AS YOU THINK SO YOU BECOME ~ Atman Nityananda

EVERYTHING IS IN OUR MIND

We have made (consciously or unconsciously) our world in our minds.
That's why we can change it.

AS YOU THINK SO YOU BECOME

Think you are happy and you will become happy
Think you are brave and you will become brave
Think you are God and you will become God

THE ONLY OBSTACLE IS YOUR DOUBTING MIND
~~~
"As you think, so you become. As are your thoughts so must be your life. Improve your thinking. Better thoughts bring better actions."

"Man sows a thought and reaps an action. He sows an action and reaps a habit. He sows a habit and reaps a character. He sows a character and reaps a destiny."

-Swami Sivananda

I'm! THE WORLD IS REAL OR ILLUSORY? ~ Ramana Maharshi

THE WORLD IS REAL OR ILLUSORY ?

Question: "Brahman is real. The world is illusion" is the stock phrase of Sri Sankaracharya. Yet others say, "The world is reality." Which is true?

 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Both statements are true. They refer to different stags of development and are spoken from different points of view. The aspirant starts with the definition, that which is real exists always. Then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is changing. The seeker ultimately reaches the Self and there finds unity as the prevailing note. Then, that which was originally rejected as being unreal is found to be a part of the unity. Being absorbed in the reality, the world also is real. There is only being in Self-realisation, and nothing but being.


Question: Sri Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) often says that Maya (illusion) and reality are the same. How can that be?

 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Sankaracharya was criticised for his views on Maya without being understood. He said that: 1. Brahman is real, 2. The universe is unreal, and 3. The universe is Brahman.
He did not stop at the second, because the third explains the other two. It signifies that the universe is real if perceived as the Self, and unreal if perceived apart from the Self. Hence Maya and reality are one and the same.


Question: So the world is not really illusory?

 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: At the level of the spiritual seeker you have got to say that the world is an illusion. There is no other way. When a man forgets that he is a Brahman, who is real, permanent and omnipresent, and deludes himself into thinking that he is a body in the universe which is filled with bodies that are transitory, and labours under that delusion, you have got to remind him that the world is unreal and a delusion. Why? Because his vision which has forgotten its own Self is dwelling in the external, material universe. It will not turn inwards into introspection unless you impress on him that all this external material universe is unreal. When once he realises his own Self he will know that there is nothing other than his own Self and he will come to look upon the whole universe as Brahman.
There is no universe without the Self. So ling as a man does not see the Self which is the origin of all, but looks only at the external world as real and permanent, you have to tell him that all this external universe is an illusion. You cannot help it. Take a paper. We see only the script, and nobody notices the paper on which the script is written. The paper is there whether the script on it is there or not. To those who look upon the script as real, you have to say that it is unreal, an illusion, since it rests upon the paper. The wise man looks upon both the paper and script as one. So also with Brahman and the universe.

Question: So the world is real when it is experienced as the Self and unreal when it is seen as separate names and forms?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Just as fire is obscured by smoke, the shining light of consciousness is obscured by the assemblage of names and forms, the world. When by compassionate divine grace the mind becomes clear, the nature of the world will be known to be not the illusory forms but only the reality.
Only those people whose minds are devoid of the evil power of Maya, having given up the knowledge of the world and being unattached to it, and having thereby attained the knowledge of the self-shining Supreme Reality, can correctly know the meaning of the statement "The world is real." If one's outlook has been transformed to the nature of real knowledge, the world of the five elements beginning with space (akasha) will be real, being the Supreme Reality, which is the nature of knowledge.

Self-awareness, detachment, ego dissolution, and meditation by Atman Nityananda / blog gr

 

Self-awareness, detachment, ego dissolution, and meditation

by Atman Nityananda / blog gr

Self-inquiry, self-awareness, detachment from the body, the ego, and the mind (thoughts, emotions), discernment, tranquility (apathy), ego dissolution (in all its aspects), and meditation are the fundamental pillars of spiritual practice. They go hand in hand until the journey's end. The ultimate goal is the complete dissolution of the ego and our establishment in our true nature (Atman, Consciousness, Spirit). Progress in any of these practices supports and accelerates progress in the others.

Vigilance, alertness, control of the mind and senses, investigative attention, discernment, detached observation, acceptance, inquiry, contemplation, questioning, and exploration of our mental and emotional expressions, focus on what we do, prayer, mantra repetition, kirtan (singing mantras and hymns), worship, pranayama, and the repetition of positive affirmations are the primary tools to develop our abilities in detachment, self-inquiry, self-awareness, ego dissolution, and meditation.

Beyond the dedicated morning and evening hours when we perform specific practices under favorable conditions as part of our schedule, aimed at achieving the aforementioned goals, it is essential to apply these principles throughout the day if we wish to progress steadily and uninterruptedly toward freedom and light.

The spiritual life and practice demand vigilance and alertness moment by moment. At every moment, we are either identified with the ego, acting mechanically and unconsciously, or we are in a state of attentiveness and self-awareness, undergoing transformation.

The 'secret' to a plentiful life, a life of harmony, happiness and contentment is to have a sattvic mind free from desires and ego and to live in every moment in conscious contact with our true Self (Consciousness).

🌺 Peace, Love, Harmony