Månad: september 2026

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The Path to Realization through Japa and Surrender

D: While doing nama japa for an hour or more, I fall into a state like sleep. On waking up, I recollect that my japa has been interrupted. So, I try again.

M: ‘Like sleep’, that is right. It is the natural state. Because you are now associated with the ego, you consider that the natural state is something which interrupts your work. So you must have the experience repeated until you realize that it is your natural state.

You will then find that japa is extraneous, but still it will go on automatically. Your present doubt is due to that false identity, namely, identifying yourself with the mind that does the japa. Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is its purpose. It leads to dhyana, which ends in Self- realization or jnana.

D: How should I carry on nama japa?

M: One should not use the name of God mechanically and superficially without the feeling of devotion. To use the name of God, one must call upon Him with yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself to Him. Only after such surrender is the name of God constantly with the man.

D: Where is, then, the need for inquiry or vichara?

M: Surrender can take effect only when it is done with full knowledge as to what real surrender means. Such knowledge comes after inquiry and reflection and ends invariably in self-surrender. There is no difference between jnana and absolute surrender to the Lord, that is, in thought, word and deed.

To be complete, surrender must be unquestioning; the devotee cannot bargain with the Lord or demand favors at His hands. Such entire surrender comprises all; it is jnana and vairagya, devotion and love.

– Sri Ramana Maharshi

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The essence of mind

The essence of mind is only awareness or consciousness. When the ego, however, dominates it, it functions as the reasoning, thinking or sensing faculty. The cosmic mind being not limited by the ego, has nothing separate from itself and is therefore only aware. This is what the Bible means by “I am that I AM”.

– Sri Ramana Maharshi

(Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 188)

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Where is shanti (peace)?

They write a lot about the paths beyond the sun and other planets, and the blissful worlds above them. All those worlds also are like this world. There is nothing specially great about them. Here, a song is being transmitted over the radio. Last time, it was from Madras. Now it is from Tiruchirapalli. If you tune again it will be from Mysore. All these places are in Tiruvannamalai, within this short time. It is the same way with the other worlds. You have only to turn your minds to them. You can see them all in one moment. But what is the use? You merely go about from place to place get tired and disgusted. Where is shanti (peace)? If you want it, you must know the eternal truth. If you cannot know that, the mind will not get absorbed in shanti.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

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You have to deal with it all

So I realize I have to deal with my passions, my anger, my desires, my loneliness, my self-pity, I’ve got to remember my address, I’ve got to get a job, I’ve got to keep my act together, keep my clothes clean, you know, brush my teeth, you know, use dental floss,

I’ve got to do it all, I’ve got to pay my taxes, change the oil in my car, you know, and that’s all part of the process, until finally, all of it becomes grist for the mill, all of it is the stuff you’re using to get free.

– Ram Dass

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What was never lost can never be found

What was never lost can never be found.
Your very search for safety and joy keeps you away from them.

The seed of spiritual life grows in secret silence and darkness until its appointed hour of activation on the divine plane of existence beyond consciousness, mind and body.

– Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Accept the inner emptiness and to live with it

Questioner: For a long time, I regarded Jesus Christ as my Savior. But for a while now, I have no longer been able to believe any of it. Perhaps I never truly believed it, but only wanted to believe. That is terrible. Please help me let go of this desperate desire to believe.

Anandamayi Ma: You must now learn to accept the inner emptiness and to live with it. Resist the temptation to fill it, for you would only be deceiving yourself. If you are patient, one day you will discover that Mahashunya (the great emptiness) is Christ itself. Then you will no longer be without him for even a single moment.

– Anandamayi Ma

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Advancing in spirituality whether at work or not

Q: How is it possible to become selfless while leading a life of worldly activity?

Sri Ramana Maharshi : There is no conflict between work and wisdom.

Q: Do you mean that one can continue all the old activities in one’s profession, for instance, and at the same time get enlightenment ?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Why not ?
But in that case one will not think that it is the old personality which is doing the work, because one’s consciousness will gradually become transferred until it is centered in that which is beyond the little self.

Q: If a person is engaged in work, there will be little time left for him to meditate.

Sri Ramana Maharshi : Setting apart time for meditation is only for the merest spiritual novices.
A man who is advancing will begin to enjoy the deeper beatitude whether he is at work or not.
While his hands are in society, he keeps his head cool in solitude.

Q: Then you do not teach the way of yoga?

Sri Ramana Maharshi : The yogi tries to drive his mind to the goal, as a cowherd drives a bull with a stick, but on this path the seeker coaxes the bull by holding out a handful of grass.

Q: How is that done?

Sri Ramana Maharshi : You have to ask yourself the question `Who am I ?’ This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind.
Solve that great problem and you will solve all other problems.

– Sri Ramana Maharshi

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Don’t grasp for ordinary things

The Buddha-dharma is immeasurable and unlimited. How could it ever have been made to fit into your categories?

No matter what you are grasping for, it’s limited.

In any case, only things for ordinary people can be grasped. Grasping for money, clinging to health, being attached to position and title, grasping for satori – everything you grasp only becomes the property of an ordinary person.

Letting go of ordinary people’s property – that’s what it means to be a Buddha.

– Kodo Sawaki, ’To You’

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The sound Om

The sound Om is Brahman. The rishis and sages practised austerity to realize that Sound-Brahman. After attaining perfection one hears the sound of this eternal Word rising spontaneously from the navel.

‘What will you gain’, some sages ask, ’by merely hearing this sound?’ You hear the roar of the ocean from a distance. By following the roar you can reach the ocean. As long as there is the roar, there must also be the ocean. By following the trail of Om you attain Brahman, of which the Word is the symbol. That Brahman has been described by the Vedas as the ultimate goal. But such vision is not possible as long as you are conscious of your ego. A man realizes Brahman only when he feels neither ’I’ nor ’you’, neither ’one’ nor ’many’.

– Sri Ramakrishna

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To feel fatigued, exhausted from search

God is one’s very own Self, the breath of one’s breath, the life of one’s life, the Atma.

Not until his true Self has been revealed to him may a seeker ever relax his search. By seeking, one will find the Self is within one’s own grasp. To feel fatigued, exhausted, because one has not found Him is a very good sign indeed.

It indicates that one is nearing the purification of one’s heart and mind.

– Anandamayi Māa