a 16 year old schoolboy was alone in an upstairs room of his unlcles house, when he was suddenly gripped by an intense fear of death......
in the following few minutes he went through a simulated death experience, during which he became consciously aware for the first time that his real nature was imperishable and that it was unrelated to the body , the mind or the personality.
from that time on his consciousness of being an individual person ceased to exist, and it never functioned in him again.
he walked out on his family and driven by an inner compulsion, slowly made his way to a holy mountain.
on his arrival he threw away all his clothes money and possessions and abandoned himself to a newly discovered awareness that his real nature was formless, immanent consciousness.
his absorbtion in this awareness was so intense that he was completely oblivious to his body and the world;
insects chewed away portions of his legs, and his hair and fingernails grew to unmanageable lengths .
after 2 or 3 years in this state he began a slow return to physical normality, a process that was not finally completed for several years.
he had realised the self. that is he had realised dy direct experience that nothing existed apart from an indivisible and universal consciousness which was experienced in its unmanifest form as beingness or awareness, and in its manifest form as the appearance of the universe..
the book
be as you are :
the teachings of sri ramana maharshi
edited by david godman.
isbn 0-14-019062-7
is a book about people like you and me asking him questions...and the replies he gives to these questions...
things like:
question...when a man realises the self what will he see
answer... there is no seeing. seeing is only being, the state of self realisation, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you are and which you always have been.all that is required is that you give up your realisation of the not-true being true..etc
question... as the bodies of the selves animating them are everywhere actually observed to be inumerable how can it be said that the self is one...
answer...if the idea of...i am the body is accepted then the selves are multiple.. the state in which this idea vanishes is the self and in that state there are no other objects...etc
for the wise one who has realised the self by diving into himself , there is nothing other than self to be known.
question.... how can i obtain self realisation..
answer....realistaion is nothing to be gained afresh...it is already there . all that is necessary is to get rid of the thought...i have not realised.
question....how has the unreal come , can the unreal spring from the real?
answer...see if it has sprung.. there is no such thing as the unreal .. the self alone exists, when you try to trace the ego, which is the basis of the perception of the world and everything else .... you will find that the ego does not exist at all, and neither does all this creation that you see
question... does ,my realisation help others?
answer... yes certainly. it is the best possible help...but there are no others to be helped, for a realised being sees only the self, just like a goldsmith estimating the gold in various objects sees only gold.
when you transcend your body, the others dissappear along with your body consciousness.
question...is it so with plants and trees?
answer...do they exist at all apart from the self? find it out. you think that you see them. the thought is projected out from the self. find out from where it rises . thoughts will cease to rise and the self alone will remain...
etc.....
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