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.<\/p>\n
1. When you notice you are thinking…<\/p>\n
2. Notice the part of your mind that knows the thought and transfer your attention from the thought to that part. In other words, be aware of it.<\/p>\n
3. When you do this, the ego (which is mental activity, a sequence of events in the brain) ceases to function — at least temporarily to some degree.<\/p>\n
4. The reason the ego ceases to function is that you are depriving it of objects (the thoughts it was thinking).<\/p>\n
5. When the ego activity stops to a sufficient degree, you become aware of the ego’s “birthplace”, the Self.<\/p>\n
6. The more you do this, the greater the mind’s power becomes to settle and remain (ta\u1e45gi ni\u1e5fgum<\/i>) in its birthplace.<\/p>\n
7. Repeated practice leads to permanent cessation of the ego.<\/p>\n
1. When you notice you are thinking.<\/b> Today we know from neuroscience that this noticing will usually take place when we snap out of default mode network rumination, i.e., at the moment when the salience network activates executive processes which seem to give us a degree of voluntary control over attention. The classic paper about this is Hasenkamp et al., 2012<\/a>. It’s worthwhile to understand this because it means that noticing we are thinking (step 1) and deliberately focusing attention (step 2) use different parts of the brain, i.e., neurologically they are different exercises.<\/p>\n 2. Notice the part of your mind that knows the thought.<\/b> The way we recognize that part is its sense of knowing. Instead of “be aware of the sense of knowing” Ramana says “ask to whom the thought occurs.” (Whenever Ramana tells us to “ask” in this way he means we should observe the answer.) My paraphrase may seem distant but the two formulas mean the same thing. I’m using the word “knowing” as a synonym for “being consciously aware of”. Ramana calls this “part” the ego, mind, aham-vritti<\/i> (usually mistranslated as I-thought), thinker, etc. <\/p>\n 3. When you do this, the ego (which is mental activity, a sequence of events in the brain) ceases to function \u2014 at least temporarily to some degree.<\/b> Ramana expresses the idea that ego is mental activity by saying it’s nothing but thoughts. This idea has two main<\/a> ramifications: (1) When the activity stops, the mind no longer exists, and (2) the sense that the mind has an owner, an “I”, is itself a thought, itself a part of the mind.<\/p>\n 4. The reason the ego ceases to function is that you are depriving it of objects (the thoughts it was thinking).<\/b> This is stated more clearly in Ulladu Narpadu<\/i> verse 25<\/a> than Nan Ar<\/i>. With the advantage of modern science we can amplify this as follows: The ego is part of the brain’s subjective representation or model of the body acting in the world. The entire model including ego and world operates neurologically as a unit. If one of its main aspects is suppressed the model stops operating.<\/p>\n 5. When the ego activity stops to a sufficient degree, you become aware of the ego’s “birthplace”, the Self.<\/b> From Nan Ar<\/i>, paragraph 6: “When the mind settles in the heart, that ‘I’ which is the root of all thoughts departs, and that Self (t\u0101n<\/i>) which always exists alone shines.” In this context “shines” means “there is awareness of it.”<\/p>\n 6. The more you do this, the greater the mind’s power becomes to settle and remain (ta\u1e45gi ni\u1e5fgum<\/i>) in its birthplace.<\/b> From paragraph 6 of Nan Ar<\/i>: “As one practices in this way repeatedly, the mind’s power (shakti<\/i>) to remain settled in its birthplace increases.” Ramana is saying here that repetition causes an increase in duration; in context, this presents repetition as the means and duration as the end. As noted in the step 1 commentary, the two activities use different parts of the brain.<\/p>\n 7. Repeated practice leads to permanent cessation of the ego.<\/b> When this happens, there is permanent unending awareness of the source, of Brahman: Self-realization. <\/p>\n English translations of Nan Ar on Realization.org<\/a><\/p>\nLinks<\/h2>\n