Yoga Ashram
Purify the mind
The mind has strong powers, habits, emotions and desires so it is not easy to control.
Guru said, “Purify the mind. Atman will be realized when the mind becomes pure (Sattva).”
If you know Atman in trance (Kevala Samadhi) but forget it in normal life, then the mind re-identifies with the body, thoughts, senses and emotions and you lose the True Self. This is the habit of ignorance (Avidya).
Practice Self-inquiry (Atma-vichara) until Avidya (ignorance) is destroyed.
The body, senses, thoughts and mind are not reality.
They are an illusion, a dream.
Only non-dual awareness, Atman, is reality.
Detach objects, wealth, fame and sex- they are impermanent- from the mind and abide as Atman.
Yogis experience all life without attachment and know that the material body and the astral body are not reality.
* Atman means Param-atma here. It is different from Jiva-atma (ego-self).
Self-inquiry (Atma-vichara)
Inquire - Who am I ?
Then focus on the - I, I am, Aham. This is centered awareness.
Look within yourself and just be still.
True Self will be realized when the impurities are cleared from the mind.
Until then wipe the objects of desire from the mind.
Mind is cloud, Self is sky.
Mind is the waves, Self is the sea.
Mind is dreaming, Self is Awakening.
In Sahaja Samadhi (Nondual state) pure energy of light increases and shines forth.
Samadhi
Q; What is Samadhi?
Ramana: In Yoga the term Samadhi refers to some kind of trance and there are various kind of Samadhi.
But the Samadhi I speak of is different. It is Sahaja Samadhi.
For you remain calm and composed even while you are active, you realise that you are moved by the deeper real Self within.
You have no worries, no anxieties, no cares.
For, here you come to realise that there is nothing belonging to you, the ego. And everything is done by something with which you get into conscious union.
Q: What is the difference between the bound man and the one liberated?
Ramana: From the heart, there is a subtle passage leading to Sahasrara chakra, Amrita-nadi.
The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the heart.
Jnana Siddha lives in the heart. When he moves and deals with men and things, he knews that what he see is not separate from the one Supreme Reality, Brahman which he realised in the heart as
his own Self, the real.
1. Savikalpa samadhi : We lose physical body consciousness and experience the subtle body (Sukshma sharira).
2. Kevara- nirvikalpa samadhi : Pure consciousness, bliss in non-dual state. There is no mind, nor thoughts in trance. (Turiya)
3. Sahaja samadhi : Enlightenment (Turiyatita), Absolute freedom (Mukthi)
Emptiness
Non-attachment leads to stillness.
No-mind is to go beyond the senses, thoughts, emotions and habits. No-mind gives intuition, wisdom and liberation. All the phenomena are impermanent.
True reality (Nirvana) appears when the mind (ego) ceases.
Ego is selfishness, greed, fear, hatred and ignorance.
It always clings to objects, to others and creates vanity, feelings of loneliness and insecurity. When the Ego ceases, Buddha nature appears.
The five aggregates- body, sense, thought, mental habits, body-consciousness- are empty, they are not the Self. The Buddha taught that Shunyata- Emptiness- is reality, Buddha Nature.