What is this thing called enlightenment that you are chasing?

Acharya Prashant: She said that she feels worst today. She told that she came to India in 1989. Experience creates respect for her, the kind of commitment she has shown, the devotion she has put in all these years. And at the same time I found it quite tragic that someone should waste an entire lifetime chasing enlightenment. What you have to say about it?

Listener: I don’t feel it’s wise sincerely. Today I spent some time reading a poet named Rabia. I read about her life that she has been sold to sex trade and being forced to work as a sex worker for so many years and in that time yearning so much for union with God and upon fifty years old she finally got released from this and went on to become a very renowned saint who writes some of the most amazing poetry I have ever…

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Advaita Vedanta – Good Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_1zuPI_my4

Insight Meditation (3 Videos) – Swami Sarvapriyananda

Day 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRuQ7PaJ54c Day 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3NbSQ9fzRo Day 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TQwCA4kCho

The Paradox of Seeking Enlightenment

You set out seeking enlightenment as the solution to all the ills that beset life as is ordinarily lived. On this quest, if you are lucky, sooner than later you get told “You are that which you are seeking. The seeker is the sought.” There may be several reasons that are offered as to why … Continue reading The Paradox of Seeking Enlightenment →

Discovering the Truth

As long as you take the world seriously and seek something from it, be it physical, intellectual or emotional your mind will be active and will rebel against falling silent. And without a silent mind you cannot discover the Truth.

An Ancient Chinese Story

an ancient Chinese story…. A great master had a big monastery – five hundred monks – and they were all practicing the path of self-remembering. Self-remembering is one of the paths Buddha has recommended. One man entered into the monastery – he wanted to become a disciple. The master accepted him, but he was a … Continue reading An Ancient Chinese Story →

Excellent Spiritual Guidance by Teja Anand

Check out http://toawaken.org/wisdom/

Ramana Maharshi on Self-Realisation

"The Self is realised not by doing something but by refraining from doing anything, by remaining still and being simply what one really is." ---Ramana Maharshi (The Power of the Presence, part three, pp. 131-3) as quoted on http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/2008/06/yes-but-what-do-i-do.html

Does stillness of mind lead to liberation?

Tom Das

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Advaita Bodha Deepika is a traditional text and a masterpiece, summarising the methods and techniques of advaita vedanta. It was a favourite text of Sri Ramana Maharshi and was often recommended by him. Here is what it says about how to attain liberation, the following is from Chapter 3:

17…Master: With complete stillness of mind, samsara will disappear root and branch. Otherwise there will be no end to samsara, even in millions of aeons (Kalpakotikala).

18. Disciple: Cannot samsara be got rid of by any means other than making the mind still?

M: Absolutely by no other means; neither the Vedas, nor the shastras nor austerities, nor karma, nor vows, nor gifts, nor recital of scriptures of mystic formulae (mantras), nor worship, nor anything else, can undo the samsara. Only stillness of mind can accomplish the end and nothing else.

19. D: The scriptures declare that only Knowledge can do…

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Self-Enquiry Method of Ramana Maharshi

Here is David Godman describing what the self-enquiry method taught by Ramana Maharshi is and how it can be practiced (Source: Introduction to Chapters 4 and 5 of David Godman's book Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi): It will be remembered that in the chapter on Self-awareness and Self-ignorance Sri Ramana … Continue reading Self-Enquiry Method of Ramana Maharshi →