of unbroken awareness that continues regardless of what our physical makeup is or what mental state the mind is in (sleep, dreaming, waking). If we deeply understand this, we have arrived at the…

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The Open Secret: By Dr. Harsh K. Luthar

The Open Secret

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The Open Secret

Looking outside of ourself, we discover the world and its many manifestations. Some are pleasant and some unpleasant. Without going on the mysterious journey of seeking the truth of reality, the mind does not accept its powerlessness to comprehend reality. Without this acceptance, there is always an underlying tension.

How can the conscious mind, that is but a small manifestation of fullness of consciousness, capture the reality of the original being whose nature is that of Sat-Chit-Ananda? How can that which is limited pretend to understand the infinite eye?

It is all an open secret. The answer is there without words. The mind cannot understand the source from where it sprang. It can only go back and become one with it.

When the mind which seeks, asks the questions, and doubts, surrenders to the divine will and consciously merges in the Heart, in that very instant, Reality…

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I Entered the Heart a Stranger: By Dr. Harsh K. Luthar

The Experience of the Heart.

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For many years, I have been sharing the following quote on Facebook.

“I entered the Heart a stranger and saw that I myself am the Heart.”

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We are all One Heart

The most precious thing we give to each other is our sincere attention and presence.

When we come together, let us do so in the spirit of love and reverence for all life.

When we part, let us do so in the spirit of peace and goodwill towards each other.

Ultimately, we carry each other in the Heart because we are all One Heart.

All Smiles

 

Ahimsa Is The Highest Virtue

No teaching higher than Self Realization

Ahimsa (nonviolence) is the primary ideal and the virtue to be cultivated on the yogic path to Self-Realization. This is a subtle, deep, and fundamental psychological and spiritual truth.

Why such an emphasis on Ahimsa by the sages?

It is because the perfect and calm state of relaxed awareness is only possible in a mind that is free of all violence.

It is in this state that Grace takes over and allows the pure devotee to surrender fully to God who sits in the Heart, as the Universal Heart, and recognize it to be the Self, one’s very own Self.

 

What is fear? It is only a thought. ~ Sri Ramana

Bhagavan's smile

“What is fear? It is only a thought. If (only) there is anything besides the Self, there is reason to fear”.  Sri Ramana in Talk 146 (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi). Highlighting the role of ego as an impediment on the spiritual path, Sri Ramana concludes, “All bad qualities center around the ego. When the ego is gone Realisation results by itself”. 

Sri Ramana’s teaching is that all fear and suffering is ego based. Because the ego views itself as separate from God (the Universal Intelligence), all its energy goes towards maintaining its existence, its identity. The ego based attachments essentially constitute our individual personality. The more intense our attachments to people and things, the more intense our suffering will be.

The natural peace and happiness inherent in the Self dominates when ego identification with actions and thoughts disappears. 

Sri Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita that although the mind is difficult to control, with repeated practice, it gradually subsides. Outlining the path of Karma Yoga to purify the mind, Sri Krishna advises Arjuna to take action but to not be attached to the fruits of the action. In this way also, identification with the ego thins out and one attains Realization of one’s true nature.

Sri Krishna says to Arjuna, “Therefore, always perform your duty efficiently and without attachment to the results, because by doing work without attachment one attains the Supreme. (BG 3.19).

Sri Ramana used to say that spiritual practice should be carried out until the Self becomes spontaneously and effortlessly self-evident in all states of consciousness as being the natural state.