Last update : 12 / 1 / 2018
10 / 1 / 2018
Spirituality in only one word
Sri V. Ganesan :
"Can you give your teaching in one word ?"
Ramana Maharshi :
"Attention"
Sri Ramana Maharshi "Jnani" 2018 (1:02)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVYv9ktilQw
The power of attention is not only what spirituality is all about, but knowledge as Vedanta defines it. It's not the knowledge of a specific object, it concerns the act itself of knowing. In other words, what is knowing, how doesn it happen, what does it mean ?
12 / 1 / 2018
The power of attention..., clear enough ???
There is no true practice of spirituality without a serious development of the power of attention. This power is the one among others of your individual consciousness.
Individual consciousness, we can also call in other contexts "I, me and myself" or "the ego", is the outcome of the reflection of pure consciousness, Chit in Sanskrit, on the intellect, Buddhi.
So the more you develop your power of attention, the more individual consciousness is a fact, an evidence, a presence that cannot be denied. The more you become conscious and attentive, i.e. able to watch the manifestations of your body and mind, the more you realize that pure consciousness and individual consciousness are intrinsically identical and yet different.
That's the real purpose of any practice of meditation, Self-inquiry, devotion, selfless action, every single spiritual practice and disidentification process.
As soon as you watch attentively the manifestations of your body and mind, you are not anymore this body and mind. You instantly create a difference and separation between your body and mind, and yourself, not a theoretical or conceptual difference, but a difference you can experience directly and which is very real and obvious. So now what and who are you if you're not anymore your own body and mind ? You're obviously conscious and still a personal and individual conscious being, a conscious identity and a conscious entity, an individual consciousness so to speak, able to use its own power of attention.
Then, what to do ? Bring back your attention to yourself, to that individual consciousness, and leave your body and mind as they are, that's the Self-inquiry taught in the Yoga of knowledge. It's all about your own power of attention.
What for ? What's really the purpose of such Self-inquiry ? It doesn't matter if this introspection free from body and mind only lasts one or a few seconds, you slowly realize that your true and permanent natural state (Sahaja Samadhi) is conscious, purely conscious and only conscious. Whatever you are conscious of, you are conscious in the first place. And that's very important to realize if you are really searching for what and who you are. "Who am I ?" is the question, "Self-inquiry" is the answer. That's not the ultimate answer, but that's the only one we can get as long as we don't realize the Self or live an experience called Sahaja Samadhi.
Concerning Self-realization, enlightenment and liberation, no one can say how it really happens. There is an obvious relation between Self-inquiry and Self-realization, but it's impossible to know how and why individual consciousness suddenly realizes the Self, pure being, pure consciousness and pure bliss, Sat-Chit-Ananda, and frees itself from body and mind forever.
And it goes the same for what is usually called today "spiritual awakening", a spiritual and mystical experience of pure consciousness, which can last a few minutes up to some years, but which is not definitive since it's only an experience, which has a beginning and so an end. No one can really explain and know how and why it happens, especially when the person was not searching for it, and there are many.
On the other hand, we all know we can somehow "purify" our body and mind, our own life, solve karmic problems if you like, relax, calm our mental life down, be a better person, more tolerant and less angry, smarter and less stupid, and so on. And we all know we can develop our power of attention and if we choose to, practice Self-inquiry. It's choice and that's what any reasonable and true spiritual seekers do when they realize that books, videos and Satsang are not going to free them from anything .
But how can we realize the Self and at last be free ? Nobody knows.
What does really happen in the mind and individual consciousness ? It's impossible to know because it's too fast and irrational, and very often, Self-realization or momentary spiritual awakening happen for no reason. So how could someone explain anything about ?
The point of spirituality is not "You are this, you are that, you're already enlightened, you are the Self and that's it". It's only about what you can "do" in order to realize the truth. What's the point of knowing that you are the Self if you are unable to realize it ?
If you think to be the new Ramana Maharshi who awakens without any practice, teaching and Guru, good luck ! Just don't be in hurry, you might only wait a few thousands if not millions of incarnations before it happens. Don't worry, time is an illusion and incarnation is a joke anyway. What about the one you enjoy right now ?
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