Quotes selected (one from each Satsang event) and compiled by a Sri Ramana devotee
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From May 12, 2017: Boundless Wisdom
Chapter 9 Verse 45: In the Bliss beyond the range of words, devoid of all senses, and transcending the transcendent is the videhamukta.
Nome: The bliss of the Self is the reality of pure Being. Being and bliss are one and the same. Likewise is it with Consciousness. How can this be conceived, much less described? The senses cannot grasp even a small speck of that bliss.
He says that a videhamukta is devoid of all senses. In as much as he is disembodied, of course, he is without senses so what is the significance of mentioning this in this verse? It is that you should see yourself as devoid of all senses. The senses are not your identity, and the senses do not determine reality. What you are is transcendent of the senses. Now, there appear to be seeing, hearing, and the like. With the disappearance of those senses, are you gone? Does your Existence cease or diminish if seeing should cease, or hearing would cease, or touching would cease? What you are is something un-sensed and without sensing. Similarly, the way that you know you exist is not dependent on the senses. You are not a sensed object. You are not the senses, and you are not the sensing. What are you?
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From May 5, 2017: Meditation
Nome: The peace of Brahman is fathomless. That is our Self, beyond all doubt. Absorb yourself in this peace by knowledge of your identity, your Existence. Trace your identity to its source. The origin is absolute, and unmoving. Your identity is not the body and is not connected to anything related to the body. What is your identity? If it is Existence, just Existence, there is all peace. The imagining of peace being missing is eliminated as soon as you ascertain what your identity actually is. Meditate by ascertaining your identity; not a body, not thoughts, not the individual – just the Existence of Brahman. Meditate, absorbing yourself in That.
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From May 7, 2017: Satsang – The Essence
Questioner: There is a belief that thought has power.
Nome: From where would thought get its power? Does it exist on its own, or do you say that it exists?
Questioner: I say that it exists.
Nome: From where does the belief come? Does it come from the thing, or does it come from you?
Questioner: It never comes from the thing, so it comes from myself.
Nome: The reality of the Self is of such a nature, such an immense power, that even the tiniest spark or drop of it given to your belief, can make the unreal appear as if real and conversely make the unreal appear as if real. By inquiry, the belief is stripped of its illusion and resolves itself in the certitude of the conviction that the Self is the reality, and that Brahman alone exists.
States of mind come and go; likewise, the condition of the body comes and goes. What is it that does not come or go? You are there all along without a moment’s interruption. What is the nature of this you? Do not misidentify with what comes and goes. What remains, unborn and imperishable, is alone you. Have faith in this.
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From April 28, 2017: Ramana Darshanam
From Dialog 372 of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi: Samadhi means sleep in the waking state (jagrat sushupti). Bliss is overpowering, and the experience is very clear, whereas it is different in sleep.
Nome: What is this waking deep sleep; what is meant by this? Does it mean that somehow we get the waking and deep sleep state jammed together? If so, who would be in charge of it, the waking one or the sleeping one? Deep sleep is absorption in one’s Existence, as declared in the Chandogya Upanishad, in which individuality dissolves, and there is no memory of such. If you can dissolve the individuality and attendant concepts by being absorbed in formless Existence, such is waking deep sleep. It is very clear, unlike sleep. Even a temporary experience of it in the course of practice remains very clear, even when one thinks about it later. The essence of that experience is the unformed Consciousness, Existence aware of itself.
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From April 23, 2017: Satsang – If You Know Yourself
Questioner: I notice that I’m identified with the state of mind because when I’m exhausted, very tired, meditation is very difficult.
Nome: The states of mind, waking, dreaming and deep sleep, and the conditions of the body, tired, etc., do these pertain to your Existence? Is your Existence tired? Does your Existence wake, dream and sleep? What appears as if objective, in one state, and assumed perhaps to be real, is contradicted in another state, but you exist throughout. Identify yourself clearly as the Existence and not the states and their content.
Questioner: During Meditation Night, I was putting effort into disidentification with thought.
Nome: When you discard, as being your identity or being the reality, all of thought, what is the remainder? If you are not anything conceived in thought, not by one thought, not by many thoughts, then what are you?
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From April 21, 2017: Meditation
Nome: As meditation is for Self-Knowledge, Consciousness is its substance and essence. The nonobjective Knowledge of Consciousness by Consciousness is meditation. It is the self-revelation of the Existence of the Self. Therefore, meditate in a manner of inquiry, “Who am I?” and cease to identify with any form of thought. You cannot be a thought-form. Meditate in a manner that is transcendent of all forms of thought. Who am I? Meditate by identifying yourself as Consciousness; inconceivable, illimitable, self-luminous Consciousness. Such is your very Existence, apart from which you do not have another existence. Meditate identifying yourself as Consciousness, in the nonobjective Knowledge that such alone is what you are
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From April 16, 2017: Satsang – Egoless
Questioner: When doing the inquiry, there seems to be a sense of shimmering or something emanating, but this is all within Consciousness. I keep trying to hold onto what is “I.”
Nome: If the “I” is truly discerned, Consciousness knows itself with a Knowledge that is utterly non-objective. The Consciousness is intrinsically egoless. It never undergoes any kind of modification. Its nature is utterly changeless. So, when can an ego be born? Where can it be born? Certainly not in reality. Hold to the “I;” the inquiry to know oneself is supremely important.
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From April 14, 2017: Boundless Wisdom – Ribhu Gita
Chapter 9 Verse 41: One who ultimately has no time or place, nothing to be grasped, nothing else to be remembered, and who has also cast aside all certitude is the videhamukta.
Nome: Self-Realization is the finality. More experience just leads to more experience as one thought leads to another. Self-Realization is the finality. It is the Reality itself. Reality does not lead to anything else. It is, and it alone is. When you realize the true nature of the Self, it is final. Beyond that, there is nothing more to be realized, nor is there anyone to do so. One who ultimately has no time or place or such: Bhagavan remarks, “If we are bodies, there is time and space, but are we bodies? We, the timeless the spaceless, alone are.”
Timeless – this is your Existence, without past, without present, and without future. And without a place. Nothing differentiates Existence into here and there. Now and then, here or there – all of that is just for the body. If you are bodiless, they utterly lose their significance. They are completely unreal.
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From April 9, 2017: Satsang – The Knower
Questioner: The sense of “I am” or “being” seems to dissolve at some point in meditation. A lot of times coming out of mediation, I was not even aware of that.
Nome: The thought, “I am aware,” is not the awareness itself, is it? The thought “I am,” is not the Existence that you are, is it? The Existence that you are continues unbroken during waking, dreaming, and deep dreamless sleep. None of your thoughts are like that. To associate the discontinuous and unreal thoughts with one’s own Being is delusive. Freedom from thought is the dawning of Knowledge. Such freedom from thought comes, first, from the content of thought, whatever you think of, and, secondarily, the belief in thought as an existent thing, that there is such a thing as thought. That, too, is unreal. That which is thought-transcendent alone should be regarded as true Knowledge. In true Knowledge, which is Self-Knowledge, knowing and being are identical. It is not awareness of something; it is just unalloyed Consciousness shining in its natural self-luminosity. The same is the case with Existence. Existence is thought-transcendent. Self-inquiry occurs only in that which is thought-transcendent. Beyond thought, there you are.
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From April 7, 2017: Meditation
Nome: Turn within to know the Self. Within means your essential Existence, while to turn signifies the absorption of your identity in That, as That. This Existence is Consciousness. If it were not so, Consciousness would be nonexistent, and the nonexistent cannot know anything. Something always knows. What is it? Something always is. What is it? You always exist and always know. Who are you? Dissolve all definitions that are based on thought and know yourself as absolute Existence, absolute Consciousness. The truth of this cannot be grasped objectively. Seek not an object, but seek yourself, not a thing and not an occurrence, but Existence, Consciousness. Such should be the substance of our meditation. The best instruction in silent meditation is silent meditation.
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From April 2, 2017: Satsang – Ascertained and Undefined
Questioner: With the ego it seems that it is not possible to understand the teaching that you were discussing about the knower, the knowing and the known.
Nome: The ego cannot comprehend, but that is alright as the ego does not exist. Words and thoughts do not grasp this Knowledge. The Knowledge, of the nature of Consciousness, understands itself. When the ego appears and creeps in, where does it come from?
Questioner: In satsang or spiritual reading, the ego diminishes, so I would say lack of inquiry is the cause.
Nome: So, all those things are invaluable. Whenever the ego diminishes, blissful Knowledge shines forth. It shines forth to itself. How far can the ego diminish? Where does it start? Where is the place where the ego is born? It cannot be born in the unborn, for the unborn, pure Being, is just as it is, for all eternity, alone.
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From March 31, 2017: Ramana Darshanam
From Dialog 371 of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi: Later Sri Bhagavan continued: When dhyana is well established, it cannot be given up. It will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play, or enjoyment. It will persist in sleep, too. Dhyana must become so deep-rooted that it will be natural to one.
Nome: What is natural? That is, what is innate? What is it that can never be given up? What is it that goes on always, whether active or inactive, at work, at play, in enjoyment, whether awake, dreaming or in deep dreamless sleep? What is it that continues changelessly. That is Existence alone. Existence is the Knowledge of itself. The nature of meditation that is thought-transcendent is such Knowledge. It is Being reposing in itself. It is self-luminous Consciousness illuminating itself non-objectively. Such is perpetual meditation.
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From March 26, 2017: Satsang – No Difference
Questioner: There has been more clarity that the purpose is to remove the ego notion and that must be my goal.
Nome: Removal by the inquiry is by the Knowledge that it is false. You adhere to a notion, be it the notion “I” or any concept appended to the “I”, only to the extent that you believe it is true. In this case, it is the belief or bare supposition that a bound individual is your identity. If you can discover it as unreal, entirely false, you will not adhere to it, and, if you do not conjure it up or adhere to it, it ceases to appear. All the other ideas seem to depend on this single idea, “I”. Have you actually ever seen the ego? Can you give a description of what he looks like? Or do you suppose that he is there? By questioning suppositions, we are able to determine the validity or lack of the same. So, inquire and determine what this “I” actually is.
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From March 24, 2017: Meditation
Nome: The essence of meditation is the innate luminosity of the Self. This Consciousness, the Self, is never a known or unknown object. To discern your own nature, in a non-objective manner, is thus meditation. Discern your Existence for what it is, Consciousness, as it is. By such discernment, abandon the misidentification with anything objective: the body, the senses, the thoughts, etc. The nature of the meditator is the substance of meditation. Therefore, deeply inquire “Who am I?”
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From March 12, 2017: Satsang – Self-Knowledge
Nome: Just how flimsy is ignorance? The teaching is the revelation of reality. How true is it? (silence) There are not degrees of reality. There appear to be degrees of unreality, but that, too, is not real. So, there are actually no degrees of unreality either. You do not exist by degrees. You always fully exist everywhere and at all times. Clearly this Existence of the Self is bodiless.
Questioner: Bodiless has to be true, but I’ll be tired because of daylight savings time, and my meditation will be affected.
Nome: Then, make your meditation stronger, so that it withstands the onslaught of daylight savings time. (laughter)
Questioner: It has to be deeper than the states.
Nome: You are right. Knowledge must be deep and continuous, and it is naturally so when you find that it is the truth. You never leave that which you regard as true, so discriminate what is real and what is not. It is in your very nature to inhere in what is true. Everyone intuits happiness lies in such. So, if you are not the body, how true is it? Finally, when Knowledge is certain, it is one with Existence.
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From March 10, 2017: Boundless Wisdom – Ribhu Gita
Chapter 9 Verse 37: The Self that is a mass of Knowledge, the embodiment of a mass of Knowledge, ever supremely blissful in Knowledge is the Videhamukta.
Nome: … The Self that is a mass of Knowledge; not a mass of sensations, a mass of Knowledge; not a mass of thoughts, but a mass of Knowledge. Of what nature is this Knowledge? Prajnana, Consciousness. (Silence) Without a body, with all that is objective having disappeared, the videhamukta remains just as Consciousness, solid, space-like, limitless Consciousness. It is measure-less. It is self-luminous. It has no boundary, and this, just pure Consciousness, is the Self of the videhamukta. Since there are no divisions or differences of selves, but only one Self, this mass of Knowledge, this mass of Consciousness, is what is even now. It is what you are.
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From March 5, 2017: Satsang – Who Knows?
Questioner: You posed the questions, “Where is Self-Knowledge found and who is it for?” I don’t find that I know myself with thinking. This knowing seems to be much more subtle.
Nome: What is it that exists interior to thought?
Questioner: It is what knows thought, and it cannot be another thought.
Nome: Yes, it cannot be another thought, as one thought does not know another. So, then, what is the nature of the knower when he is not considered defined by any of the known? What is the nature of knower beyond the range of thought?
Questioner: It is not at all a thing.
Nome: Because it is not a thing, it is indestructible. Consciousness is self-known. Nothing else is used to know it, nor is there a distinct knower apart from it.
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From March 3, 2017: Meditation
Nome: Unattached toward everything, pervading all, not an object, not an occurrence is the Existence of your true Self. The Knowledge of Brahman is Brahman itself, likewise the knower. Just so is it with Self-Knowledge and meditation. In the quest to know yourself, search for that, inquire to know that, which is not an object and not an occurrence. That is unattached to all and also all-pervasive. Meditate on that which is not an occurrence and not an object. This is to make your vision nonobjective. This is to meditate on the highest truth. Inquire and know the one who meditates.
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From February 26, 2017: Satsang – Certain Existence
Questioner: My understanding is that a sattvic state of mind is an aid. Even on Mahasivaratri, I was sleepy, but continued to inquire, and it seemed to result in a deeper state, even though I couldn’t recognize it at the time.
Nome: What is sattva? It is that which is inclined towards Sat. What, then, is Sat? It is truth or reality, existence, and the truly good, because of its bliss. At the time you did not recognize, you said. What is the nature of the one who does not recognize? Where is he now? There is a light that is never dimmed or extinguished. It is not to be seen with the senses or with the mind. By light is meant Knowledge, the Knowledge in which Existence or Consciousness is the Knowledge. It does not possess it; it is it. That cannot be described by any of the three states of mind: waking, dreaming, or deep sleep. It has neither beginning nor end, birth nor death, darkness nor brightness. That, itself, is the celebration of Maha-Sivaratri. Om namah Sivaya, Sivo’ham, Sivo’ham.
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From February 19, 2017: Satsang – Know the Knower
Questioner: It seems there is a reflection of the knower in the mind. What do you mean when you say to “Know the Knower” as the knower is not something that you can know?
Nome: It is to be known with nonobjective Knowledge, with a Knowledge that is not differentiated, to which the subject-and-object do not pertain. You say there is a reflection in the mind. Who knows the mind? By what is the reflection known? The reflection is not there always, and your mind is not there always. What is always? What exists always changelessly? (silence) It is not to be known as something objective. If you feel that you do not know this, discern what the nature is of the one who supposedly does not know. If you so inquire or discriminate, the individuality, being unreal, will vanish, and what remains, changelessly existing, alone is pure Consciousness. That pure, limitless Consciousness, without form or division, is the only Knower. There is no multiplicity in the Knower. Multiplicity is illusion. Such illusion is objective and has its root, or source, in the singular notion or assumption of “I.” So, find out what the I is. (silence) When you find that, the joy and freedom of such are unmistakable.
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From February 17, 2017: Ramana Darshanam
From Dialog 367 of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi:
Questioner asked: I know that mukti is impossible in one life. Still may I not have peace of mind in this life? The Master looked at her very kindly and said smiling softly: Life and all else are in Brahman alone. Brahman is here and now. Investigate.
Nome: Life and all else are in Brahman alone. Brahman is here and now. Investigate. Do you think you experience anything else? It is entirely in Brahman. Do you imagine that you have a life of your own? You, too, are entirely in Brahman. Brahman, the infinite and eternal, is here and now. It alone exists. All that is necessary is to inquire, to investigate, the Maharshi says. If you investigate yourself deeply, you find that Brahman alone exists and that you, the world, the objects of experience, your life, etc., such parts do not actually exists at all. Only Brahman exists, and only Brahman are you.
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From February 12, 2017: Satsang – Real Ever Is, Unreal Never Is
Questioner: If I abide more in Sat-Chit-Ananda and experience that, then I won’t be afraid when it is time to move on.
Nome: Sat-Chit-Ananda, the Self, is without beginning. You cannot remember a time when it was not. What is without beginning is also without end. You cannot actually imagine your own nonexistence in the future. Without beginning and without end, in which life and death do not mark off different states, there your nature shines. Other than such Self-Knowledge, what could possibly be the resolution of all of the transiency that is you see around? Everything is passing, but something that is not a thing does not pass. Absorption of your identity in that is true Knowledge. Thus, true Knowledge has always been declared to be, since the time of the Upanishads, the attainment of immortality. Now, is immortality a good preparation?
Questioner: It seems so.
Nome: That which is immortal is also the abode of bliss. Existence-Happiness is your nature. It is known in its own light, so it is Existence-Consciousness-Happiness.
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From February 10, 2017: Meditation – Abide in It
Nome’s Meditation Instruction: The Self is Consciousness. It is entirely and always at peace. Dwell on the Self. Abide in the Self. Remain as the Self. It is untouched by and undefined by thought. So, meditate by dissolving the misidentification with thought, knowing all of its content to be unreal, and also dissolving the misidentification as the individual, or jiva, that seems to wander in the realms of the mind. You are neither the thought nor the unreal wanderer. You are the Self, the perpetual Consciousness. Dwell on it. Abide in it. Remain as that. Om
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From February 5, 2017: Satsang – Nonobjective Knowledge
Questioner: I was reflecting on how Sri Ramana revealed the greatness of Arunachala for us to know – “Oh Arunachala thou who root out the ego of those who meditate on thee” has been a refuge for me.
Nome: What is the real nature of Arunachala, if it can root out the ego of those who meditate upon it in their heart? When Bhagavan spoke of Arunachala, to what was he referring? In a verse, he says, “a” “ru” and “na” signify Sat-Chit-Ananda, Being-Consciousness-Bliss, and their union as the one absolute, realized as “I am that.” The mantra “I am Brahman I am,” which figures so prominently in Ribhu Gita, has the identical significance. There are some things in this world of illusion that lift one out of the illusion; such is called grace.
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From February 3, 2017: Boundless Wisdom
Chapter 9 Verse 34: The Self full of all Consciousness – the expanse of Consciousness, the Bliss of Consciousness, clothed in Consciousness – and the Self of the nature of Consciousness alone is the videhamukta.
Nome: …In what is Consciousness contained? In what is the Self wrapped up? Only Consciousness. That is to say that it is clothed or wrapped in nothing, but just extends everywhere by its own nature, as just itself. You cannot understand what he is saying and simultaneously cling to the misidentification with the body. But if you relinquish the misidentification with the body, then this Consciousness, this full Consciousness, this space of Consciousness, this blissful Consciousness is your own nature.
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From January 29, 2017: Satsang – The Self’s Existence
Questioner: Regarding the poise of continuous Self-inquiry, how many times per day?
Nome: If it is continuous, how can you ask how many times?
Questioner: Isn’t the question itself a function of the mind?
Nome: That which discriminates between the mind and oneself cannot be the mind. Or we may understand it as the mind makes the inquiry and loses its own form, revealing it in its true nature as just Brahman, the infinite Consciousness.
Questioner: How do you make it continuous?
Nome: How do you exist continuously? You exist continuously, and you know that you exist continuously, even without thinking about it. At the depth of that Knowledge that is innate, you should inquire. Thinking is not continuous; Knowledge is.
Questioner: I’m looking for the trick, the how. The ego keeps coming back.
Nome: Sri Bhagavan once said “is it necessary that you be shown around your own room?” If you were trying to obtain something that did not already exist, if you were trying to transform something into something else, or if you were trying to purify something, then there might be a question of how to do it. But inquiry is not an activity of the body, speech, or mind. It consists of Knowledge. In practical application, set about negating as your identity or as reality anything that is not truly you. Return the sense of reality, identity, and happiness to the singular origin within you.
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From January 27, 2017: Meditation – Knots of the Heart are Cut
Nome’s Meditation Instruction: Bhagavan says that we must realize the Self that is eternal. Being the Self and being eternal, it cannot be grasped objectively. For this, there is Self-Knowledge, taking the form of inquiry to realize what in truth you are. Meditation, then, is for Self-Knowledge. Let your aim not be some physical or subtle sensation, but rather the Knowledge that endures, the Knowledge of Existence, which is without beginning or end. Let your aim not be a transient mental mode or thought, but the self-luminous Consciousness which is one’s Existence. In this meditation, in this inquiry, the end serves as the means, for already you exist and Consciousness always knows. So, let your meditation be the constant poise of inquiry, “Who am I?” In the Knowledge of your Existence lies the realization of the eternal, for Existence is forever and never ceases to exist. With the enduring Knowledge of this as your aim, inquire “Who am I?”
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From January 22, 2017: Satsang – Still Existence
Questioner: It seems that it has been that the Awareness is not in the body but outside. I’ve struggled with this, that perceptions were outside and sensations were inside. Inquiry gives me a different perspective.
Nome: Do any of the objects or sensations exist apart from the awareness?
Questioner: No.
Nome: But awareness or Consciousness can exist without them, can’t it?
Questioner: That dissolves the boundary.
Nome: Yes. The idea of outside is entirely in the mind.
Questioner: The experience of repetitive sensations seems to be more than other aspects and gives a sense of continuity.
Nome: Only from that perspective. Here, in a dream, you feel your dream body is more yours or closer to you or more significant than the other characters in the dream. When you wake up, do you feel that is so? Aren’t you free of all the bodies? Senses and objects appear in a dream, and they appear inside and outside, but, when you wake up, what becomes of the dream objects and the dream sensations? How do you view all that, the inside and outside? It was all just dream and all equally unreal.
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From January 20, 2017: Ramana Darshanam
From Dialog 363 Part 4 of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi: What does “stillness” mean? It means “destroy yourself”. Because any form or shape is the cause of trouble.
Nome: What is stillness? (silence) It is unchanging. Form changes. If you erroneously associate your identity with what changes, stillness seems elusive. If you cease to misidentify with any form, whereas ever form changes or moves, then you remain still, abiding in your true identity, that which is signified by “I am.” What does stillness mean? Sri Bhagavan says, “It means destroy yourself.” If everything that is supposed as yourself is relinquished or destroyed, the identity with such is destroyed. What remains is the truth; that is God, and that is the real significance of “I.” Why should you destroy yourself, that is, every form of yourself? This destruction in Knowledge is needed because, he says, “any form or shape is the cause of trouble.” When you misidentify with a form, it could be subtle form, thought, or gross, the form of the body, you appear to become bound by that very thing. It is the misidentification that is the binding. Such misidentification, or bondage, is trouble or suffering. So, he says, “because any form or shape is the cause of trouble.” No form is natural for you. Formless Conscious, formless Being, is your real nature.
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From January 15, 2017: Satsang – Silent Existence
Questioner: I had a really deep experience about not being the body, but I keep returning to the same ignorance. I want to cut it off so that it doesn’t come back.
Nome: Ardent, consistent spiritual practice. Such practice is constituted of Knowledge and takes the form of inquiry. What is the nature of the one who wishes to return?
Questioner: I think it is the one who doesn’t leave. You said something important. Consistent would be without a break. Ardent, being sincere, I’m being honest with myself.
Nome: Your wandering away from the Self, Sri Bhagavan compares to falling asleep in the satsang hall and imagining you are on a world tour. You do not really leave. The separation is only maya, illusion. You want to be sure that the misidentification does not return. If you know it is merely a misidentification how can it return? But in as much as you still assume that it is valid, that it is true, it seems to remain. Knowledge is liberation, yet you must really know. An insight will not suffice.
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From January 13, 2017: Meditation – Knots of the Heart are Cut
Nome’s Meditation Instruction: The Kathopanishad says that, when the knots of the heart are cut, a mortal becomes immortal. What does it mean? Certainly, that which is intrinsically mortal and changeful does not become immortal or eternal, just as that which is eternal or immortal does not become transient or mortal. It means that, in the realization of the true nature of the Self, you find that the very existence, which previously you thought was mortal, a limited being, is absolute Being-Consciousness-Bliss, innately immortal, the eternal. The knots of the heart are the mistaken associations of the Self with what is not the Self. To cut those knots means the cessation of misidentification. When misidentification is severed, the innately infinite and eternal Self is known as it is. Let your meditation, therefore, be one of discriminating inquiry. You are not the body. You are not the mind. You are not an ego. Who are you?
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From January 8, 2017: Satsang – Self-Evident
Questioner: It seems that there is natural drive to know myself.
Nome: You have been looking to know yourself your whole life and even before. Except during deep dreamless sleep, you appear to always be looking for something. You are actually always searching for yourself. In the name of happiness, you search for yourself. In the name of reality, you search for yourself. Every time you attempt to know anything, as “I know it here,” it is a search for yourself. When turned inward upon the knower, the search is completed.
Questioner: So when I believe I’m a body.
Nome: You misidentify as a search for yourself. I don’t recommend it as a good approach, but you are still searching for the same thing. The knower is what is always sought. Combined, in delusion, with the known, it seems elusive, it seems as if you cannot quite catch it. Know the knower free of the known. Know yourself, and the truth is self-evident.
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From January 6, 2017: Boundless Wisdom
Chapter 9 Verse 28: Transcending the fourth state, transcending himself, and transcending bondage, he is of the nature of Truth. He is equanimous in both the bad and the good. Such is the videhamukta.
Nome: …The next phrase is key. The key to understanding the verse, the key to understanding the Ribhu Gita, the key to understanding Vedanta, the key to understanding everything that needs to be realized, is – transcending himself. The egoless state is the real state, the only real state that there is. That was said by Bhagavan. Transcending himself – this has everything to do with Self-Knowledge. If you do not transcend yourself, that is, get over the ego notion, what knowledge will you realize? If you transcend yourself, and pass entirely beyond the ego notion, what else remains to be realized? So, transcend yourself. Free of attachment and misidentification, you will remain happy and at peace always.
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From January 1, 2017: Satsang – What Do You Wish to Know?
Questioner: What is spiritual practice? I don’t think I know and I’ve tried various yogic tools.
Nome: The attempt to hold onto the Self and abide free of misidentification when accompanied by effort is called spiritual practice. The very same, transcendent of the effort, is Self-Realization. According to the way you envision the result, the end and the goal, so you will practice. If the goal is Self-Realization, how should we practice? If ignorance alone is the obstruction to such Realization of the Self, then what kind of practice should we engage in? It must be a practice that uproots the very root, as well as the manifestation, of ignorance. The only thing that destroys ignorance is Knowledge. Activities of various kinds are not capable of bringing about the destruction of ignorance. Only Knowledge can accomplish that. Knowledge is the end, and Knowledge is the practice, as well. It takes the form of the inquiry as to who you are.
Questioner: I notice that there is a root level of practice that seems to make the practice rich and alive.
Nome: In any practice, the success, or fruit, of it is due to the Knowledge-essence. If you divorce the Knowledge-essence from the practice, what is left of the practice? The Knowledge-essence is the key. It is not knowledge of something else; it is Knowledge of yourself. So, who is it that engages in various practices? In the end, you must come to knowing him.
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