When we start practicing Ramana’s method our goal is to find the source. He says this happens when the mind sinks or subsides. And he says that we make the mind sink by paying continuous, unbroken attention to ourself (or what seems to be ourself). It’s the continuity, the unbrokenness, that makes the sinking happen. […]
Author: Freddie
A technique for stopping the mind from wandering
In many traditions we make an effort to keep our attention fixed on something. In Patanjali’s yoga that something can be anything. In Ramana’s method that something is I, the me that seems to think and have experiences. As we all know, keeping our attention fixed can be very difficult, because attention has an extremely […]
No Mind — I am the Self Merry Christmas
One of the first books I read in the Ramana tradition, 26 years ago or more, was No Mind — I am the Self by David Godman. It describes the lives and teachings of two people who are, I think, Self-realized in the same way Ramana was Self-realized. No Mind was the first book David […]
Good news
The following email arrived a few days ago: Dear Freddie, Months have passed since our mail exchanges, so I wanted to leave an update. In April, I had a Kundalini experience that almost shattered me; I thought I was going to die. It was as textbook as Kundalini experiences come. Still it was an experience. […]
Ramana’s basic instructions in plain modern English
Over the years I’ve often written about Ramana but I don’t think I ever summarized his basic instructions in plain modern English. A recent conversation in comments made me realize I should do this. Here goes. 1. When you notice you are thinking… 2. Notice the part of your mind that knows the thought and […]
You can’t get here from there
An email just rolled in from a reader/friend that included the sentence: I look forward to reading your more impersonal posts when they come. I tried to think of something impersonal to write about but nothing came to mind that I haven’t said many times. A few minutes later another email rolled in from a […]
What’s new with me
I feel an impulse to start writing here again. I want to write about several impersonal topics but before I do that, I think I should describe recent events in my life. This is probably the first time I’ve written here about my life without intending to illustrate some point or other that applies to […]
Ramana’s definition of “atma-vichara” from Nan Ar, paragraph 16
I’m going to kill two birds with one stone with this post. Oops — what an ugly metaphor. I’ve been hanging out with my cats too much. They’re so adorable I keep forgetting they’re sociopathic murderers. First thing I’m going to do is analyze and translate Ramana’s definition of “atma-vichara” from Nan Ar. This is […]
On translating Ramana with the word “attention”
If I correctly remember all the Ramana books I’ve read, and of course I don’t, it was Sadhu Om who invented the idea of describing Ramana’s method in English as “self-attention”. Regardless of who invented it, Michael James, Sadhu Om’s friend, student, collaborator, and literary executor, has done a great deal to popularize the term. […]
An interesting coincidence Can your own efforts be God's grace?
An interesting coincidence occurred the other day as a result of my writing a comment on this blog. At the time I pointed it out in the comments but I keep remembering that it happened so I’m going to elevate the matter to a full post. I was replying to a comment by Rico Rico. […]