Tag: nonduality
-
Self-inquiry And This Divine Comedy
Let’s really try to understand Ramana Maharshi’s teaching on self-inquiry. Why does he insist, second only to sacred silence (mauna), that it’s the next highest teaching? Consider the matter this way: In order for there to be a sense that I am experiencing such and such, there really has to be “an I” that’s playing…
-
What Is Required To Undertake Self-inquiry?
What is required to undertake self-inquiry? Sri Sadhu Om answers the questions masterfully: one needs “unbreakable indifference” to mental and worldly objects as well as a “tremendous love to attend [only] to ourself” (The Path of Sri Ramana [2023], p. 90). The first is vairagya–dispassion or detachment–and yet this “unbreakable indifference” needs to be better…
-
Who Is Disappointed?
Let’s suppose that you feel disappointed with someone. Who hasn’t? If you’re generally reflective, then the first question you’ll ask will likely be: “Why do I feel disappointed in this person?” For a while, your considerations will have to do with what he or she did or did not do and with what sorts of…
-
The Mystery Of The Sense Of Being Myself
Let’s consider “Verse 23” from Sri Ramana Maharshi’s seminal Ulladu Narpadu or “Verses on What Is” (trans. Michael James): This body does not say ‘I’. No one says ‘In sleep I do not exist’. After one thing, ‘I’, rises, everything rises. Contemplate by a subtle mind where this ‘I’ rises. Undeniably, you have a sense…
-
What Is An I-thought In Ramana Maharshi’s Teaching?
The I-thought (aham vritti) is not at all easy to understand experientially–until you get it. To come to this experiential understanding, let’s move in a stepwise fashion: 1.) To begin with, a thought appears. That thought, which is indeed an arising, could be: “I am sitting here” or “I don’t like John” or “What a fine…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 