Stars are visible only after sunset, and attention is a trap

I rewrote this article extensively on May 28, 2024, so some of the comments may no longer apply to it. People sometimes summarize Ramana’s method as, “Keep your attention incessantly on yourself.” This is a pretty good summary except for one big problem. Normally when we pay attention to something, we target or select it. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Tether and magnet: the method of dwelling on the ‘I’ sense

Note from Freddie: The author of this guest post is the friend who I quoted in an earlier article a few days ago. Here’s his answer to the first question that readers asked. Welcome to all who read this. I should like firstly to thank Freddie for giving me the opportunity to speak to you […]

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The most surprising thing that ever happened to me

Instead of the title you see on this article I could have chosen, “The night I completely lost interest in my thoughts.” Both names are accurate. The experience that I’m about to describe occurred about 20 years ago, shortly after I became an earnest seeker, on a particular night when I made a much greater […]

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Biblical Self-enquiry?

Is this statement from the Bible a description of Self-enquiry? The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being. Proverbs 20:27, New American Standard Bible The innermost part of our being is the lamp. The search ends only when it rests as itself. Related reading: Ouspensky’s […]

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Find the Source, Nisargadatta-style

People who read Ramana and Nisargadatta are sometimes surprised by the extent of the differences. But are the differences really so great or are they mostly a matter of vocabulary? Ramana’s method is basically: Find the source of the I-thought and stay there until the I-thought dissolves. That source is your real identity. Doesn’t this […]

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Did Ramana practice Self-enquiry for four years or a few minutes?

For a revised, expanded, improved version of this article, see How Ramana Maharshi realized the Self on my Substack blog. How did Ramana Maharshi get Self-realized? The standard description goes something like this: One day when Ramana was 16 years old, for no apparent reason, he suddenly thought he was about to die. Instead of […]

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What is suffering?

This thing we call suffering — what is it, really? We hate it so much that we take it for granted. Taken to extremes it’s a state in which we wish we didn’t exist. But even if that’s true it doesn’t answer the question. Can we use suffering as a gateway? As a target for […]

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