It’s notoriously difficult to make other people know what our spiritual experiences are like. People often say this is due to the fact that spiritual experiences are beyond the mind and therefore are ineffable. In my opinion, in most cases, this is not the real reason. The only experiences that are beyond the mind (unknown […]
Author: Freddie
Francis Lucille comments on the observation that started this website
About twenty years ago I noticed something about my mind that seemed extraordinarily important to me for spiritual seekers, but to my surprise I couldn’t find more than partial mentions of it in spiritual literature. After reading and skimming many books over a period of about five years, I managed to find partial mentions in […]
John Grimes
I seldom read spiritual books anymore but a few days ago I ran across a mention of John Grimes and for some reason, I can’t remember why, decided to read his book on Ramana. All I knew was that he is a retired professor of philosophy who specialized in Advaita Vedanta. The book turned out […]
My new way of talking about Ramana’s method
From now on, for a while at least, I’m going to refer to Ramana’s method as Ramana’s method. I’m going to avoid saying “vichara” or “self-investigation” (Michael James’s favorite way to translate “vichara”) and “self-attention” (Michael’s second-favorite way). And I’ll avoid the commonest names, “Self-enquiry” and “Who Am I?”, because those names are the most […]
Why most people get nowhere with Ramana’s method They look for an object
A friend wrote to me yesterday: More and more Ramana’s words come to mind, and I say, “Okay, but who or what is having those experiences?” As I go into that, nothing is there, and I find experience just is. How about that? My friend is finding nothing because he’s looking for an object (mental […]
A brief summary of the first half of Ramana’s method
Metta used the phrase “greed of knowing” yesterday in a comment, and it triggered a long reply from me. When I finished writing, I realized I had produced a summary of Ramana’s method. Because there is a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation about Ramana’s method on the Internet, I’ve decided to publish my reply […]
The second way I meditated
When I was a freshman in college half a century ago, my favorite novelist was Doris Lessing. In one of her novels, maybe several of them, a character makes a deliberate effort to silence his or her mental chatter. The idea intrigued me because it touched a major feature of everyone’s experience yet I had […]
Words of Wisdom
If it’s true that Brahman is more real than things we experience, writings about the world, God, and our apparent selves cannot be as profound as writings about Self-realization. It often seems that way to me. But nonetheless, some writings about those topics are more profound than others, and it’s good to read and think […]
More about Ramana’s transmissions
A few days ago I wrote about Ramana giving initiation or transmission by looking into people’s eyes. Here’s another quote that makes the point even more clearly and concisely than the ones I already posted. The speaker is Sankarammal, a woman who worked in the ashram kitchen. V. Ganesan, who recorded her words, says she […]
Sadhu Natanananda’s ferocious lecture about Self-enquiry It is only to make you be like him!
This post used to appear on realization.org but since I’ve removed most of the content from that website, I’ll publish it here. V. Ganesan, Ramana Maharshi’s grandnephew, has written an extraordinarily wonderful book called Ramana Periya Puranam. Please don’t be put off by the Tamil title. The book is an easy, enjoyable read in English […]