The Most Rapid and Direct Means To Eternal Bliss Plus Extras

The Most Rapid and Direct Means
to Eternal Bliss
Former title: THE IMPOSTOR
By: Michael Langford

INTRODUCTION and HOW TO READ THIS BOOK 5
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK 5
Chapter 1 - THE IMPOSTOR 7
Chapter 2 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TRICKS 11
Chapter 3 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TOOLS: THOUGHT, THINKING, AND BELIEFS 15
Chapter 4 - THE DESIRE FOR LIBERATION 19
Chapter 5 - HOW TO AWAKEN THE EXTREMELY INTENSE DESIRE FOR

LIBERATION 24
Chapter 6 -THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS DISCOVERY 27
Chapter 7 - THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 32
PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS: 32
THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD 34
PRACTICE INSTRUCIONS: 34
Chapter 8 -FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE AWARENESS WATCHING

AWARENESS METHOD 37
Chapter 9 - THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD 42

THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 43
Chapter 10 - THE ETERNAL METHOD 45

THE ETERNAL METHOD PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 45
Chapter 11 - THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD 48

THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 48
Chapter 12 - THE LOVING-ALL METHOD 51

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LOVING ALL METHOD 51
FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE LOVING ALL METHOD 52
Chapter 13 - THE REMINDERS 54
End of book 56
Extra material and early versions 57
The Awareness Watching Awareness Practice Instructions 57

The preliminary instructions 57
The Practice Instructions 58

Description A 58
Description B 58
Description C 59
Description D 59
Description E 59
Description F 59
Description G 59
Description H 60
Description I 60
Description J 60
Description K 60
Description L 60
Description M 60
Description N 61
Further Clarification 61
Other Methods: 61
The Path of Surrender 61
The Path of Awareness 61
The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions 68

Preliminary Instructions: 68
A suggestion for beginners: 69
The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions 70

Description A 70
Description B 71
Description C 71
Description D 71
Description E 72
Description F 72
Description G 72
Suggested Schedule 72
Other Methods 73
One is the path of Surrender 73
The other is the path of Awareness 73
The Reminder Page 74

Do Your Spiritual Practice Everyday 74
The Choice 75
Awakening The Extremely Intense Desire For Liberation 75
HOW I DISCOVERED THE 77
AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD 77
Sayings from Sri Muruganar's 84
The Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana Maharshis) Sayings 84
on the subject of Turning Inward 84
START TURNING INWARD: 84

Encouragement, the Goal, the Benefits (25 Sayings) 84
The Awareness watching Awareness approach to Self-inquiry and Self-Abidance (15 Sayings) 88
Practice, Earnestness, Effort and Zeal (10 Sayings) 89
Ignoring and turning ones attention away from thoughts and towards Awareness watching Awareness
(14 Sayings) 91
The Body (16 Sayings) 93
Turning Inward (21 Sayings) 95
Ignoring and turning ones attention away from the world and towards Awareness watching Awareness
99
Sayings on the World 99
CHOICE A QUOTES 126
SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE 133

By Sri Muruganar 133
EXPERIENCES AND COMMENTS 152

Awareness Watching Awareness 162
INTRODUCTION and HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
1. For thousands of years humans have been stuck in the same pool of inward unsolved
problems.
2. Thousands of years ago humans had the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear,
violence, conning, cheating, lying, death, etc.
3. Today humans have the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear, violence, conning,
cheating, lying, death, etc.
4. All of those problems have a single cause.
5. In this book the cause of the lack of progress and the solution that actually works is
revealed.
6. There is a secret, a missing link, a vicious circle, that is keeping humans stuck in the
same pool of unsolved problems.
7. That secret, that missing link, that vicious circle is revealed in this book.
8. How to break free of that ancient human trap is also revealed in t his book.
9. The solutions taught in the past have failed.
10. Not even one in a million humans have been freed from all suffering and been
established in absolutely perfect infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss by the solutions
that have been taught to humanity in the past.
11. It is possible to be free of all sorrow and suffering and to experience absolutely perfect
infinite eternal joy here and now in this lifetime.
12. It is possible for all humans, not just a few humans.
13. There is a rapid means to infinite bliss.
14. That rapid means is taught in this book.
15. The strategies the ego uses to avoid liberation and how to end those strategies are also
revealed in this book.
16. Whatever spiritual path you are on, this book will be a great help.
17. The problem of the ego distorting, distracting and keeping the attention directed
outward, is a problem shared by all humans, whatever path they are on.
18. The egos tricks have seldom been looked at in spiritual literature.
19. The egos tricks are revealed in this book.
20. How to put an end to the egos tricks is also taught in this book, making this book a
unique and immensely valuable contribution.
21. This book will be a great help to all humans, including those who are not on a spiritual
path, because the most rapid means to end suffering a nd sorrow and to live in
awareness love bliss, is of benefit to all.
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
22. When humans are taught to read in school, they are taught to accumulate information
and store it in memory in order to be able to pass a test or exam.
23. If this same approach to reading is used when reading an authentic spiritual teaching,
the human will miss what is being conveyed.
24. A completely different approach to reading is needed for spiritual reading.
25. The purpose of an authentic spiritual teaching is to awaken an experience.
26. The purpose of an authentic spiritual teaching is to awaken insight.
27. To awaken insight, read very slowly.
28. Stay with one sentence for a very long time before proceeding to the next sentence.
29. Do not think about what is being read.
30. Thinking is the tool of the ego.
31. Thinking will lead away from insight.
32. Do not let the egos arguments prevent you from seeing what is being taught.
33. Do not allow the ego to distort what is being taught.
34. Do not allow the ego to add to what is being taught, for that too is a method the ego
uses to distort.
35. This book is a step-by-step instruction manual.
36. This book is not for the purpose of intellectual entertainment.
37. For human consciousness to be transformed, something new must be introduced.
38. This book introduces something new into human consciousness.
39. Infinite Love-Bliss is available in this lifetime.
40. Read each chapter very slowly three times before proceeding to the next chapter.
Chapter 1 - THE IMPOSTOR
1. These are the definitions of the words "thought", "ego" and "Self" that will be used in
this book:
2. THOUGHT: thoughts are the words of your language in your mind.
3. If your native language is English and you write in English and speak English, those
same English words in your mind are thoughts.
4. Some people may speak, write and think in more than one language.
5. EGO: ego is the thought I.
6. The ego is the I-thought.
7. I am happy, I am sad, I did this, I did that. There are so many sentences that
are thought of with the word I in them. That thought I in each of those sentences is
the ego.
8. The ego is the idea of a separate, individual identity.
9. The ego identifies with the body and with thought, and calls the body and thought I.
10. The ego is thought.
11. The ego is thinking.
12. SELF: the Self is infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss. Those are five words pointing
towards one awareness. Awareness-love-bliss are not three, they are one.
13. The Self is the background of awareness.
14. Because almost all humans are in the habit of looking outward towards thoughts, t he
body, the world, people, places, things, etc., it appears as though the background of
awareness (the Self) wakes up in the morning and goes to sleep at night.
15. If one turns the attention towards the background of awareness, eventually it will be
discovered that the background of awareness is continuous and unbroken.
16. Because almost all humans are in the habit of looking outward towards thoughts, the
body, the world, people, places, things, etc., it appears as though the background of
awareness is limited.
17. If the attention is turned towards that awareness that wakes up in the morning, instead
of towards people, places, things, thoughts, etc., eventually it will be discovered that
that awareness is infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss.
18. The background of awareness that wakes up in the morning is there during all the
waking hours until one goes to sleep at night.
19. Thoughts come and go, but the background of awareness that is aware of the thoughts
is there during all the waking hours and does not come and go .
20. The background of awareness is the true Self.
21. Before you learned the language that you now think in, the background of awareness
was there.
22. Then you learned the word I in your language.
23. Your body was given a name, and when people saw that body they said There goes
John, (or Mike, or Jane, or Julie, or Kumar or Radha) or whatever name that they gave
your body.
24. Thus the idea I am John, I am this body arose.
25. You existed as the background of awareness before that I thought arose.
26. The thought calling its self I is an imposter self.
28. The fact that you existed before you learned the words that later became your thoughts
helps to reveal the difference between your true Self and the imposter.
29. Because you existed as the background of awareness before you learned the language
that produced the thoughts you now think in, you can easily see that the I thought is an
imposter.
30. All thoughts are opposed to your real nature.
31. You know that thoughts are not part of your true nature because you had to learn them.
32. That is why you cannot speak, write and think fluently in languages, because you have
not learned, or brought in those languages from the outside.
33. You can observe that same process in an infant.
34. You can see that an infant is aware before it learns any language.
35. You can observe the child growing older and learning a language.
36. You can observe when the child learns the word I and when the child begins to say the
word I.
37. Being able to see how the imposter arose in you and how the imposter arises in every
human infant and child are very important tools.
38. The reason they are very important tools is because you do not have to rely totally
upon those who have ended the imposter and who have awakened from the human
dream to tell you that the ego is something acquired and not natural and is an imposter.
39. You can observe this for yourself.
40. Thought is something foreign, alien to the true Self.
41. Thought pretends to be the Self.
42. Thought is not the Self.
43. Thought is an imposter.
44. Thought believes that it is a real entity and that it is a real self.
45. Thought is not a real entity and thought is not a self.
46. Living from thought instead of living from Awareness is the cause of all human
suffering.
47. The imposter is the cause of all human problems, sorrow and suffering.
49. The awareness that wakes up in the morning is the true Self.
50. The awareness that is looking through your eyes now is the true Self.
51. As an example for clarification, you could view thinking and memory as something
like a computer program.
52. Within that computer program is a virus.
53. The virus is called the I thought.
54. The virus controls the program. The I thought controls all thinking.
55. The virus pretends to be your self. The I thought pretends to be your self.
56. The virus creates tremendous sorrow and suffering. The I thought creates tremendous
sorrow and suffering.
57. None of the sorrow or suffering is needed.
58. What is needed is to delete the virus that pretends to be I. What is needed is to delete
the imposter self.
59. When one attempts to delete the virus, the virus sends out many thoughts stating that
deleting the virus is not a good idea.
60. The virus has many strategies to preserve the illusion that it is r eal and to continue the
delusion that it is the real self.
61. In humans the program that came from the outside and took control of their awareness
is called thought, language, thinking.
62. In humans the virus is called the ego or the I thought.
63. The I thought (ego) is an imposter pretending to be the Self.
64. The ego is the cause of all human sorrow and suffering.
65. The ego is the cause of all disease, death, war, fear, anger and violence.
66. Human beings have made almost no inward progress for thousands of years to ward
ending suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence and lying.
67. Thousands of years ago humans had suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence and
lying.
68. Today humans have suffering, sorrow, war, fear, anger, violence and lying.
69. What has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved problems?
70. The ego (the imposter) has kept humans in the same pool of inward unsolved
problems.
71. Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward.
72. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.
73. The ego knows that if the attention is turned inward, the ego will be found to be a
myth, an imposter, an illusion.
74. Therefore, due to the egos fear of ending, the ego keeps the attention directed
outward.
75. Even when there is an attempt to turn the attention inward, usually due to not
understanding the meaning of looking inward, people are still looking outward.
76. Humans are slaves to an imposter self.
77. Exposing the strategies of that imposter self, how to put an end to those strategies,
how to bring the imposter self to an end, thus ending all suffering and sorrow and
remaining in the true Self whose nature is infinite -eternal-awareness-love-bliss are the
primary purposes of this book.
78. Ending the ego does not end the body.
79. After the ego ends, the body will live out the natural course of its life.
80. One should never attempt to harm the body.
81. The ego is the I-thought.
82. Ending the ego is ending the I thought.
83. Ending the bodily life will not end the ego.
84. The ego will just create the dream of a new body when the o ld body ends.
85. Thus ending the body does not help to solve the problems.
86. Humans almost always have their attention directed outward towards thoughts, people,
places, things, etc.
87. The background of awareness is the true Self, and it is almost always ignor ed.
88. Your true Self deserves to be paid attention to.
89. When a human turns their attention away from thoughts, the body, the world, people,
places, things, experiences, etc. and towards their awareness, eventually they will
directly experience their true Self.
90. The imposter (thought) pretending to be your self and calling its pretend self I
should not be tolerated even for one moment.
91. Especially an imposter that has created so much suffering and sorrow should not be
tolerated even for one moment.
92. The imposter (thought) is like a parasite.
93. Because the ego believes it is a real entity, the ego is afraid of ending.
94. The ego controls all thinking.
95. Because the ego is afraid of ending and controls all thinking, the ego directs thought in
ways that will preserve its imaginary self so that its imaginary self is not brought to an
end.
96. The purpose of the teachings in this book is to bring the imposter to an end so that
what remains is only the true Self whose nature is: infinite -eternal-awareness-bliss-
love.
97. When the imposter ends, all suffering and sorrow also end.
98. Thinking that thinking or thought is your self is a delusion, a dream -like illusion.
99. Thinking that you are a body living in a world is a delusion, a dream -like illusion.
100. Thought has created those delusions.
101. All sorrow, suffering and delusions have one single root.
102. The single root is thought.
103. The root of thought is the I thought.
104. The root of thought is the thought I.
105. Thought is not part of your true nature. Thought is something you learned.
106. Do not let something you acquired pretend to be your self.
107. Chapter One contains a description of the secret that has enslaved humanity for
as long as there have been humans.
Read Chapter One very slowly three times before reading Chapter Two.
Chapter 2 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TRICKS
1. The ego controls all thinking.
2. The ego can create an argument against anything.
3. Therefore, reserve all arguments against what is being presented here until you have
read the book at least three times.
4. Otherwise, the ego will generate arguments against any anti-ego presentation, thus
blocking what is being presented.
5. See the vicious circle:
6. The ego in its attempts to block the ego from being exposed for the imposter that it is,
and to block the realization that the ego is the cau se of all human sorrow and suffering,
creates arguments against what is being revealed in this book.
7. Because the ego sets the standards for the debate, the ego always wins the debate.
8. The way to break that vicious circle is to delay all arguments against what is being
presented here until you have read the book very slowly at least three times.
9. When the ego forms an argument against what is being presented in this book, see the
argument as an ego preservation strategy and ignore it, delaying all argument until the
presentation is complete.
10. Having the motivation to understand, instead of to argue, will help to produce an
insight into what is being presented here.
11. Put the arguments on hold until you have read the book at least three times.
12. By that time you may be so skilled at recognizing the egos preservation strategies,
you may decide to delay the arguments forever.
13. At least give what is being presented here a fair chance by being aware of the
arguments that the ego creates and disregarding those arguments until an insight into
what is being presented here is awakened.
14. Plenty of time to argue later, after you have read the entire book.
15. The ego has been deceiving humans for as long as there have been humans.
16. Be aware of when the ego is trying to deceive you.
17. The ego controls all thinking, therefore, various combinations of thoughts, ideas,
beliefs, and opinions are the egos primary tools to preserve the egos imaginary self
and to prevent you from discovering your true Self.
18. Most humans live their entire lives without ever having observed the background of
awareness.
19. Therefore, whatever opinions most people have about what the background of
awareness is, what are its qualities, what is the true Self, etc., have no basis.
20. If you observe the background of awareness for many hours everyday for a number of
years, then you will eventually know that your awareness is: infinite-eternal-
awareness-love-bliss.
21. Because most humans spend their entire lifetime looking outward at thoughts, the
body, the world, people, places, things, etc., most humans have never even once
observed their own awareness, not even for one second, in their entire lifetime.
22. What is important are not concepts, beliefs or conclusions. What is important is Direct
Experience.
23. Be aware of your thoughts, ideas, beliefs and opinions and see how they are serving
the ego.
24. See Chapter One for a clarification of the difference between the ego and the true Self.
25. What is being presented here in this book is a practical guide to Direct Experie nce, not
some theory for intellectual entertainment.
26. Because the ego is afraid of ending, the ego directs and creates thoughts, ideas,
concepts, beliefs and opinions that will help the ego to continue its illusion of being
real and to prevent it from being brought to an end.
27. Those concepts are ego preservation strategies. Those concepts are the egos tricks.
28. Because thoughts can be combined in trillions of combinations, the ego can create
trillions of preservation strategies.
29. The ego has the ability to hide what it is doing from itself.
30. The ego can be creating preservation strategies throughout the day and you may not be
aware that the ego has been creating preservation strategies throughout the entire day.
31. If you are not aware of how the ego preserves its imaginary self, then the ego succeeds
in preserving its imaginary self.
32. One of the purposes of this book is to look in detail at how the ego preserves its
imaginary self.
33. If one million people study a spiritual teaching and only one of those people ends the
ego illusion, why did the other nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and
ninety-nine miss the opportunity?
34. The reason the other nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine
missed the opportunity is because of the egos fear of ending.
35. Due to the egos fear of ending, the ego creates strategies to preserve its imaginary
self.
36. Distorting the teachings is one of the many strategies the ego has to preserve its
imaginary self.
37. That applies to the teachings in the book you are now reading and to other spiritual
teachings.
38. Right from the beginning, the egos preservation strategies have to be dealt with,
otherwise the ego would block out what is being presented here in this book.
39. Then, instead of being an extraordinary journey, this would be just one more failed
attempt.
40. The egos preservation strategies can be brought to an end and we will look at how to
do that in this book.
41. Usually any mention of exposing the egos preservation strategies makes the ego run
the other way.
42. To be willing to look at the egos preservation strategies is a sign of spiritual maturity.
43. Most people are not willing to look at the egos preservation strategies.
44. Reading a book that reveals some of the egos preservation strategies does not mak e
one immune to them.
45. One of the egos preservation strategies is the thought This does not apply to me.
46. The ego is very tricky and deceptive in all humans. The ego is a liar in all humans.
The ego lies to its imaginary self.
47. Therefore, when something is pointed out in this book and you think This does not
apply to me, take a second look.
48. Maybe it does apply to you and the ego is blocking that fact out, as a preservation
strategy.
49. Challenge the thought This does not apply to me.
50. The thought This does not apply to me may be an ego preservation strategy.
51. One of the differences between the one out of a million who awakens and the nine
hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine who do not, is the ability to
stay focused on an essential point until it becomes an insight and a tool that you can
use.
52. The fact that the intellect understands what is written here is not enough.
53. The book you are now reading is filled with the insights that lay the foundation to be
the one who awakens and not one of the nine hundred ninety nine thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine who miss.
54. Dwell on what is written in every sentence in every chapter until an insight is
awakened that becomes a tool you can use.
55. To awaken insight, dont read what is written like you were reading a newspaper or a
book of trivia, and dont read for the purpose of gathering information.
56. To awaken insight, read as though you were reading instructions about how to fly that
are vital so that you do not crash.
57. Slowly reflect on each line.
58. That is why the sentences are often separated with a space between them, to encourage
you to slowly reflect on them and not to be in a hurry to get to the next sentence.
59. Continue to read and re-read long after the intellect has understood the meaning of the
words.
60. Reading very, very slowly is insight reading.
61. Read very, very slowly.
62. The ego is like an inchworm that lets go of one thought only when it has grabbed hold
of the next thought.
63. Therefore, when re-reading every chapter over and over, dont be in a hurry to proceed
to the next sentence.
64. It is important to understand the difference between insight and intellectual
understanding.
65. Never confuse intellectual understanding with insight.
66. Intellectual understanding, which is to understand the words, is good as a first step.
67. However, after one has understood the words, if one then goes on to another concept
before the insight has been awakened, the words will become obstacles and hindrances
to ending the ego instead of tools that end the ego.
68. Intellectual understanding, an intellectual appetite and an intellectual approach to
spirituality are what characterize the nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine who miss.
69. Insight is what characterizes the one in a million who brings the ego to its final end.
70. Most people study spiritual teachings because they enjoy the concepts.
71. The ego is fundamentally dishonest in humans and has the ability to hide what it is
doing from its imaginary self.
72. Therefore, most people may not allow themselves to see that they are studying
spiritual teachings because they enjoy the concepts.
73. The desire to go quickly to the next concept and to gather more and more information
and to read more and more spiritual books and to think about what has be en read and
to discuss what has been read and thought about are symptoms of the intellectual
appetite and are symptoms of intellectual spirituality.
74. Approaching the study of spiritual teachings intellectually, as just described (73) is an
approach that the nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine who
miss use.
75. There are no opinions, philosophies or beliefs being presented in this book.
76. The report of Direct Experience and a practical guide to Direct Experience is what is
being presented in this book.
77. What is being pointed towards in this book are not ideas.
78. What is being pointed towards in this book is the awareness that is prior to thought
and how to directly experience that awareness.
79. The ego likes to scatter attention.
80. Scattering attention is one of the egos preservation strategies.
81. Thinking is scattering the attention.
82. To bring the attention to a single point and to dwell on that single point for a very long
time is the way to awaken insight.
83. Insight is not thinking and insight is not belief.
84. Insight is: a permanent new perspective.
85. To find one powerful quote, not a quote that the ego that wishes to preserve itself
selects, and to stay with that quote until insight awakens is the kind of approach the
one in a million who brings the ego to its final end uses.
86. One might stay with a single quote for one day or one week or much longer than one
week. Those who use this approach are rare.
87. Keeping the attention directed outward is one of the egos fundamental tricks.
88. Creating unnecessary activities is one way the ego keeps attention directed outward
and is another of the egos tricks.
89. Dropping all unnecessary activities, to create the maximum amount of time for
spiritual practice, is an essential key to bringing the ego to its fi nal end.
90. Pretending a journey through thought is an authentic spiritual journey is also one of
the egos tricks.
91. The ego has as many tricks to draw upon as there are concepts, ideas, beliefs and
opinions.
92. Choosing belief instead of Direct Experience is one of the egos tricks.
93. Wasting time is one of the egos tricks.
94. Spending time in entertainment that could have been spent in spiritual practice is one
of the egos tricks.
95. Almost all thoughts are just the egos tricks.
96. Reflect on one sentence for a very long time before reading the next sentence.
97. Reflecting means looking.
98. Reflecting does not mean thinking and reflecting does not mean arguing.
99. Stay with each sentence until you have an insight into it.
100. The previous sentence (99) describes a key approach that the one in a million
who succeeds in living in infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss uses.
101. There are a few key principles to be understood and a little reading may be
required for that.
102. However, to go on and on reading spiritual books is an ego preservation
strategy, another of the egos tricks.
103. Most reading, discussing and thinking about spiritual teachings is an ego trick.
104. The ego keeps thoughts about spiritual concepts going to avoid the practice that
leads to the egos final end.
105. The ego keeps people lost in an endless maze of concepts.
106. Spiritual concepts do not lead to freedom.
107. Only practice leads to freedom.
108. However, it must be the most rapid and direct practice and not a practice created
by or distorted by the ego.
Read Chapter Two very slowly three times before reading Chapter Three.
Chapter 3 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TOOLS: THOUGHT,
THINKING, AND BELIEFS
1. Thought is the primary tool the ego uses to preserve its imaginary self.
2. Therefore, it is important to see how the ego uses thought t o create ego preservation
strategies.
3. First one must understand the nature of thinking, thought, concepts and beliefs and the
myths the ego has created about thinking, thought, concepts and beliefs.
4. Thought is not a means to discover the absolute Truth.
5. The ego has convinced almost all humans and almost all spiritual aspirants that
thought is a means to know the absolute Truth.
6. There are those people who think they already know that thought is not a means to
know the absolute Truth.
7. Almost all of those people are still trying to use thought as a means to know the
absolute Truth.
8. That means that they do not really know that thought is not a means to know the
absolute Truth.
9. They have confused knowing-insight-awareness with conceptual knowing.
10. People tend to believe their own thinking.
11. Thinking is controlled by the ego and the ego uses thought to preserve its imaginary
self.
12. Therefore, to believe ones own thinking is an error that results in failure to end the
ego.
13. #11 and #12 above are very powerful keys.
14. For those few individuals who are seriously intent on liberation, it is essential to stop
using thought as a means to know the absolute Truth.
15. It is also essential to stop believing your own thoughts.
16. Understanding the nature of beliefs can help one to see that thought is not a means to
know the absolute Truth.
17. Seeing that thought is not a means to know the absolute Truth is the way to stop using
thought as a means to know the absolute Truth.
18. There is a method you can try that reveals that thought is not a means to know the
absolute Truth.
19. We can call it the How Do You Know Method.
20. Here are the instructions for the How Do You Know Method:
21. Look at any belief you have.
22. Ask of that belief How do I know absolutely for sure that is true?.
23. The mind will give an answer.
24. To the answer the mind gives ask How do I know absolutely for sure that is true?.
25. Every time the mind gives an answer, question the answer, by repeating the question
How do I know absolutely for sure that is true?.
26. You must be willing to question every answer the mind gives for the process to work.
27. If you are willing to question every answer the mind gives to the question How do I
know absolutely for sure that is true?, the inquiry will always end in I dont know
absolutely for sure that is true.
28. The How Do You Know Method is an excellent way to see the difference between
believing and knowing.
29. The How Do You Know Method is also an excellent way to see that thought is not a
means to know the absolute Truth.
30. After questioning a few hundred beliefs, it should be quite clear that thought is not a
means to know the absolute Truth.
31. Thought is like a great pretense or house of cards.
32. One idea is supported by another idea.
33. The How Do You Know Method is a way to see that when you trace each idea back,
you find that there is actually no real foundation at all.
34. There is another way to see that thought is not a way to know the absolute Truth,
understand the nature of belief and concepts, see how belief is formed and how th e
ego creates ideas that will serve to preserve its imaginary self.
35. We can call this the Arguing Both Sides Method.
36. The Arguing Both Sides Method is to look at some belief you have, maybe one of the
current issues of the day.
37. Write an argument for the side of the belief you are on.
38. In other words, take a belief you have and write up all the proofs, arguments, evidence
and reasons you have for that belief.
39. Next, pretend that you have the opposite belief and write up all the proofs, arguments,
evidence and reasons you have for that opposite belief.
40. The purpose of the Arguing Both Sides Method is to demonstrate that thought can
create reasons, evidence and support for any belief.
41. Seeing that thought can create evidence and reasons to support any belief is a very
powerful key.
42. The Arguing Both Sides Method is another way of showing that thought is really
baseless.
43. The Arguing Both Sides Method also demonstrates that thought forms conclusions
based on motive.
44. Evidence is not the primary factor that determines what conclusions and beliefs will be
formed.
45. Motivation is the primary factor in the forming of beliefs.
46. Evidence will be gathered to support the motive.
47. Whatever the ego wants to believe, the ego will gather all the so -called evidence and
reasons to support what the ego wants to believe.
48. The egos primary motive is to preserve its imaginary self.
49. Therefore, the ego directs thought to create concepts that will help to preserve the
egos imaginary self.
50. In almost all humans, including almost all spiritual aspirants and students, the desire of
the ego to preserve its imaginary self is very strong.
51. In almost all humans and almost all spiritual aspirants and students, the ego is
directing thought to create concepts that will preserve the egos ima ginary self.
52. One way the ego does this is to select spiritual paths that are not direct.
53. Even if one manages to find the Direct Path, the ego will distort the Direct Path by
interpreting what is written or said in a way that supports the ego or by focusi ng on
that which is not essential.
54. One of the tricks that the ego uses most commonly with spiritual aspirants is to
confuse intellectual spirituality with authentic spirituality.
55. Most people only have an intellectual interest in spiritual concepts and do not wish to
end the ego.
56. Most people are just enjoying learning about the concepts.
57. There are some people who realize that their interest is only intellectual.
58. There are other people who believe that they have an interest in ending the ego, who
do not really have an interest in ending the ego.
59. Almost all of the people who are on a spiritual path that claims to have as its aim the
ending of the ego illusion, have very little desire to actually end the ego.
60. The way to end all of the egos preservation strategies is to increase the desire for
liberation.
61. There are a few very condensed Direct Path teachings that can be a great help on the
Direct Path.
62. You will find those Direct Path teachings in the book you are now reading.
63. However, to go on and on reading books and discussing spiritual teachings is an ego
preservation strategy to keep you in the realm of thought instead of practice.
64. All of the time you spend reading and discussing could be better spent in practice.
65. Practice leads to liberation.
66. Endless reading and discussing leads to illusion.
67. The ego creates arguments against the Direct Path as a preservation strategy.
68. The ego calls indirect paths direct paths as an ego preservation strategy.
69. Instead of spending all ones spare time in spiritual practice, the ego finds endless
ways to spend ones spare time such as television, entertainment, reading, discussing,
thinking, etc. and that is one of the egos primary preservation strategies.
70. If you were to drop all of your unnecessary activities, you would have much more
time for spiritual practice.
71. One ego preservation strategy (imposter trick) is creating arguments against what is
written here instead of open mindedly considering the possibility that what is being
revealed in this book is pointing towards the truth that the ego usually never allows
people to see.
72. Another ego preservation strategy (trick the imposter uses) is deciding in advance that
one of the methods will not work, without ever giving the method a sincere try.
73. See how the ego is directing every thought you think to create a way to preserve its
imaginary self.
74. In other words, ask of every thought, idea, concept, belief, etc. Does this thought,
idea, concept or belief help the ego illusion to continue?.
75. When you form a belief, you are no closer to discovering the absolute Truth than
before you formed the belief.
76. When you form a belief, you have created an obstacle to discovering the absolute
Truth.
77. If you were honest, your view would be I dont know.
78. If you really wanted Truth you would insist on Direct Experience.
79. If you really wanted Truth, you would never accept a belief. A belief is only a group
of symbols. All words are symbols.
80. The extremely intense desire for liberation is the key to ending the egos tricks and the
book you are now reading contains step-by-step instructions in how to awaken the
extremely intense desire for liberation.
81. This book is also for the purpose of exposing the strategies the ego uses to preserve its
imaginary self.
82. Reading this book is a good first step.
83. Repeated reading, over and over, reflecting on each sentence is very important.
84. The motivation while reading is very important also.
85. The correct motivations are (86 - 89):
86. Extremely intense Self-honesty.
87. An extremely intense desire to know the Truth.
88. A willingness to let go of all the ideas you have accumulated in the past.
89. An extremely intense longing to be free of sorrow and to live in joy.
90. If the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened in you, the Clarity, Honesty,
Insight, Integrity and Earnestness that the extremely intense desire for liberation
brings, will not allow the desire for liberation to become weak again.
91. If the desire for liberation becomes weak, it means that the extremely intense desire
for liberation has not yet been awakened in you.
92. When the extremely intense desire for Freedom is awakened, Clarity, Sincerity,
Earnestness, Insight and Discernment are also awakened and then you can see what is
essential and what is not essential.
93. The end of the ego is the end of all suffering and all sorrow for all eternity.
94. The end of the ego is infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss.
95. Realize that ending the ego is the only truly worthwhile event that can happen in a
human life.
96. Take a look at your actions moment by moment to see if they conform to the
realization that ending the ego is the only truly valuable thing that can happen in a
human life.
97. The ego projects thoughts and fantasies and the ego interprets.
98. One way to stop this distortion is to ask Is this thought I am having about what I am
reading, really in the words I am reading, or have I added a thought that is not there in
the words I am reading?.
99. Another way to stop the distortion is to ask Have I added a concept or interpretation
to what I am reading?.
100. Most people project much thinking unto the teachings that they read.
101. Their thinking has very little to do with the teachings they have read.
102. Most people are in a state of chaotic confusion.
103. Most people do not realize they are in a state of chaotic confusion.
104. Thinking about and interpreting what is written is an expression of that chaotic
confusion.
105. Actually practicing #98 and #99 above can help greatly to end that distortion.
106. Awakening the extremely intense desire for liberation will stop the ego from
creating preservation strategies.
107. Chapter Four is about the importance of awakening the extremely intense desire
for liberation.
Reach Chapter Three very slowly three times before reading Chapter Four.
Chapter 4 - THE DESIRE FOR LIBERATION
1. Awakening the extremely intense desire for Liberation is the most important first step
that can be taken towards being liberated here and now in this lifetime.
2. The extremely intense desire for liberation is (3 - 7):
3. The extremely intense desire for the realization of the absolute Truth.
4. The extremely intense longing for the ending of sorrow and the experience of Eternal -
Love-Joy.
5. The extremely intense desire to experience who or what you really are at your core
and to live eternally as your true Self.
6. The extremely intense desire for freedom from all illusion and delusion and freedom
from the ego that is the source of all illusion and delusion.
7. The extremely intense desire to awaken from the human nightmare.
8. The extremely intense desire for liberation is the foundation of all true spirituality.
9. Of all of the factors that determine whether you will or will not be free, the intensity or
lack of intensity of your desire for liberation is the most essential factor.
10. Therefore, whatever you can do to most effe ctively increase your desire for liberation
should be done.
11. Spiritual teachings are not all equal.
12. Some teachings are essential powerful keys.
13. The knowledge that increasing your desire for liberation is the most effective first step
you can take, is an essential powerful key.
14. All obstacles that appear in your journey to freedom are caused by too little desire for
freedom.
15. Even a little increase in your desire for freedom is helpful.
16. As your desire for freedom grows in intensity the ego creates fewer o bstacles.
17. When your desire for freedom becomes very intense, your desire for freedom demands
that you take no detours.
18. When your desire for freedom becomes very intense, for the first time you can see
what is essential for freedom and what is not essential.
19. When the desire for freedom is weak, the ego will not allow you to see the egos
preservation strategies.
20. When the desire for freedom is stronger, you can begin to see the egos preservation
strategies.
21. When the desire for freedom becomes even stron ger, the desire for freedom itself will
bring you everything you need to succeed in your quest for liberation including the
answer to all your questions, finding the Direct Path teachings, the solution to all
obstacles, etc.
22. You will also be able to see how, before the awakening of the extremely intense desire
for liberation, the ego was selecting spiritual teachings that would help to preserve it.
23. When the desire for freedom becomes even more intense, you can see all of the egos
24. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will marvel at how
it was possible that you did not see the egos preservation strategies before.
25. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will be able to see
how the ego distorted even the Direct Path teachings.
that every spiritual teaching from the past has been distorted by the ego and that some
of the spiritual teachings from the past were created by the ego for the purpose of
preserving the ego.
that almost all of the spiritual and religious teachings of the past are distractions and
detours that serve the ego.
28. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will marvel at how
the ego did not let you see before.
29. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will see the endless
maze of concepts the ego has created to trap your attention.
30. When the desire for freedom becomes even more intense, the ego will no longer create
31. The extremely intense desire for the Direct Experience of the absolute Truth will guide
you to your inner Teacher.
32. The extremely intense desire for Truth will guide you to the practice that gives the
Direct Experience of eternal life.
33. The intensity of the desire for the realization of the Truth is the key.
34. Increasing your desire for the absolute Truth is the most important step.
35. Increasing the desire for freedom must be the first step.
36. Without an increase in your desire for freedom, all of your attempts at awakening will
fail to produce eternal experience.
37. Without an increase in your desire for freedom, t he ego will distort all your spiritual
studies, including what you read in the book you are now reading.
38. Without an increase in your desire for freedom, the ego will never allow you to see the
Truth.
39. Another great key is self-honesty.
40. Self-honesty will help in all aspects of the quest for liberation.
41. Self-honesty will help you to increase your desire for liberation.
42. Self-honesty means to be as honest as you can be.
43. Self-honesty means to be 100% honest with your self, all of the time.
44. Catch your ego using preservation strategies.
45. See your ego creating arguments that lead you away from the Direct Path.
46. What if your desire for liberation were to double from its present level?
47. If your desire for liberation were to double from its present level, that wo uld be a huge
help.
48. If your desire for liberation were to double from its present level, immediately you
would begin to see what you have never been able to see before.
49. What if your desire for liberation were a million times greater and more intense than it
is now?
50. Really, even if your desire for liberation doubles or triples, great changes will occur in
what the ego allows you to see.
51. When your desire for liberation increases greatly, every moment of your life will be
dedicated to your liberation.
52. That great intense desire for liberation itself will demand that you do not waste even
one moment of time, and it will demand that you stop the ego lies, and that you drop
that which is not essential.
53. The wonderful thing is, it is that same extreme desire fo r liberation that brings you the
knowledge of what is essential and what is not essential and allows you to see for the
first time in your life.
54. Before the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, you think you can see, but you
are really blind.
55. After the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, all is made clear and you have
no doubts!
56. After the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, for the first time you can see!
57. If the extremely intense desire for liberation does not arise in you (58 - 62):
58. None of the words in this book will be of any benefit to you.
59. The ego will interpret what is written here in the book you are now reading.
60. The ego will create arguments against what is written here.
61. Instead of seeing what you read literally, without any interpretation, the ego will begin
to interpret.
62. The ego will change the teachings into something that preserves the ego instead of
something that brings the ego to its final end.
63. Therefore, the key to everything is to awaken the extremely intens e desire for
liberation and to make that desire for freedom grow everyday.
64. One of the most powerful tools or keys you can have is to change the way you read.
65. Read extremely slowly, reflecting on a single phrase or a single sentence.
66. Make sure you see the meaning of the sentence before proceeding to the next sentence.
67. In other words: when reading pause, stop and look.
68. Read the same quote three times before proceeding to the next quote.
69. If the desire for freedom is not great enough in you, the ego will always find a way to
occupy your time with something other than spiritual practice.
70. Thus the key to bringing the ego to an end is the intensity of the desire for freedom.
71. Eagerness for liberation must be equal to the eagerness someone who is being held
underwater has for trying to rise to the surface.
72. Reflect on #71 above.
73. Eagerness is another word for the desire for freedom.
74. How great, how intense is the desire of someone being held underwater trying to rise
to the surface.
75. He would like to rise to the surface, but he is being held underwater.
76. See how intense his desire is to rise to the surface.
77. Every second his desire to rise to the surface is becoming more and more intense.
78. After one minute, how the intensity of his desire has increased.
79. After two minutes underwater, the desire for oxygen and therefore his desire to rise to
the surface, is ten times greater.
80. After three minutes underwater, his desire to rise to the surface is one hundred times
greater.
81. After four minutes underwater, his desire to rise to the surface is one thousand times
greater.
82. How great, how intense is his desire?
83. That is how intense your desire for liberation must become.
84. If the extremely intense desire for freedom is not there, you can always find a way to
avoid spiritual practice.
85. There is almost no limit to the egos capacity to distort.
86. If there was a book written by an awakened sage that was one thousand pages long
and on every page the only words that were written were the following exact same
words repeated on every page (87 - 93):
87. The only effective means to end the ego illusion is to (88 - 93):
88. Turn your attention away from thought, the body, the world, people, places, things,
experiences, etc. and towards awareness watching awareness.
89. If through other means you attempt to bring the ego to an end, the ego will appear to
have ended, but will re-appear again later.
90. There are therefore, no other effective means to end the ego, to end all suffering and
all sorrow and to live eternally as infinite-awareness-love-bliss.
91. Start by setting aside at least two hours per day with no other activities for your
practice of awareness watching awareness.
92. If you can create more than two hours for practice by dropping unnecessary activities,
do so.
93. Set aside as many hours per day as you can spare to practice awareness watching
awareness, with no other activities happening during your practice time.
94. If the above brief passages (87 - 93) were written on every page, almost no aspirant
would ever follow the advice given.
95. Why? Because their desire for liberation from the ego is not great enough.
96. The desire to preserve the ego is much greater than the desire to end the ego, and this
is true for almost all humans and this is true for almost all spiritual aspirants.
97. Thus the ego has trillions of tricks to preserve its imaginary self.
98. To the above quoted passages (87 - 93), the aspirant would say (99 - 103):
99. He does not really mean the only effective means.
100. He does not really mean we need to set aside time with no other activit ies.
101. He does not really mean we need to practice.
102. The book is actually written in code.
103. There are deeper meanings that are more important.
104. If this (99 - 103) seems insane to you, you are correct, it is insane.
105. The word insane describes well almost all humans.
106. They may not use those exact words (99 - 103) to distort and complicate.
107. They will find their own words and thoughts to distort and complicate.
108. The only cure for all this is the awakening of the extremely intense desire for
freedom.
109. What if your present desire for freedom were to become a million times more
intense than it is now? (110 - 114):
110. Then there would not be time for all these games, detours and distractions.
111. Then you would stop listening to teachers who are supposedly liberated but who
are not liberated.
112. Then you would not pretend thinking about spirituality is Spirituality.
113. Then you would not pretend an intellectual journey is a spiritual journey.
114. Then the only means you would accept would be the most direct means.
115. Then you would be just like the man who is being kept underwater trying to rise
up for air (116 - 127):
116. He does not have time for discussion.
117. He does not have time for games.
118. He does not have time for false teachers.
119. He does not have time for methods that are not the most rapid and direct means.
120. He does not have time for endless reading.
121. He does not have time for television.
122. He does not have time for projecting an imagined meaning unto the teachings.
123. He does not have time for entertainment.
124. He does not have time for pretending to want to be free.
125. He does not have time for any dishonesty with himself.
126. He does not have time for pretending he has risen to the surface.
127. He does not have time for any debate or argument.
128. What he has time for is only to focus all of his attention on rising to the surface.
129. That is why the entire key lies in the intensity of the desire for freedom.
130. The only problem an aspirant ever has is too weak a desire for liberation.
131. An extremely intense desire for liberation will solve all the other problems.
Read Chapter Four very slowly three times before reading Chapter Five.
Chapter 5 - HOW TO AWAKEN THE EXTREMELY
INTENSE DESIRE FOR LIBERATION
1. The primary means to awaken the extremely intense desire for liberation is to carefu lly
examine two choices everyday until the extremely intense desire for liberation
awakens.
2. Choice A is to choose to end the ego by dropping all unnecessary activities, to create
the maximum amount of time everyday to practice the most direct and rapid me ans to
eternal bliss.
3. The most direct and rapid means to eternal bliss, here and now in this lifetime, is the
Awareness Watching Awareness Method described in Chapter Seven.
4. Choice A is Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss with no sorrow and no sufferin g.
5. Choice A is Eternal Life.
6. Choice A is to live as your true Self for all eternity.
7. Choice A is absolutely perfect joy.
8. The above (2 - 7) is a summary of Choice A.
9. Some people may find it helpful to read more descriptions of Choice A written by the
Awakened Ones who have taught in the past and such quotes or a list of books will be
provided in future volumes of this book or on The Freedom Religion, inc. web site:
http://www.thefreedomreligion.com (some of this material can be seen on pages that
are linked on the Awareness Watching Awareness index page).
10. Choice B is being identified with a body subject to suffering, sorrow, disease, death,
violence, fear, anger, etc.
11. Choice B is to allow an imposter called the ego to pretend to be yourself and to cont rol
you.
12. Choice B is to allow an imposter called the ego, that has created all the wars, diseases,
death, sorrow, suffering and evil that every human has ever experienced, to continue.
13. Choice B is to have a temporary and therefore futile life that leads only to death.
14. In order to better examine Choice B, you can make a list of all the forms that human
sorrow and suffering take.
15. You can write on that list thousands of wars, thousands of diseases, thousands of
forms of violence and every other form human sorrow and suffering takes that you can
think of. Usually humans look only at a small part of the ocean of human sorrow and
suffering. The purpose of the list is to look at the entire ocean of human sorrow and
suffering all at once. The purpose of the list is to look at the entire negative side of
human life all at one time. (In the future there will be a sample list on The Freedom
Religion website.)
16. You need only read the suffering list once.
17. After that, the summary found in Chapter Five should be enough.
18. Read Chapter Five everyday, comparing the summary of Choice A and the summary
of Choice B, until the extremely intense desire for liberation awakens in you.
19. Read Chapter Five everyday comparing the summary of Choice A and the summary of
Choice B until you have made Choice A.
20. How will you know that the extremely intense desire for liberation has been
awakened?
21. When you drop all unnecessary activities everyday, and use all of that free time
created to actually practice everyday the most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss,
you will know that the extremely intense desire for liberation has been awakened.
22. How will you know that you have made Choice A?
23. When you drop all unnecessary activities everyday, and use all of the free time thus
created to actually practice everyday the most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss,
you will know you have made Choice A.
24. The Awakening of the extremely intense desire for liberation, which can also be called
really making Choice A is (25 - 55):
25. It is like a sign stating NO MORE that is a million miles high.
26. NO MORE to all of the human evils of the past.
27. NO MORE to all of the horrors the ego has created.
28. It is like a silent shout saying NO MORE so loud, that if it were given a voice it would
shatter the eardrums of every human on earth.
29. It is a demand for Truth.
30. It is the absolute demand for absolute Truth.
31. It is the absolute demand for the final end of all human opinions.
32. It is the absolute demand for absolute goodness.
33. It is the absolute demand for the final end of the imposter who is called the ego.
34. It is the absolute demand for the Direct Experience of the true Self.
35. It is like an infinitely strong grip that grabs hold of Truth with a grip so strong, no
power can weaken that grip.
36. It is like an infinitely strong grip that grabs hold of the true Self with a grip so strong,
nothing is powerful enough to weaken that grip.
37. The extremely intense desire for liberation is like an infinitely strong grip that grabs
hold of the absolute goodness that has never known falsehood with a grip so strong
nothing can weaken that grip.
38. It is like an absolutely immovable NO saying no to the trillions of human lies
spoken in the past and the billions of human lies being thought of each day.
39. It is an absolute NO to the trillions of horrors humans have created in the past and
the billions of horrors humans are creating everyday.
40. It is an absolute demand for the end of all sorrow and suffering.
41. It is an absolute demand for perfect infinite-eternal-love-joy.
42. It is an absolute demand that the source of all suffering, violence and evil, which is the
imposter called ego, come to a final end.
43. It is an absolute devotion to the true Self that is the background of awareness.
44. That absolute devotion takes the form of turning the attention away from the world,
the body, thought, etc. and towards awareness watching awareness.
45. The extremely intense desire for liberation is a demand for Truth that never
compromises.
46. It is a demand for the end of thought.
47. It is a demand for the Direct Experience of the absolute Truth.
48. When the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, these demands are directed
inwards, not towards others.
49. When the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, one never again bows before
any egotistical human.
50. When the extremely intense desire for freedom arises, all obstacles are swept away.
51. It is absolute dedication and devotion to absolute Truth.
52. It is absolute dedication and devotion to knowing the true Self in Direct Experience.
53. After the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, every moment of ones
life is dedicated to awakening from the human dream.
54. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, all of the egos lies and
games are seen for what they are and all of the ego s lies and games come to an end.
55. When the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, the nightmare the ego
has created is no longer tolerated.
56. The ego is the source of all evil.
57. The ego is insane. This is true for all humans.
58. To produce so many trillions of horrors, the ego has to be evil and insane.
59. Something in you longs for an end to the imposters dream.
60. Something in you longs for infinite Love.
61. Something in you longs for the end of all suffering and sorrow.
62. Something in you longs for eternal-joy-love.
63. It is possible to end the egos dream and to discover the true Self which is free of all
suffering and sorrow and whose nature is infinite -eternal-love-joy.
64. It is possible now in this lifetime, while this body is living.
65. Co-operate with your Heart.
66. Stop listening to your ego.
67. If you turn your attention away from thought and towards awareness watching
awareness and sustain that look for many hours everyday, eventually the ego dream
will end and the true Self will be known.
68. Then all suffering and sorrow ends and what remains is the eternal perfection of
awareness-love-bliss.
69. Make Choice A.
70. Make your choice absolute and absolutely immovable.
71. Make your choice absolutely solid and final.
72. Your true Self, the background of awareness tha t is looking through your eyes now,
deserves your attention.
73. For your entire life, you have been ignoring your true Self.
74. Your true Self, the background of awareness, deserves your love & attention.
75. Demand sanity.
76. The human dream is insane.
77. Demand sanity by waking up from the human dream into the reality of your own
awareness.
78. Make Choice A by dropping all unnecessary activities to create more time for spiritual
practice.
79. Make Choice A by dropping all distractions, detours and entertainment to create more
time everyday for spiritual practice.
80. Make Choice A by making sure your spiritual practice is the most rapid and direct
means to eternal bliss.
81. The suffering and sorrow that life brings is also a means to awaken the extremely
intense desire for liberation.
82. Reading Chapter Five everyday is a much easier and more rapid means to awaken the
Read Chapter Five very slowly at least three times before reading Chapter Six.
Chapter 6 -THE AWARENESS WATCHING
AWARENESS DISCOVERY
1. By the year 2001 the author had been studying the teachings of almost all the various
religions and spiritual paths for 27 years, from the bodily age of 15 to 42.
2. He had read more than two thousand spiritual books.
3. He had spent time with many spiritual teachers in America and India.
4. It was clear that the essence of most of the spiritual teachings was focusing the
attention on the I AM.
5. The place where Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism meet is turning inward
and focusing the attention on the I AM.
6. The most direct and rapid means to eternal bliss, finding the kingdom within, Self -
realization etc., is turning the attention within to focus on the I AM.
7. One modern example of this in Hinduism is Nisargadatta Maharaj.
8. Nisargadattas Guru told him to pay attention to the I AM to the exclusion of all
else.
9. Nisargadatta followed his Gurus instruction for three years.
10. After three years of practicing in his spare time, Nisargadatta realized his true Self.
11. Nisargadatta had to work to support his family, therefore, he could only practice in his
spare time.
12. Nisargadatta used to spend hours each day looking at the true Self.
13. Focusing the attention on the I AM, while excluding all else from ones attention, is an
ancient practice in Hinduism.
14. The importance of looking inward and knowing the I AM is found in the Judeo -
Christian teachings also (15 - 19):
15. And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And He said Thus you shall say to the
children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. (Exodus 3:14)
16. Be still and know I AM God. (Psalms 46:10)
17. The entire book The Impersonal Life, a book of Christian Mysticism, is written
around the single sentence Be still and know I AM God.
18. Jesus said Before Abraham was, I AM. (John 8:58)
19. Jesus said The Kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
20. Jesus did not say the Kingdom of God will be within you after your body dies.
21. Jesus said is. Is is present tense. Is means now.
22. The Prophet Mohammad said: He who knows his Self knows his Lord.
23. There are many other spiritual traditions and teachings that have pointed out that
focusing the attention on the I AM is the most direct and rapid means to freedom.
24. Another modern example from Hinduism is Ramana Maharshi.
25. Ramana Maharshi taught for more than 50 years that the only effective means to end
the ego and sorrow and to remain as eternal joy is to focus on the Self, the I, the I AM.
26. By the year 2001 the author had attempted to practice the method of focusing the
attention on the I AM for 27 years.
27. The author had made very little progress with that or any other method.
28. In December of the author was in Tiruvannamalai India for the purpose of attending
the talks of a teacher in the Ramana Maharshi tradition.
29. The author was in his room at the Sesha Bhavan guest house.
30. The author was thinking about all the possible meanings of I and I AM and all the
possible approaches to I and I AM that he had read over the years.
31. The I thought, the thought I AM.
32. The I feeling, the feeling I AM.
33. The I consciousness, the I AM consciousness.
34. To think I or I AM.
35. To feel I or I AM.
36. To focus the attention on I or I AM.
37. The number of different combinations of the approaches and the different views of
what I or I AM means.
38. After 27 years, the author still was not sure what I AM means in Direct Experience.
39. The author was wondering if there was some way to solve these questions and to have
clarity both in the meaning of I or I AM and what to do with it, focus the attention,
feel, think, or?
40. The author wanted an understanding that was so clear that there would be nothing
vague left, no more choices left.
41. The author really wanted to know the answer.
42. The author was not going to confine the answer to any previous understanding.
43. The author was willing to have his previous understanding shattered, if need be.
44. There was a willingness to consider, maybe for the last two and a half decades, the
author had not at all understood what the I AM is and how to focus on it.
45. It was a willingness to allow all the old views to be swept away, if need be.
46. Ramana Maharshi had said that Self-inquiry is more like feeling than like thought.
47. Asking Who am I? or asking To whom do these thoughts arise? are easy
instructions to follow as long as one stays in the realm of thoug ht.
48. However, when it comes to feeling Who am I? or feeling I AM, that had always
been a bit vague, because what exactly is the feeling I AM?
49. How do I know I AM?
50. Nisargadatta Maharaj and many others had said the I AM is consciousness.
51. The author wondered is the I AM the I-thought or is the I AM just my present
awareness?
52. The author thought:
53. If the I AM is this present awareness, just the awareness that is now looking at this
room, then paying attention to the I AM is just:
My awareness watching my awareness!
54. This was a revelation!

55. Instead of having some vague practice where one is told to pay attention to the feeling
I AM, without ever being sure exactly what the I AM is and feels like, here was an
absolutely clear instruction:
My present awareness watching my present awareness.

Awareness watching awareness.
56. Not some unknown seemingly far away awareness labeled the Infinite Self, or labeled
God.
57. This awareness, my awareness, here and now watching itself, while ignoring thought,
the body, and the world, etc.
58. Immediately the author tried this practice (59 - 65):
59. Awareness watching awareness while ignoring thought.
60. The author shut his eyes, because the point was also to ignore the world.
61. To turn the attention that normally goes out to the world around 180 degrees and to
look inward.
62. To turn the attention away from thought and towards awareness watching awareness.
63. If the author noticed a thought, he ignored the thought and brought the attention back
to awareness watching awareness.
64. Awareness paying attention to awareness to the exclusion of all else.
65. Awareness paying attention only to itself.
66. The results were instant!
67. From the very first moment one tries this practice, one is abiding as awareness!
68. There is no waiting!
69. It is so easy.
70. One does not mean to imply that from the beginning the ego ends.
71. It takes years of continuous practice before the ego meets its final end.
72. However, from the moment one tries this simple, easy to understand practice, one is
abiding as awareness!
73. The author practiced the Awareness Watching Awareness Method for two years, from
December 2001 of to January of 2004.
74. There were more days with twelve hours of practice than there were days with two
hours of practice.
75. In January of 2004 the authors ego, sorrow a nd suffering came to its final end and
what remained is:
Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
76. Thus the Awareness Watching Awareness Method once again lived up to its
reputation as being the most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss here and now in
this lifetime.
77. Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj had both specifically described the
Awareness Watching Awareness Method, however, the authors ego did not allow him
to see it.
78. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method was like a buried treasure, hidde n
amongst so many other quotes on so many different subjects.
79. Future volumes of this book or the Freedom Religion, inc. website, will present some
quotes where the Awareness Watching Awareness Method has been described by
Awakened Sages of the past and other quotes that are helpful to spiritual aspirants or
that support the teachings in this book.
80. All of the spiritual teachings of the past have been distorted and contaminated by the
ego, therefore the present volume has very few quotes.
81. Another reason the author did not previously realize the true meaning of the I AM is
because he had read that the I AM, the true Self, is Infinite Continuous Awareness.
82. That made it seem like it must be something different from the awareness that wakes
up in the morning.
83. However, it is due to the habit of always looking outward that the assumption is made
that the awareness that wakes up in the morning is limited.
84. If one observes the awareness for many years eventually one discovers that the
awareness is not limited and is continuous.
85. The significance of the Awareness Watching Awareness Method discovery is one of
communication.
86. A human could be told to focus on the I AM and even after one hundred million
lifetimes still not know what the I AM is.
87. However, if told the I AM is the awareness that wakes up in the morning, the
background of awareness that is there during all the waking hours, and given specific
instructions in how to turn the attention away from thought, etc. and towards
awareness watching awareness, one can end the ego, sorrow and suffering in this
lifetime and remain eternally in bliss.
88. Those specific instructions are found in Chapter Seven.
89. You might think that the majority of humans would rejoice at the discovery of the
most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss.
90. Due to the tricks of the ego, the majority of humans will not rejoice at the discovery.
91. That is why this book begins by identifying the imposter, exposing the motivations
and tricks of the imposter, showing the importance of, and how to aw aken, the
92. Historically, not even one in a million humans has been dedicated to the Direct
Experience of the Eternal Truth that lives within them and is their true Self.
93. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a
human to end suffering and to remain in Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
person of the Jewish faith to directly experience the I AM that revealed its Self to
Moses.
Christian to discover and live in the Kingdom of God within them in Direct
Experience in this lifetime.
Hindu to attain liberation while living (jivanmukti) and to live in Being -Awareness-
Bliss (sat-chit-ananda).
Muslim to know their true Self. The Prophet Mohammad said: He who knows his
Self knows his Lord.
Buddhist to attain Nirvana and to bring the ego, suffering, desire and craving to its
final end.
99. The ego has distorted all of the religious and spiritual teachings of the past to serve its
purpose and to hide the most rapid and direct means to liberation.
100. What happens in all of the religious and spiritual teachings of the past is the ego
in the reader or listener co-operates with the ego in the so-called spiritual teacher to
produce a teaching that will serve the ego. Then both the teacher and the student call
the false teaching a true teaching.
101. Some of the spiritual teachings of the past were authentic spiritual teachings
given by awakened sages.
102. However, the moment an awakened sage speaks the ego in the listener begins to
distort the teachings.
103. Therefore, the distortion does not take time to begin. The distortion begins
instantly, immediately.
104. Once the teaching has been distorted by the ego, the teaching serves the ego.
105. The ego distortion becomes even greater as time passes.
106. It is possible to extract helpful quotes from the teachings of the past, however,
the quotes must be extracted by an awakened sage.
107. If one in whom the extremely intense desire for liberation has not been
awakened attempts to extract quotes, the quotes extracted will usually be those that
serve the ego.
108. Because it is the most rapid and direct means to end human misery and to live in
Peace-joy, the Awareness Watching Awareness Method is of great benefit even to
those who are not spiritually inclined.
109. What might seem like only a slight difference in the way one practices, makes a
huge, profound, extraordinary, quantum leap of a difference in the speed of the results.
110. What might seem like only a slight difference in the way one practices, can save
years or even lifetimes of practice.
111. Therefore, the precision with which the practice instructions are described is
crucial.
112. A slight change in the wording of the practice instructions will produce a slight
change in the practice, thereby making the practice indirect and losing the rapid
results.
113. There are other methods that appear similar to the Awareness Watching
Awareness Method, however, seemingly similar methods will not produce the rapid
results and they will not save the years or lifetimes of practice.
114. Those other seemingly similar methods have slight differences that destroy the
efficiency.
115. In the Awareness Watching Awareness Method, no external teacher is needed.
116. All that is required is that one has the precise practice instructions and follows
them by practicing.
117. First the written instructions are the teacher, then the practice itself is the
teacher.
118. The written instructions are only the teacher for the few minutes it takes you to
read them or listen to them if you decide to record them on a tape recorder or CD.
119. Therefore, it is the Awareness Watching Awareness practice itself that is the
teacher.
120. You never need to physically see a teacher on this Direct Path.
121. Physically seeing a teacher would draw your attention outward and would be
counter productive.
122. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method practice instructions are offered
free and are found in Chapter Seven.
123. The only way to find out if the Awareness Watching Awareness Method works
for you is to practice it.
124. If without trying it, you come to the conclusion that it will not work, then you
have allowed the imposter (thinking) to rob you of a great opportunity.
125. With thinking you have a conclusion, an opinion, an assumption that may be
correct or may not be correct.
126. However, with practice, you will know for sure if it works for you or not.
127. Therefore, consider giving it a sincere, fair try.
128. A few months is not long enough to be a sincere, fair try.
Read Chapter Six very slowly three times before reading Chapter Seven.
Chapter 7 - THE AWARENESS WATCHING
AWARENESS METHOD PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS
PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Set aside as much time everyday to practice the Awareness Watching Awareness
Method as you are willing to set aside.
2. Everyday, drop as many unnecessary activities as you are willing to drop to create
more time for the Awareness Watching Awareness Method practice.
3. If you are not willing to drop all unnecessary activities in order to create the maximum
amount of time everyday for practice, then you can read Chapter Five and Chapter
Thirteen everyday until the extremely intense desire for liberation awakens in you.
4. Eating food and taking a shower are examples of necessary activities.
5. For some people working to earn a living is an example of a necessary activity.
6. For some people taking care of their children is an example of a necessary activity.
7. Examples of unnecessary activities are entertainment, hobbies, etc.
8. Practice for at least two hours everyday.
9. If you are retired and can practice for twelve hours everyday, that would be much
more effective.
10. It is better if you can be undisturbed during your practice.
11. If you practice at home you can ask the people you live with not to disturb you when
you are practicing unless there is an emergency.
12. Or you can find some other place to practice where you will be not be disturbed.
13. Bodily posture is not important in the Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
14. However, since one wishes to turn the attention away from the body, it is important
that the body is comfortable and relaxed and not causing any pain or strain.
15. You can do the practice sitting crossed legged or sitting on a chair or sitting on a sofa
or couch or even laying down on your bed if you are able to do so without falling
asleep.
16. Make sure the posture is comfortable and does not cause any pain, strain or
discomfort.
17. Make sure the posture helps you to ignore the body and turn your attention away from
the body.
18. For the purposes of this practice the following definitions for the words awareness and
thought must be used:
19. Thought (19 - 21): Thoughts are the words of your native language in your mind.
20. If your native language is English and the language you think in is English, thoughts
are those English words in your mind.
21. If you think in two languages, then thoughts are the words of those two languages in
your mind.
22. Awareness (22 - 46): When you wake up in the morning awareness is that
consciousness that woke up in the morning.
23. Thoughts come and thoughts go, but the background of awareness remains continuous
during all the waking hours until you go to sleep at night.
24. Awareness is you, your awareness, just your awareness that is looking throu gh your
eyes right now.
25. The words awareness, consciousness, attention, observation, watching, looking, seeing
and concentrating all have the same meaning in the practice instructions.
26. Awareness is not thought.
27. Awareness is that which is aware of thought.
28. Both when there are thoughts and when there are no thoughts, the awareness that woke
up in the morning is aware, because the awareness that woke up in the morning is
continuous during all of the waking hours until you go to sleep.
29. Awareness is not emotions.
30. Awareness is that which is aware of emotions.
31. Both when there are emotions and when there are no emotions, the awareness that
woke up in the morning is there, because the awareness that woke up in the morning is
continuous during all of the waking hours until you go to sleep again.
32. Awareness is not the objects seen by the eyes.
33. Awareness is that which is aware of the objects seen by the eyes.
34. The awareness that woke up in the morning is there when the eyes are open seeing
objects and when the eyes are closed not seeing objects, because the background of
awareness is continuous during all the waking hours until you go to sleep again.
35. Awareness is not the thought I.
36. Awareness is that which is aware of the thought I.
37. Both when one thinks I and when one does not think I, the awareness that woke up
in the morning is there, because the background of awareness is continuous during all
the waking hours until you go to sleep again.
38. Awareness is not desire.
39. Awareness is that which is aware of desire.
40. Both when there is desire and when there is no desire, the awareness that woke up in
the morning is there, because the background of awareness is continuous until you go
to sleep again.
41. Awareness is not something far off, lofty or mysterious.
42. Awareness is that which is looking through your eyes reading this.
43. Just your ordinary, everyday awareness.
44. Not some special awareness.
45. Awareness is that which wakes up in the morning and remains aware until you go to
sleep at night
46. Awareness is not any of the things or experiences perceived.
47. Try an experiment (48 - 52):
48. Look at an object in the room.
49. Notice the awareness that is looking through your eyes.
50. Now shut your eyes and notice that you are still aware.
51. It is the same awareness that a moment ago was looking at the room.
52. Now, with your eyes still closed observe your awareness.
53. The following practice instructions are the Awareness Watching Awareness Method
described using carefully chosen slightly different wording.
54. It is important to use as few words as possible to describe the practice.
55. Use only one description per practice session.
56. If you are going to be practicing for one or two or three hours today, then for that
entire time you should be using only one description.
57. Try Description A first.
58. Try a different description each day until you have tried all of them.
59. Then choose the description that was easiest for you to understand and to practice, and
from then on use only that description.
60. Some descriptions might for a moment have you start with your eyes open, but once
you are instructed to close your eyes, then keep your eyes closed.
61. In other words, the Awareness Watching Awareness Method is always practiced with
the eyes closed.
62. When you are observing your awareness, just remain with that.
63. There is no need to do anything else.
64. Awareness is empty, there is no object you are trying to observe.
65. It is just awareness being aware of itself.
66. It is not a special kind of awareness.
67. It is just your ordinary everyday awareness that you normally go through the day with,
looking at itself.
68. You can record the descriptions below on an audiocassette or CD for personal use.
69. Record only one description per recording.
70. It is important to listen to only one description during a practice session.
71. It is better not to interrupt your practice session by having to turn your recording off.
72. That is why it is best to record only one description per recording.
73. Repeat the same description on the recording every 30 minutes.
THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD
PRACTICE INSTRUCIONS:
74. Description A: Shut your eyes. Notice your awareness. Observe that awareness. Turn
your attention away from the world, body and thought and towards awareness
watching awareness. If you notice you are thinking, turn your attention away from
thought and back towards awareness watching awareness.
75. Description B: Look out at the room and notice your awareness looking out through
your eyes. Now shut your eyes and notice that same awareness is still there that a
moment ago was looking outward at the room. Observe that awareness. If you seem to
be having a lot of thoughts, ignore them and turn your attention away from the
thoughts and towards awareness observing awareness.
76. Description C: Shut your eyes. Notice that you are conscious. Watch that
consciousness. Every time you notice a thought, turn your attention away from the
thought and continue watching your consciousness. Do not watch your thoughts.
Watch your consciousness. Consciousness watching consciousness. Consciousness
conscious of consciousness.
77. Description D: Shut your eyes. Turn your attention away from thought and watch the
watcher.
78. Description E: Shut your eyes. Notice your awareness. Be aware of your awareness. If
you notice you are thinking, turn your attention away from thought and towards
awareness of awareness.
79. Description F: Shut your eyes. Just remain in awareness aware of itself. If there are
thoughts, bring your attention back to awareness aware of itself.
80. Description G: Shut your eyes. You observe your awareness. If there are thoughts,
turn your attention away from the thoughts and continue to observe your awareness.
81. Description H: Shut your eyes. Turn your attention towards awareness and concentrate
on awareness. Concentrate in a relaxed manner without effort. If thoughts are noticed,
turn your attention away from the thoughts and back towards concentrating on
awareness.
82. Description I: Shut your eyes. Be aware of being aware. Now remain in that awareness
of awareness. If there are thoughts, turn your attention away from the thoughts and
continue being aware of being aware.
83. Description J: Shut your eyes. Notice you are aware. Look at that awareness. Remain
in awareness looking at awareness. If thoughts arise, look away from the thoughts and
go back to looking at awareness. Remain in that awareness looking at awareness.
84. Description K: Shut your eyes. Your present awareness watching your present
awareness, while ignoring all else.
85. Description L: Look at the room. Notice your awareness looking through your eyes.
Shut your eyes and turn your attention around to look at itself. Attention attending to
attention. Remain with that. Dont move from that. Dont attend to anything else.
Dont attend to thought. Attend only to attention.
86. Description M: Look at the room. Notice your awareness looking through your eyes.
Now shut your eyes. Notice that same awareness that was looking through your eyes a
moment ago. Now turn that awareness around degrees away from the world, the body
and thought and towards itself, towards awareness watching awareness.
87. Description N: Look at the room. You are the seer. Your awareness is that which sees.
Shut your eyes. See the seer. Remain with that. Turn your attention away from thought
and towards the seer.
88. Description O: Shut your eyes. Turn your attention away from the known and know
the knower.
89. Description P: Shut your eyes. Awareness aware only of awareness. Remain there.
Dwell there. Be there. Live there.
90. Description Q: Shut your eyes. One awareness observing one awareness. Not two, on e
observing the other. Only one. Observe your awareness. If you notice you are
thinking, do not attempt to complete the thought. Drop the thought and continue
observing your awareness.
91. Description R: Shut your eyes. Observe your awareness. Relax into your awareness.
Remain there, aware only of your awareness.
92. Description S: Shut your eyes. Turn your awareness away from what it is aware of and
towards awareness aware only of itself.
93. Description T: Shut your eyes. Directly experience your own awareness by observing
your awareness and relaxing into your awareness. Rest in your awareness of
awareness. Rest in awareness aware only of itself. Remain in awareness. Do not
remain in thought.
94. Description U: There are the things you are aware of. There is the aware ness that is
aware of the things. Instead of observing the things, observe the awareness. Shut your
eyes. There are thoughts and feelings. There is the awareness that is aware of thoughts
and feelings. Instead of observing thoughts and feelings, observe th e awareness.
95. Description V: Shut your eyes. Do not observe thought. Observe awareness.
Awareness observing awareness is empty. There is no thing to observe there. Dont
complicate it by thinking there is more to it. Awareness is subtle. In awareness
observing awareness there is only awareness. It is simple. Remain in awareness
observing itself.
96. Description W: Shut your eyes. Focus on the awareness that thoughts are arising in.
Do not focus on the thoughts. Thoughts come and thoughts go. The awareness that
thoughts are arising in does not come and go. Be aware of the awareness that does not
come and go. When there are thoughts, watch the awareness, not the thoughts. When
there are no thoughts, watch the awareness. Thoughts or no thoughts, continue to
observe the awareness, not the thoughts. Continue to relax in and be aware of your
awareness. Remain there. Be there.
97. Description X: Shut your eyes. If you see light, turn your attention away from the light
and towards awareness of awareness. If you see darkness, turn your attention away
from the darkness and towards awareness aware only of awareness. If you notice your
breathing, turn your attention away from the breathing and towards awareness aware
only of awareness. Whatever you become aware of, turn your at tention away from it
and towards awareness of awareness.
98. Description Y: Shut your eyes. Awareness not aware of thoughts. Awareness not
aware of emotions. Awareness not aware of anything except awareness. Awareness
aware of nothing except awareness. The background of awareness aware only of the
background of awareness. Awareness aware only of awareness. Awareness only.
Awareness alone.
Read Chapter Seven three times very slowly before reading Chapter Eight.
Chapter 8 -FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE
AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD
1. These further clarifications appear in a separate chapter because the practice
instructions for the Awareness Watching Awareness Method are simple and they
should remain simple.
2. It is not helpful to bring concepts with you into the practice.
3. It is best just to focus on the simple practice instructions.
4. One of the things you might wonder is what to do after you start watching your
awareness.
5. There is nothing else to be done.
6. You just continue with awareness watching awareness.
7. There are no objects to see.
8. Awareness is empty, there is no thing to observe there.
9. Just continue for the entire practice session watching your awareness. Only awareness
watching awareness and nothing else.
10. Dont expect any type of experience.
11. If you are wondering if you will have some kind of spiritual experience, then that very
wondering means you have added something to awareness watching awareness.
12. Never add anything to awareness watching awareness.
13. The key is to be content just watching your awareness and not to move from that and
not to add anything to that.
14. You may or may not have some kind of spiritual experience. However, you should
never be expecting any kind of spiritual experience.
15. If you wonder if the state is going to deepen, tha t very wondering means you have
added something to the Awareness Watching Awareness practice.
16. Never add anything to the Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
17. Just be content with awareness watching awareness.
18. You should look at it like awareness watching awareness is all there is, there is
nothing more.
19. In the Awareness Watching Awareness Method practice, you are not seeking anything.
20. You are observing, not seeking.
21. If you were seeking something, then there would be seeking and awareness watching
awareness.
22. That would mean you would have added seeking to the awareness watching awareness
practice.
23. Never add anything to the awareness watching awareness practice. Just be content to
continue with awareness watching awareness without adding anything to it.
24. The best practice session is when there are no thoughts.
25. If there are thoughts, turn your attention away from the thoughts and towards
awareness watching awareness.
26. Do not encourage thoughts.
27. Do not try to complete a thought.
28. Do not turn your attention towards thoughts.
29. Do not think about thinking.
30. If thoughts are happening, do not make a problem out of it. Just turn your attention
away from thoughts and towards awareness watching awareness.
31. Just remain with awareness watching awareness.
32. When awareness is watching awareness something extraordinary is happening.
33. You are for the first time turning inward.
34. Your true nature is awareness.
35. What you really are at your core is awareness.
36. Therefore, in awareness watching awareness, you are for the first time observing
yourself and knowing yourself.
37. However, you should not think about that or anything else written in this chapter while
practicing awareness watching awareness, because then you would be adding those
thoughts to the practice.
38. It is being pointed out that you are doing something extraordinary when awareness is
watching awareness because at first you might think: what else? or so what?.
39. Just continue to practice and forget about what else? or so what?.
40. Just by turning your attention away from thought and towards awareness watching
awareness, you are doing something that will change your life completely if you are
sincere and continue to practice.
41. Most humans live their entire lives always looking outward at people, places and
things.
42. By turning your attention away from the world, body and thought, and towards
awareness watching awareness, you are doing something extraordinary.
43. For some people it might take a few days, others a few weeks and others a few months
to start to feel something.
44. At first it is subtle and you wont know what it is, but you will know that you like it.
45. It is pleasant.
46. A new subtle feeling.
47. You are beginning to feel: eternal life-love-peace.
48. However, you should not have any expectations about that, because if you expect that,
then you are adding that expectation to your awareness watching awareness practice.
49. Never add anything to your awareness watching awareness practice.
50. Just remain in awareness watching awareness while ignoring all else.
51. Just stay there.
52. Just remain in that.
53. Dont look for something else.
54. While you are practicing the Awareness Watching Awareness Method (55 - 89):
56. Relax with that.
57. Dont seek something other than awareness watching awareness.
58. Dont seek any other state.
59. Dont seek deeper awareness.
60. Dont seek anything.
61. Just remain in awareness watching awareness.
62. Be happy that it is simple.
63. Dont seek more than that.
64. It is just a simple state.
65. Dont seek peace.
66. Let peace come on its own if it is going to co me, without your expecting or seeking it.
67. Just remain with awareness watching awareness, and every time a thought arises, turn
your awareness away from the thought and towards awareness watching awareness.
68. Just continue to practice everyday.
69. Look at it as though all you were seeking was the awareness watching awareness itself
and not something else. Therefore, be content with just staying in awareness watching
awareness without moving from it.
70. Some days the mind may be noisy, but if you keep on practici ng, a good day will
appear when your practice will go very deep without your trying to make it go deep.
71. Never think about deep or not deep.
72. If you think about deep or not deep you would be adding something to the awareness
watching awareness practice.
73. Just be content to remain with awareness watching awareness regardless of whether it
seems like a good practice session or not.
74. Some days your emotions may be turbulent.
75. Just ignore the turbulent feelings and turn your attention away from the turbulent
emotions and towards awareness watching awareness.
76. If you continue practicing the Awareness Watching Awareness Method everyday,
eventually you will start to enjoy awareness watching awareness.
77. How long it will take to begin enjoying awareness watching awareness is different for
different people.
78. For some people it may take days, others weeks and others months.
79. The point is, if you find it difficult to remain with awareness watching awareness in
the beginning, dont give up, practice everyday on the good d ays and on the noisy
mind or turbulent feeling days also.
80. Just continue turning your attention away from thoughts and towards awareness
watching awareness.
81. You should not be expecting the day when you will start to enjoy awareness watching
awareness, because then you would be adding something to the awareness watching
awareness practice in the form of an expectation.
82. The best kind of awareness watching awareness practice is one that is empty.
83. Just awareness watching awareness and nothing else.
85. Just be there.
86. Just dwell there.
87. Just remain there.
88. Dont seek anything different, just be content with awareness watching awareness.
89. Just relax and continue watching your awareness.
90. Here is a way to look at it:
91. Awareness watching awareness is a little like falling in love.
92. You spend time with someone.
93. You watch them. You observe them.
94. But you do not yet know them.
95. You continue to observe them.
96. You dont have expectations, because you dont know them well enough yet to have
expectations.
97. You just keep on observing.
98. Some days you have pleasant feelings while you observe them.
99. Some days you have unpleasant feelings while you observe them.
100. You continue to observe them.
101. Everyday you are coming to know them better, even though you may not be
aware that you are coming to know them better.
102. Then one day suddenly and unexpectedly, you have fallen in Love.
103. Awareness watching awareness is a little like that.
104. Just dont expect anything, and continue watching your awareness.
105. The fact that nothing is happening is great!
106. If it seems like day after day it is just the same, only awareness watching
awareness, that is great!
107. Just remain content with that.
108. If you think it is going to change, then you are adding something to awareness
watching awareness, in the form of an expectation that it is going to change.
109. Just look at awareness watching awareness as enough, just as it is.
110. Continue your practice everyday.
111. When will you fall in love with awareness watching awareness?
112. It may be after one month or after many months of practice.
113. You will have plenty of confirmation along the way.
114. Once you have started to experience even a little joy or peace from awareness
watching awareness, the practice progresses very rapidly after that.
115. It does not take long to reach the point where just closing your eyes brings
awareness-joy to you even before you have started the practice.
116. You should not expect it, because then you have added something to the
Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
117. Some people might not like the practice for the first week or two.
118. Just persevere and keep practicing.
119. You can look upon your awareness as something that wants you to watch it
without expecting anything from it, like someone who wants to be loved just for what
they are and not for what they can give you.
120. Just continue to watch awareness, and dont be expecting peace-love-joy.
121. Let peace-love-joy come on its own, without your expecting it.
122. What you truly are is: Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Bliss-Love.
123. However, by having your attention turned towards the world, the body and
thought all the time, you imagine you are a body subject to disease, death and
suffering.
124. By turning your attention towards awareness, you are for the first time observing
what you are.
125. When you practice, do not think about what you are.
126. Just watch your awareness without expecting anything.
127. Dont watch your thoughts.
128. Turn your attention away from your thoughts and watch your empty awareness.
129. Observe the observing.
130. Observe the awareness.
131. If you remain content with just awareness watching awareness, eventually your
problems will start to disappear.
132. Your misery will start to disappear.
133. Peace will come unexpectedly.
134. Joy will come unexpectedly.
135. Infinite Love will come unexpectedly.
136. Awareness watching awareness is awareness being awareness.
137. Because of the long ancient habit of looking outward towards people, places and
things, the word watching is used in some of the practice instructions.
138. One takes that same habit of watching people, places, and thin gs and shuts the
eyes and turns it inwards towards awareness watching awareness.
139. That is why the word watching is used in some of the practice instructions.
140. What is real is awareness watching awareness, looking inward.
141. What is unreal is looking outward towards the world of people, places and
things.
142. Looking outward brings suffering, death and futility.
143. Watching thoughts is not looking inward.
144. Watching feelings is not looking inward.
145. Watching breathing is not looking inward.
146. Only turning the attention away from the observed and towards the observer is
looking inward.
147. Only awareness watching awareness is looking inward.
148. Looking inward is liberation.
149. Looking inward is eternal life.
150. Looking inward is eternal awareness.
151. Looking inward is eternal peace.
152. Looking inward is eternal joy.
153. Looking inward is eternal Love that is absolutely perfect and free of all forms of
sorrow and misery.
154. That joy, that perfection is your awareness.
155. Because you always looked outward, you never experienced it.
156. To change this long habit of looking outward you need to practice everyday.
157. Spend as many hours everyday practicing as you can.
158. If you only practice awareness watching awareness for 30 minutes per day and
spend the other 23 and a half hours looking outward, you w ill not progress very
quickly.
159. If you want rapid results, drop all your unnecessary activities to create the
maximum amount of time you can spare to practice for many hours per day, everyday.
160. Maybe once per week on one of your days off from work you can devote the
whole day (8 to 12 hours) to practicing the Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
161. To come to know, experience and live in Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss
is definitely worth the time spent practicing.
162. You will discover you are not a body living in a world.
163. You are eternal awareness, perfect love-joy.
164. Remember to be content with just awareness watching awareness.
165. Dont expect any of the experiences described in this chapter. Expectation will
destroy the effectiveness of the practice.
166. If it seems boring the first few times you try the awareness watching awareness
practice, that is OK. Continue to practice.
Read Chapter Eight very slowly three times before reading Chapter Nine.
Chapter 9 - THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD
1. If your ego will not allow you to practice the Awareness Watching Awareness
Method, the Abandon Release Method is the second best choice.
2. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is more effective than the Abandon
Release Method.
3. Therefore, if your ego will allow you to pra ctice it, the Awareness Watching
Awareness Method should be your first choice.
4. If one looks at the thousands of spiritual practices that have been taught to humans in
the past, the Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct
means to bringing sorrow, suffering and the ego to its final end, here and now in this
lifetime.
5. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means to
living in infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss here and now in this lifetime.
the past, the Abandon Release Method is the second most rapid means to bringing
sorrow, suffering and the ego to its final end here and now in this lifetime.
the past, the Abandon Release Method is the second most rapid means to living in
infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss, here and now in this lifetime.
8. The Abandon Release Method is easier to practice than the Awareness Watching
Awareness Method, even when you are tired or sleepy.
9. If your ego will not allow you to practice the Awareness Watching Awareness
Method, you could practice the Abandon Release Method for one year and then try
switching to the Awareness Watching Awareness Method and then remaining with the
Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
10. Or you could continue practicing the Abandon Release Method for as many years as
you wish to practice it.
11. You should practice one or the other, the Awareness Watching Awareness Method or
the Abandon Release Method, for the rest of your life.
12. The reason practice should continue for as long as the body lives is (13 - 16):
13. There is a false state of liberation, where the ego has not come to its final end, but has
only been temporarily submerged consciously in the infinite awareness.
14. This temporary state is very similar to liberation, there is no sorrow and no suffering
and one only has the experience of infinite awareness love bliss.
15. One in this temporary state will usually have the perception that they have been
liberated.
16. However, one in this temporary state has not been liberated.
17. That (13 - 16) is the reason that one should practice for as long as the body lives, even
if one has the perception that one has been liberated.
18. The preliminary instructions for the Abandon Release Method are the same as the
preliminary instructions for the Awareness Watching Awareness Method.
19. See Chapter Seven for the preliminary instructions.
20. In the beginning, the best position for practice of the Abandon Release Method is
laying down on your bed.
21. After you have practiced the Abandon Release Method many times, then you could try
the practice sitting up.
22. After you have practiced the Abandon Release Method many times in both positions,
sitting up and laying down, you can choose the position you like best and continue to
practice in that position.
23. The following is a suggested schedule for using the Descriptions (39 - 44 in the
Practice Instructions below) :
24. Start by using the Description D practice instructions for the first month.
25. Use Description E for the second month.
26. Use Description A for the third month.
27. Use Description B for the fourth month.
28. Use Description A (again) for the fifth month.
29. Begin using Description C and continue with it for one to four years.
30. Once per month, as a reminder, for one practice session, use description A.
31. After one to four years of practice, you may be so familiar with the practice, that
Description F is all you need.
32. Like any skill, the more you practice, the more skill you gain.
33. The longer you practice the more enjoyable the practice becomes, after you have
gained some skill in letting go.
34. Some people will find the Abandon Release Method practice enjoyable from the
beginning.
35. Other people will find the practice easy and enjoyable only after many weeks of
practicing everyday.
36. You can make a recording of the practice instructions (Descriptions A, B, C, D, E or
F) on an audio cassette or CD and then play them during your practice session,
repeating the instructions on the recording after 30 minutes. Pause for one minute
between each sentence when making the recording.
37. Put the do not disturb sign on your bedroom door, turn out the lights, lay down on
your bed.
38. If laying down flat on your back becomes tiresome at some point, you can turn over on
your side.
THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD PRACTICE

INSTRUCTIONS
39. Description A: Shut your eyes. Relax your body. Now ignore your body. Let go of all
effort. Let go of all sense of h aving to do something, as though there is nothing you
have to do and nothing you have to think about. Letting go of all effort means letting
go of all will and all desire as though there was nothing that needed to be
accomplished or changed.
Let go. Relax. Let go more. Relax more. See how far it is possible to let go. Let go of
all thoughts. Let go of all feelings. Let go of all effort. Let go of everything except
your awareness.
Whatever thoughts, perceptions, images or feelings arise, let them go as so on as they

arise or even before they arise. Do not follow thoughts, as though you had no interest
in them. Let go of all your perceptions as though they have nothing to do with you.
Continue to relax more and more. Throughout the practice session let go more, then let
go even more and as the practice session continues see how far it is possible to let go.
Relax completely. Let go totally. Release everything except your awareness.
Letting go is giving up completely. Letting go is surrendering completely. Letting go
is relaxing completely. Letting go is releasing completely. Letting go is letting go of
all effort and all thought. Letting go is letting go of all feelings, desires and images.
Letting go is letting go of everything except your awareness.
The difference between falling asleep and the Abandon Release Method is when you
fall asleep you let go of everything including your awareness. In the Abandon Release
Method, you let go of everything except your awareness.
40. Description B: Shut your eyes. Relax your body. Release your body. Relax all effort.
Release all effort. Relax all your thoughts. Release all your thoughts. Continue
throughout the practice session to see how much you can relax and release your
thoughts, feelings and desires.
Relax and release everything except your awareness. Relax totally. Relax completely.
Release totally. Release completely. Continue to release and relax more and more
throughout the practice session.
41. Description C: Shut your eyes. Let go of all effort. Let go of all thought. Let go of
everything except your awareness. Whatever arises, let it go. Relax, release, let go.
Continue to relax, release and let go completely. See how far it is possible to let go of
all effort and all thought. See how far it is possible to let go of everything except your
awareness.
42. Description D: Shut your eyes. Let go of all effort. Continue to let go of all effort
during the entire practice session. Let go of effort more and more and see how far it is
possible to let go of effort.
Relax and continue to relax. Relax more and more throughout the entire practice
session. Let go of all effort completely. Totally let go of all effort.
43. Description E: Shut your eyes. Let go of all thoughts. If a thought arises, let it go. If
another thought arises, let it go. Continue to let go of thought. Relax thought
completely. Continue to release thought throughout the practice session. See how far it
is possible to let go of thought. Let go completely.
44. Description F: Shut your eyes. Let go completely. Totally let go. Let go of everything
except your awareness.
Read Chapter Nine three times very slowly before reading Chapter Ten.
Chapter 10 - THE ETERNAL METHOD
1. The purpose of the Eternal Method is to provide a sense of the limitless nature of
eternal life.
2. Any position is OK for this practice.
3. Laying down on your bed with the lights turned off is the best position.
4. If you record the instructions, pause for one minute between each sentence.
5. The Eternal Method is not an essential method and, therefore, the Eternal Method
should not be practiced more often than once per month.
THE ETERNAL METHOD PRACTICE

INSTRUCTIONS
6. Shut your eyes.
7. Imagine you are traveling back in time.
8. Go back in time one hundred billion years.
9. Now go back in time one hundred billion more years.
10. You are now so far back in time the earth does not exist.
11. Travel back in time one trillion years further into the past.
12. Go back in time one trillion more years.
13. Travel back in time eight hundred trillion years further into the past.
14. Now travel back eight hundred trillion years further into the past.
15. Imagine that you are traveling at the rate of eight hundred trillion years per second into
the past and that you have now traveled for one hundred trillion years at that rate.
16. You are now in a time that is before anything that existed in the universe at the time
you lived on earth came into being.
17. None of the stars or planets that existed at the time you lived on earth exist yet,
because you are now in a time before they existed.
18. Travel eight hundred trillion years further back in time.
19. Realize now that no matter how long you continue to travel back in time you will not
have come any closer to the eternal past because the eternal past goes on forever.
20. Now travel another eight hundred trillion years further into the past.
21. Now imagine you have traveled another eight hundred trillion years into the past.
22. Now travel another eight hundred trillion years further into the past.
23. Realize that no matter how long you continue to travel into the pas t, even if you travel
at the rate of eight hundred trillion years per second for a hundred trillion years, you
will not come closer to the eternal past because the eternal past means always was, on
and on forever.
24. Now look into the eternal past and reflect on the meaning of always was.
25. The objects in space come and go, however, the space is eternal.
26. Reflect on the meaning of the eternal past.
27. Reflect on the meaning of the eternal past goes on forever and ever.
28. Look into the eternal past that goes on forever and ever and reflect on the meaning of
always was.
29. Look into the eternal past and reflect on the meaning of the eternal past has no
beginning.
30. Look into the eternal past and reflect on the meaning of no end.
31. Reflect on the meaning of the eternal past has no end.
32. Look into the eternal past and see the meaning of the eternal past goes on forever and
never ends.
33. Now come back to the present time.
34. Imagine you are traveling forward in time.
35. Travel one hundred billion years into the future.
36. Now travel one hundred billion years further into the future.
37. You are now so far into the future the earth and the earths sun no longer exist.
38. Now travel one trillion years further into the future.
39. Now imagine that you have traveled one trillion more years into the future.
40. Now travel eight hundred trillion years further into the future.
41. Now imagine that you have traveled another eight hundred trillion years further into
the future.
42. Imagine that you are traveling at the rate of eight hundred tril lion years per second into
the future and that you have traveled for one hundred trillion years at that rate.
43. You are now in a time when everything that existed during the time when you lived on
earth is now no longer existing.
44. All of the stars and planets that existed at the time when you lived on earth, no longer
exist.
45. Look at how all of the things that you thought were so important when you lived on
earth have no importance now.
46. Look at how all of the problems you thought you had when living on eart h have no
significance now.
47. Look at how all those problems you had when you lived on earth really did not have
any real significance when you lived on earth. You only imagined those problems had
significance.
48. What has real value and significance is that which is eternal.
49. The eternal infinite space-awareness, that is eternal life, is what you are and what you
always have been and that is where all real significance, truth, meaning, perfect safety,
bliss and love are.
50. Now imagine you have traveled another eight hundred trillion years further into the
future.
51. Now travel another eight hundred trillion years into the future.
52. Realize now that no matter how long you continue to travel into the future, you will
not have come any closer to the eternal future, because the eternal future goes on
forever.
53. Now travel another eight hundred trillion years further into the future.
54. Now imagine you have traveled another eight hundred trillion years into the future.
55. Realize that no matter how long you continue to travel into the future, even if you
travel at the rate of eight hundred trillion years per second for one hundred trillion
years, you will not come closer to the eternal future, because the eternal future means
always will be, on and on forever.
56. Now look into the eternal future and reflect on the meaning of always will be.
57. The objects in space come and go, however, the space is eternal.
58. Reflect on the meaning of: the eternal future.
59. Reflect on the meaning of the eternal future goes on and on forever.
60. Look into the eternal future that goes on forever and ever and reflect on the meaning
of always will be.
61. Look into the eternal future and reflect on the meaning of no end.
62. Reflect on the meaning of: the eternal future has no end.
63. Look into the eternal future and see the meaning of the eternal future goes on forever
and never ends.
64. You are that eternal infinite space-awareness that never ends.
65. See the beauty of eternal life.
66. Come back to the present time and dedicate every moment of your life to the
realization of the Direct Experience of who you really are at your core.
67. In your daily life, dont let the imposter, the mistaken identity, take you through
distractions, detours and activities that lead to the temporary and therefore, to that
which is meaningless.
68. Drop all distractions, detours, entertainment and pointless useless activities, to create
the maximum amount of time for the practice of the most rapid and direct means to
eternal bliss.
69. Never waste time.
70. Never waste even one second.
71. Discover your eternal life in Direct Experience.
72. Discover who you really are at the core of your being.
73. Discover who you really are at the core of your consciousness.
74. The core of your consciousness is infinite and eternal.
75. A wave on an ocean of consciousness imagines there is a bottom line.
76. One day the wave challenges that assumption by diving deep down.
77. The wave discovers there never was any bottom line.
78. The wave discovers there are no waves, there is only the ocean.
79. You are: infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss.
80. Realize who you are in Direct Experience.
81. Bring the imposter self to an end.
82. Discover your true Self in Direct Experience.
Read Chapter Ten three times very slowly before reading Chapter Eleven.
Chapter 11 - THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD
1. When people practice the Awareness Watching Awareness Method, they often tend to
have the perception that awareness is something in their head.
2. Your awareness is not in your head.
3. Your awareness is infinite.
4. The Infinite Space Method helps to remove the perception that awareness is something
in your head.
5. The Infinite Space Method helps to provide a sense of the limitless nature of infinite
space.
6. The Infinite Space Method is not an essential method, therefore, the Infinite Space
Method should not be practiced more often than once per month.
7. You can practice the Infinite Space Method in any position, however, for the first
time, try practicing laying down on your bed with the lights turned off.
8. If you record the instructions, pause for one minute betwee n each sentence.
THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD PRACTICE

INSTRUCTIONS
9. Shut your eyes.
10. Imagine you are traveling into outer space in one direction in a straight line.
11. Imagine you have traveled into outer space eight hundred trillion miles.
12. Continue in the same direction, along the same line, and travel another eight hundred
trillion miles into outer space.
13. Now imagine that you have traveled another eight hundred trillion miles into space in
the same direction.
14. Now imagine that you have traveled another eight hundred trillion miles further in the
same direction.
15. Now imagine that you are traveling at the rate of speed of one hundred thousand miles
per second, and that you have traveled for eight hundred trillion years at that rate of
speed in the same direction.
16. Now travel for another eight hundred trillion years in the same direction at the rate of
one hundred thousand miles per second.
17. Now see that no matter how fast you travel and no matter how long you travel, you
have not come any closer to infinite space because infinite space never ends.
18. Now travel another eight hundred trillion miles in the same direction.
19. Now imagine that you have traveled another eight hundred trillion miles in the same
direction.
20. Now travel another eight hundred trillion miles in the same direction.
21. Now look forward in the same direction and see that infinite space never ends.
22. Now look forward in the same direction and see the meaning of: space never ends.
23. Now travel another eight hundred trillion miles in the same direction .
24. Now imagine you have traveled another eight hundred trillion miles in the same
direction.
25. Now look forward in the same direction and see the meaning of: space goes on
forever and ever.
26. See that even if you travel in the same direction for all eterni ty, you will never come to
the end because space never ends.
27. Look in the same direction and see infinite space.
28. Look in the same direction and see the meaning of: space goes on forever and there is
no end
29. Now realize that space is never ending in all directions.
30. That infinite space is your awareness.
31. That infinite space is infinite love.
32. That infinite space is eternal life.
33. See the infinite freedom of infinite space.
34. See how infinite space is open to allow everything.
35. Whatever wall or boundary you imagine, there is infinite space on the other side of
that boundary.
36. If you imagine a circle, there is always a larger circle and there is always infinite space
on the outside of the circle.
37. Now come back to earth.
38. Imagine you are sitting outside on a chair.
39. There is space in the atoms of your body.
40. There is space between the atoms of your body.
41. There is space in the molecules of your body.
42. There is space between the molecules of your body.
43. There is space in the cells of your body.
44. There is space between the cells of your body.
45. Your body is space.
46. The space in and between the atoms, molecules and cells of your body is touching the
space in the atmosphere.
47. The space in the atmosphere is touching outer space.
48. The imagined boundaries are also space.
49. The earth and everything on the earth is space.
50. All of the planets and stars in the universe are also space.
51. There is only one space.
52. Space is the source of life.
53. Space is alive.
54. One infinite space.
55. One infinite Love.
56. You are that infinite Love.
57. One eternal-infinite-space-awareness-love-bliss.
58. You are that one eternal-infinite-space-awareness-love-bliss.
59. There is only that one eternal-infinite-space-awareness-love-bliss.
60. All the boundaries are imagined.
61. There are no real boundaries.
62. In Reality there is only the infinite freedom of infinite space.
63. From time to time in your daily life, focus on the space instead of on the objects.
64. Space inside the objects, space outside the objects, and space in the imagined
boundary.
65. Never again imagine that space is just nothing.
66. Space is that which is truly valuable.
67. Space is eternal life-awareness.
68. Space is infinite Love.
69. One being, one space, one infinite Love.
70. Space projecting space into space.
71. To focus on space is to focus on infinite freedom.
72. To focus the attention on space is to focus on infinite Love.
73. Your awareness is space.
74. All limits are imagined.
75. All limits are a product of delusion.
76. All limits are a type of dream.
77. It is possible to wake up.
78. You can wake up to the Reality of infinite-eternal-space-awareness-love-bliss.
79. You can wake up to perfect peace.
80. You can wake up and discover that you have always been eternal-life-love-awareness-
joy.
81. You can wake up and discover that you always will be eternal-life-love-awareness-
joy.
82. Because of the long habit of imagining you are a thinker living in a body in a world, it
takes much time in practice to wake up.
83. You are not a thinker living in a body in a world.
84. You are: infinite-eternal-space-awareness-love-joy.
Read Chapter Eleven three times very slowly before reading Chapter Twelve.
Chapter 12 - THE LOVING-ALL METHOD
1. All the methods that have been described in previous chapters are to be practiced
when one is not engaged in any other activities.
2. The question may arise: What is the most effective method that can be practiced
while one is engaged in other activities?.
3. The Loving All Method is the most effective method that can be practiced while one is
engaged in other activities.
4. The Loving All Method can be practiced everyday, during any and all types of
activities.
PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LOVING ALL

METHOD
5. The Loving All Method can be summed up as follows:
Love everything that you perceive exactly the way it is. Love everything you
experience exactly the way it is.
6. Love every thought you have exactly the way it is.
7. Love those thoughts you think are good, exactly the way they are.
8. Love those thoughts you think are bad, exactly the way they are.
9. Love all your emotions exactly the way they are.
10. If you feel happy, love your happiness exactly the way it is.
11. If you feel sad, love your sadness exactly the way it is.
12. If you feel courage, love your courage exactly the way it is.
13. If you feel fear, love your fear exactly the way it is.
14. If you feel love, love your feeling of love exactly the way it is.
15. If you feel anger, love your feeling of anger exactly the way it is.
16. Love your body exactly the way it is.
17. Love the objects you see exactly the way they are.
18. Love the people you see exactly the way they are.
19. Love your actions exactly the way they are.
20. Love everything you feel, think, say or do exactly the way it is.
21. Love everything you see, taste, touch smell or hear exactly the way it is.
22. Love everything other people do, feel, think or say exactly the way it is.
23. If someone says something nice to you, love what the person says exactly the way it
is.
24. If someone says something mean to you, love what the person says exactly the way it
is.
25. If someone says to you you are the nicest person I have ever met love what the
person said exactly the way they said it.
26. If someone says to you you are the most disgusting person I have ever met, love
what the person said exactly the way they said it.
27. If something nice happens during your day, love it exactly the way it is.
28. If something horrible happens during your day, love it exactly the way it is.
29. Love everything that happens exactly the way it is.
30. Love every activity exactly the way it is.
31. Love every experience exactly the way it is.
32. Love everything exactly the way it is.
FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE LOVING ALL

METHOD
33. If you dont understand how to practice the above instructions using the word love,
you can substitute the words emotionally allow for the word love in the above
instructions.
34. After practicing everyday for one month using the words emotionally allow, you can
substitute the words emotionally accept for the word love in the above
instructions.
35. After practicing everyday for one month using the words emotionally accept, you
can go back to the original wording of the instructions, just as they are, using the word
love, and then continue using the word love from then on.
36. The Loving All Method refers only to your emotions.
37. No changes in your external behavior are required.
38. For example: if a vase falls and you would normally try and catch it, you will also try
and catch the vase while you are practicing the Loving All Method.
39. You do not allow the vase to fall because you are loving the falling.
40. If someone were to try to punch you in the face and if you would normally duck, you
will also duck while practicing the Loving All Method.
41. The fact that you are loving the fact that someone is trying to punch you does not
mean you will not duck.
42. You also love the fact that you are ducking to avoid being punched.
43. The Loving All Method is about emotional acceptance.
44. The Loving All Method is not about changing your actions.
45. Like any skill, the more you practice, the more skill you gain.
46. If someone says something mean to you and if you feel bad emotionally because of
what they said, then love your negative emotion and love yourself for having the
negative emotion.
47. In the beginning, even though you are attempting to love everything and every
experience exactly the way it is, you probably will not succeed in loving ever ything
and every experience exactly the way it is.
48. Changing the long time habit of emotionally rejecting experiences will require lots of
practice.
49. Love as much as you can love.
50. Keep practicing everyday trying to love everything exactly the way it is.
51. As the months go by, you will gain more success at loving more and more experiences
exactly the way they are.
52. It might take some years of practice for you to be able to love everything exactly the
way it is.
53. Everyday, try to love everything and every experience that happens, exactly the way it
is.
54. Loving everything the way it is includes emotional acceptance.
55. Emotional acceptance does not prevent you from trying to change whatever you wish
to change.
56. What you wish to change, you will still change.
57. Whatever action you would normally take to change something, you will still take that
same action.
58. In the beginning, even though you are trying to love everything you experience, you
might only be able to love a small part of what you experience.
59. Everyday that you practice the Loving All Method, you will gain more skill at being
able to love everything you experience, exactly the way it is.
60. You should not try to look inward while engaged in daily activities.
61. You should look outward while engaged in daily activities.
62. In other words, it is important to pay attention to what you are doing while engaged in
daily activities.
63. The Loving All Method is not a looking inward method.
64. It is important to pay close attention to what you are doing during your daily a ctivities
so that your activities flow smoothly.
65. If you were to try to look inward during your daily activities, your activities may not
flow smoothly.
66. For example: if you try to look inward while putting toothpaste on your toothbrush,
you might put shampoo or shaving cream on your toothbrush instead of toothpaste,
because of having your attention divided between outward and inward.
67. Fortunately, the Loving All Method does not require inward attention.
68. The Loving All Method does not require thought either.
69. The Loving All Method is developing a new feeling habit.
70. The Loving All Method is developing the habit of feeling love towards everything you
perceive.
71. In the beginning you could try practicing no emotional resistance during all of your
daily activities.
72. In action you can resist all you want to resist.
73. If you would normally resist something in action, you will continue to resist
something in action while practicing the Loving All Method.
74. Not resisting emotionally has nothing to do with what you d o in your actions,
activities and behavior.
75. You can continue to resist all you wish to resist in your actions, activities and behavior
while practicing the Loving All Method.
76. While you may be resisting in action, you do not resist emotionally while practicing
the Loving All Method.
Read Chapter Twelve three times very slowly before reading Chapter Thirteen.
Chapter 13 - THE REMINDERS
1. Read Chapter Five and Chapter Thirteen everyday until the extremely intense desire
for liberation awakens.
2. You will know the extremely intense desire for liberation has awakened when you
have dropped all unnecessary activities to create the maximum amount of time for
spiritual practice.
3. If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday, eventually, sooner or later, your life
will become full of suffering.
4. If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday, eventually, sooner or later, one or
more of the thousands of different types of sorrow and suffering will enter your life.
5. If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday, you will continue to be caught in the
cycle of birth and death, birth again, death again, birth again, death again and in that
cycle, eventually, all of the thousands of forms that suffering takes will enter your life.
6. If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday, you will experience death, diseases,
violence and thousands of other types of suffering, lifetime after lifetime.
7. If you do your spiritual practice everyday, for the maximum amount of time you can
create by dropping all unnecessary activities, eventually all forms of suffering will end
and you will live in: Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
8. The purpose of spiritual practice is to experience Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-
Bliss in this lifetime, not in the afterlife or some futu re lifetime.
9. All delays are tricks of the ego.
10. All detours are tricks of the imposter self.
11. All distractions are tricks of the false pretend self.
12. Every thought that leads you away from spiritual practice is a trick created by the
imposter.
13. Look at your daily activities and drop all those activities that are not necessary, to
create the most time you can create for spiritual practice everyday.
14. Taking a shower and eating food everyday is necessary.
15. For most people working to earn a living everyday is necessary.
16. Entertainment is not necessary.
17. Make sure that the spiritual practice you are doing IS the most rapid means to Infinite -
Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
18. You have a choice between CHOICE A (19 - 21):
19. Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss with zero suffering.
20. Absolutely perfect Love-Bliss for all eternity.
21. Living in and knowing your true Self.
22. Or CHOICE B (23 - 26):
23. Thousands of forms of suffering, sorrow, violence, disease and death, over and over
again, death-rebirth-death-rebirth.
24. Living from and knowing an imposter self.
25. Living from an acquired false self in the form of thought.
26. Living from a parasite that pretends to be your self.
27. Make CHOICE A.
28. Every day that you do your spiritual practice, you are making CHOICE A.
29. Every day that you do not do your spiritual practice, you are making Choice B.
30. Read Chapter Thirteen everyday.
31. The pretend self is very tricky and tries to lead people away from spiritual practice.
32. Reading Chapter Thirteen everyday will help to combat the egos tricks.
33. Everyday look at your activities and drop all activities that are not really necessary.
34. Everyday create as much time as possible for spiritual practice.
35. Do your spiritual practice everyday.
36. Everyday you have a CHOICE.
37. You cannot do anything about yesterdays choices, therefore, do not worry about
yesterdays choices.
38. What you can do is: Do your spiritual practice today.
39. Before the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, the false self will lead
you to a practice that will promote more egotism.
40. After the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will be lead to the
spiritual practice that is the most rapid means to: Infinite -Eternal-Awareness-Love-
Bliss.
41. After the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you wi ll be able to see
how the pretend self has contaminated all of the spiritual teachings of the past.
42. Reading Chapter Five and Chapter Thirteen everyday may be enough to awaken the
extremely intense desire for liberation in you.
43. Self-honesty is a great help towards the awakening of the extremely intense desire for
liberation.
44. Watch the ego when it tries to lead you away from spiritual practice into distractions,
detours, diversions, delays, unnecessary activities and entertainment, but do not let the
ego win that battle.
45. Time is precious.
46. Do not waste time in activities that lead only to that which is temporary and therefore
futile.
47. Ask of each activity: Where can this lead?
48. Ask of each activity: Can this lead to eternal bliss, or does this just lead to that which
is temporary?
49. There are thousands of quotes from the spiritual teachings of the past that support the
teachings in the book you are now reading.
50. However, the time you spend in practice is a trillion times more beneficial than the
time you spend reading.
51. Therefore, if you are willing to practice, practice.
52. If you are not willing to practice even after reading Chapter Five and Chapter Thirteen
hundreds of times, then you could try reading some quotes or books by other authors.
For recommendations on where to read the most powerful spiritual teachings, see
future volumes of this book or thefreedomreligion.com website.
53. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-existence-being-life, here and now in
this lifetime, by making it the first priority in your life and by centering your entire life
around your spiritual practice.
54. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-awareness, here and now in this
lifetime, by making it the first priority in your life and by centering your entire l ife
around your spiritual practice.
55. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-bliss, here and now in this lifetime,
by making it the first priority in your life and by centering your entire life around your
spiritual practice.
56. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-love, here and now in this lifetime, by
making it the first priority in your life and by centering your entire life around your
spiritual practice.
Read Chapter Thirteen very carefully at least three times.

End of book
Extra material and early versions
The Awareness Watching Awareness Practice Instructions
The preliminary instructions

Set aside as much time each day to practice the Awareness Watching Awareness Method as
you are willing to set aside.
Drop as many unnecessary activities as you are willing to drop, to free up more time for
awareness watching awareness practice.
It is better if you can be undisturbed during your practice.
If you practice at home you can ask those whom you live with not to disturb you when you
are meditating, unless there is an emergency. Or you can find some other place to practice
where you will be undisturbed. If you cant do that, well of course, go ahead and practice
anyway.
Bodily posture is not important in the Awareness Watching Awareness Method. However,
since one wishes to turn the attention away from the body, it is important that the body be
comfortable and relaxed and not causing any pain or strain.
You can do the practice sitting crossed legged or sitting on a chair or sitting on a sofa or
couch or even lying down on your bed if you are able to do so without falling asleep.
Whatever is comfortable and does not cause any pain, strain or discomfort. Whatever posture
helps you to ignore the body and turn the attention away from the bo dy.
For the purposes of this practice the following definitions for the words awareness and
thought must be used.
Thought: Thoughts are the words of your native language in the mind. If your native language
is English, and the language you think in is English, then thoughts are those English words in
your mind. If you think in two languages, then thoughts are the words of those two languages
in your mind.
Awareness: When you wake up in the morning, awareness is that consciousness that woke up
in the morning. Thoughts come and thoughts go, but the background of awareness remains
continuous during all the waking hours until you go to sleep at night. Awareness is you, your
awareness, just your awareness that is looking through your eyes right now.
The words Awareness, consciousness, attention, observation, watching, looking, seeing and
concentrating all have the same meaning.
Try an experiment:
Just look at an object in the room.
Notice the awareness that is looking through your eyes.
Now shut your eyes and notice that you are still aware.
It is the same awareness that was a moment ago looking at the room.
Now, with your eyes still closed, observe your awareness.
The following practice instructions are the Awareness Watching Awareness Method
described, using carefully chosen slightly different wording.
It is important to use as few words as possible to describe the practice. Use only one
description per meditation session. If you are going to be practicing for one or two or three
hours today, then for that entire time you should be using only one set of instructions.
Try Description A first. If A is easy for you to understand and practice, there is no reason to
go to B or C or D. A is enough. However if you do not understand the instruction then the
next day you could try B.
Some versions might for a moment have you start with your eyes open, but once you are
instructed to close them, then keep them closed. In other words, the Awareness Watching
Awareness Method is always to be done with the eyes closed.
When you are observing your awareness, just remain with that.
No need to do anything else.
Awareness is empty, so there is no object you are trying to observe.
It is just awareness being aware of itself.
Also it is no special kind of awareness, it is just your o rdinary everyday awareness that you
normally go through the day with, looking at itself.
You can record the instructions below on an audiocassette or CD for personal use if you wish.
The best way to do this is to only record one description, description A for example. It is
important to listen to only one description during a meditation session. Otherwise you would
be bringing in too many words and too many concepts. You do not wish to interrupt your
practice session by having to turn a tape recorder off e ither. That is why it is best to record
only one description, if you decide to record it. Repeat the instructions on the recording every
30 minutes.
The Practice Instructions

Description A
Shut your eyes.

Notice your awareness. Observe that awareness.
Turn your attention away from the world, body and thought, and towards awareness watching
awareness.
If you notice you are thinking, turn your attention away from thought and back towards
Description B
Look out at the room, notice your awareness looking out through your eyes.
Now shut your eyes and notice that same awareness is still there, that a moment ago was
looking outward at the room.
Observe that awareness.
If you are not having many thoughts, just ignore them and continue with awareness observing
awareness.
If you seem to be having a lot of thoughts, then just turn your attention away from the
thoughts and towards awareness observing awareness.
Description C
Shut your eyes. Notice that you are conscious. Watch that consciousness.
If you notice thoughts, just ignore them and continue watching your consciousness.
Do not watch your thoughts, watch your consciousness.
Consciousness watching consciousness.

Consciousness conscious of consciousness.
Description D
Shut your eyes.

Turn your attention away from thought and watch the watcher, see the seer.
Description E
Shut your eyes.

Notice your awareness.
Be aware of your awareness.
If you notice you are thinking, turn your attention away from thought and towards awareness
of awareness.
Description F
Shut your eyes.

Just remain in awareness aware of itself.
If there are not many thoughts, just ignore them.

If there are many thoughts, then bring your attention back to awareness aware of itself.
Description G
Shut your eyes.

Observe your awareness.
If there are thoughts, turn your attention away from them and continue to observe your
awareness.
Description H
Shut your eyes

Turn your attention towards awareness and concentrate on awareness.
Concentrate in a relaxed manner without strain.

If thoughts are noticed, turn your attention away from them and back towards concentrating
on awareness.
Description I
Shut your eyes.

Be aware of being aware.
Now remain in that awareness of awareness.
If there are thoughts turn your attention away from them and continue being aware of being
aware.
Description J
Shut your eyes.

Notice you are aware. Look at that awareness.
Remain in awareness looking at awareness.
If thoughts arise, look away from them and go back to looking at awareness, then just remai n
in that awareness looking at awareness.
Awareness being aware of awareness.

Awareness being aware of itself.
Remain in that.
Dont move from that.
Description K
Shut your eyes.

Your present awareness watching your present awareness, while ignoring all el se.
Description L
Look at the room. Notice your awareness looking through your eyes.
Shut your eyes and turn your attention around to look at itself.
Attention attending to attention. Just remain with that.
Dont move from that. Dont attend to anything el se, dont attend to thought.
Attend only to attention.
Description M
Look at the room. Notice your awareness looking through your eyes.
Now shut your eyes.
Notice that same awareness that was just looking through your eyes a moment ago.
Now turn that awareness around 180 degrees away from the world, the body and thought and
towards itself, towards awareness watching awareness.
Description N
Look at the room. You are the seer. Your awareness is that which sees.
Shut your eyes.
See the seer. Remain with that.
Turn your attention away from thought and towards the seer.
Further Clarification
Further clarification on how to practice the Awareness Watching Awareness meditation can
be read here: Further Clarification
Other Methods:
There are two primary direct and rapid means to Infinite-Eternal-Life-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
The Path of Surrender

The Abandon Release Method is the most direct and rapid means to Infinite -Eternal-Life-
Awareness-Love-Bliss on the path of Surrender.
The Abandon Release Method is a whole and complete practice, and as long as you are
satisfied with the new life the Abandon Release Method gives you, you need no other
practice.
You can read the Abandon Release Method practice instructions here:
Abandon Release Method
The Path of Awareness

The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most Direct and Rapid Means to Infinite -
Eternal-Life-Awareness-Love-Bliss on the Path of Awareness.
The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is a whole and complete practice, and as long as
you are satisfied with the new life the Awareness Watching Awareness Method gives you,
you need no other practice.
The Abandon Release Method is Passive.
The Awareness Watching Awareness Method can be done actively with effort or passively
with little or no effort.
Which method you choose to practice, the Abandon Release Method or the Awareness
Watching Awareness Method is up to you.
The Abandon Release Method is the most restful of the two methods.
The suggested order is to try the Abandon Release Method first.
Whichever method you choose, it is important to give the method a fair chance by practicing
the method for at least two hours everyday for six months.
Further Clarification
of the Awareness Watching Awareness Method
practice instructions
The reason these further clarifications are being placed on a separate page is because the
practice instructions for the Awareness Watching Awareness Method are simple and they
should be kept that way.
It is not helpful to bring a lot of concepts with you into the practice. It is best just to focus on
the simple practice instructions.
One of the things you might wonder is what to do after you start watching your awareness.
There is nothing else to be done. You just continue with awareness watching awareness.
There are no objects to see. Awareness is empty, so there is no thing to observe there. Just
continue for the entire practice session watching your awareness, only awareness watching
awareness and nothing else.
Dont expect any type of experience. If you are wondering if you will have some kind of
spiritual experience, then that very wondering means you have added something to awareness
watching awareness.
Never add anything to awareness watching awareness.
The key is to be content just watching your awareness and not to move from that and not to
add anything to that.
You may or may not have some kind of spiritual experience, but you should n ever be
expecting any kind of spiritual experience.
If you wonder if the state is going to deepen, that very wondering means you have added
something to the Awareness Watching Awareness practice.
Never add anything to the Awareness Watching Awareness Method. Just be content with
You should look at it like awareness watching awareness is all there is, there is nothing more.
In the awareness watching awareness meditation you are not seeking anything. You are
observing, not seeking. If you were seeking something, then there would be seeking and
awareness watching awareness. That would mean you would have added seeking to
Never add anything to awareness watching awareness, just be content to continue wi th

awareness watching awareness without adding anything to it.
When there are no thoughts, that is best.

If there are thoughts, turn your attention away from them and towards awareness watching
awareness. Do not encourage thoughts, do not try and complete a thought, do not turn your
attention towards thoughts. Do not think about thinking.
If thoughts are happening, do not make a problem out of it. Just turn your attention away from
thoughts and towards awareness watching awareness.
Just remain with awareness watching awareness.
When awareness is watching awareness something extraordinary is happening.

You are for the first time turning inward.
Your true nature is awareness.
Who you really are at your core is awareness.
Therefore, in awareness watching awareness you are for the first time observing yourself and
knowing yourself.
However you should not think about that or anything else written on this page while
practicing awareness watching awareness, because then you would be adding those thoughts.
The reason I am writing about the fact that you are doing something extraordinary when
awareness is watching awareness is because at first you might think, what else? or so
what?
Just keep on practicing and forget about what else? or so what? Just by turn ing your
attention away from thought and towards awareness watching awareness you are doing
something that will change your life completely if you are sincere and continue to practice.
Most humans go their whole lives always looking outward at people, pla ces, things. By
turning your attention away from the world, body and thought and towards awareness
watching awareness you are doing something extraordinary.
For some people it might take a few days, others a few weeks and others a few months to start
to feel something. At first it is subtle and you wont know what it is, but you will know that
you like it. It is pleasant. A new subtle feeling. That feeling comes because what you are
feeling is eternal life-love-peace.
However, you should not have any expectations about that, because if you expect that, then
you are adding that expectation to your awareness watching awareness practice. Never add
anything to your awareness watching awareness practice. Just remain in awareness watching
awareness while ignoring all else. Just stay there. Just remain in that. Dont look for a
something else.
In other words while you are practicing awareness watching awareness, just stay there, relax
with that, dont seek something other than awareness watching awareness, dont s eek any
other state, dont seek deeper awareness, dont seek anything.
Just remain in awareness watching awareness. Be happy that it is simple. Dont seek more
than that. It is just a simple state. Dont seek peace, let peace come on its own if it is going to
come, without your expecting it or seeking it.
Just remain with awareness watching awareness, and when there are thoughts, just keep
turning your awareness back towards awareness watching awareness.
Just keep on practicing everyday. Look at it as though all you were seeking was the awareness
watching awareness itself and not something else and therefore be content with just staying in
awareness watching awareness without moving from it.
Some days the mind may be noisy but if you keep on practicing a goo d day will appear when
your meditation will go very deep without your trying to make it go deep. Never think about
deep or not deep. If you think about deep or not deep then you would be adding something to
the awareness watching awareness meditation. Just be content to remain with awareness
watching awareness regardless of whether it seems like a good meditation session or not.
Some days the feeling may be turbulent. Just ignore the turbulent feelings and turn your
attention towards awareness watching awareness.
If you remain observing awareness day after day, at some point you will start to enjoy
awareness watching awareness. I dont know how long that will take for you. For some
people it may take days, others weeks and others months. The point is, that i f you find it
difficult to remain with awareness watching awareness in the beginning, dont give up,
practice everyday on the good days and on the noisy mind or turbulent feeling days too. Just
keep on turning your attention away from thoughts and towards awareness watching
awareness.
You should not be expecting the day when you will start to enjoy awareness watching
awareness, because then you would be adding something to the awareness watching
awareness practice in the form of an expectation. The best kin d of awareness watching
awareness practice is one that is empty. Just awareness watching awareness and nothing else.
Just stay there. Just be there. Just dwell there. Just remain there. Dont seek anything else, just
be content with awareness watching awareness. Just relax and continue watching your
awareness.
Here is a way to look at it:
It is a little like falling in love.

You spend time with someone.
You watch them, you observe them.
But you do not yet know them.
So you continue to observe them.
You dont have expectations,
because you dont know them well enough yet to have expectations.
You just keep on observing.
Some days you have pleasant days when you observe them
and some days you are having an unpleasant day while you observe them.
But you continue to observe them.
Each day you are coming to know them better

even though you may not be aware that you are coming to know them better.
Then one day suddenly and unexpectedly, you have fallen in Love.
Awareness watching awareness is a little like that. Just dont expect anything and continue
with awareness watching awareness. The fact that nothing is happening is great! If it seems
like day after day, it is just the same, only awareness watching awareness, that is great! Just
remain content with that. Because if you think that it is going to change, then you are adding
something to awareness watching awareness, in the form of an expectation that it is going to
change.
Just look at awareness watching awareness as enough, just as it is. Continue your practice ,
everyday.
I dont know when you will fall in love with awareness watching awareness. It may be after
one month or after many months of practice. You will have plenty of confirmation along the
way. Once you have started to experience even a little joy or peace from awareness watching
awareness, it progresses very rapidly after that. That may happen after only a week or for
others one month or for others many months. It does not take long to reach the point where
just closing your eyes brings awareness-joy to you before you even have had a chance to
practice.
You should not expect it, because then you have added something to the awareness watching
awareness practice.
Some people might not like the practice for the first week or two. So just persevere and ke ep
practicing.
You can look upon your awareness as something that wants you to just watch it without
expecting anything from it, like a person who wants to be loved just for what they are, not for
what they can give you. So just continue to watch awareness, and dont be expecting peace-
love-joy. Let peace-joy-love come on its own without your expecting it.
What you truly are is Infinite-Eternal-Life-Awareness-Bliss-Love.
However, by having your attention turned towards the world, the body and thought all th e
time, you subject yourself to imagining that you are a body subject to disease and death and
suffering.
By turning your attention towards awareness you are for the first time observing what you are.
Do not think about what you are, when you practice, jus t watch your awareness without
expecting anything.
Dont watch your thoughts.

Turn your attention away from your thoughts
and just watch your empty awareness.
Observe the observing.
Observe the awareness.
If you remain content with just awareness watching awareness, your problems will start to
disappear.
Your misery will start to disappear.

Peace will come unexpectedly.
Joy will come unexpectedly.
Infinite Love will come unexpectedly.
Awareness watching awareness is awareness being awareness.
However, because of the long ancient habit of looking outward towards people places and
things, the word "watching" is used in the practice instructions.
That way we take that same habit of watching people, places and things and we shut our eyes
and turn it inwards. That is why the word "watching" is used.
What is real is awareness watching awareness, looking inward. What is unreal is looking
outward towards the world of people places and things.
Looking outward brings suffering, death, futility.
Looking inward is Liberation, eternal life, eternal awareness, eternal peace, eternal joy,
eternal Love that is absolutely perfect, free of all forms of sorrow and misery. That joy, that
perfection is your awareness. But because you always looked outward, you never got to know
it, you never got to experience it.
To change this long habit of looking outward you need to practice. Spend as many hours per
day practicing as you can. If you only practice awareness watching awareness for 30 minutes
per day and spend the other 23 and a half hours looking outward, you will not progress very
quickly.
If you want rapid results, then drop your unnecessary activities to free up time so you can
practice for many hours per day, everyday. Maybe once per week on one of your days off
from work you can devote the whole day to just practicing awareness watching awareness.
To come to know and experience and live in Eternal-life-awareness-joy-peace-love is

definitely worth it.
You will discover you are not a body living in a world. You are eternal awa reness, perfect
love-joy.
Remember be content with just awareness watching awareness, dont expect any of the things
described on this page, because expectation will destroy the effectiveness of the practice.
If it seems boring the first few times you try the awareness watching awareness practice, that
is OK, just continue to practice and remain content with awareness watching awareness.
The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions
Preliminary Instructions:
The setting should be where you will be undisturbed. If you are at home when you practice
you can ask your family members not to disturb you while you are practicing. You should be
alone during your practice session. You can begin with a one hour or two hour practice
session.
There should be nothing you have to attend to during your practice sessions. There should be
no other activities going on during your practice sessions. The time set aside for practice is for
practice only.
If you have children, it is best to have someone you trust watching you r children during your
practice sessions, so that you do not have to worry about them.
Body posture is not important with The Abandon Release Method. You can do the practice
laying down on your bed or you can do the practice sitting up.
For your first practice session, laying down on your bed would be better. Laying down helps
one to forget the body.
If you do the practice sitting up, you can do the practice in a meditation posture with legs
crossed if you find that comfortable. If you do not find that c omfortable you can do the
practice sitting in a chair or sitting on a couch.
Whatever position causes no pain and is most comfortable is best.
If you do the practice sitting, when you sit down you can sit with your spine straight.
However, as soon as you begin the practice you should ignore your body posture and ignore
your body.
After practice begins, it does not matter what position your body is in.
You can alternate, sometimes doing the practice laying down in your bed and sometimes
doing the practice sitting up.
The advantage of doing the practice laying down on your bed is that it is easier to forget the
body in that position.
The advantage of doing the practice sitting up is that gravity will assist in pulling your mind
into your spiritual heart and that is one of the reasons why sitting up has been a posture
recommended in the traditions of the past.
Another advantage of doing the practice sitting up is that you are less likely to fall asleep
during practice.
Although you ignore the environment during the Abandon Release Method, ignoring smells,
sounds, sights, and the body, if there is an emergency such as the smell of smoke or the sound
of someone needing help or a painful body sensation indicating the need for attention, you
should stop the practice and attend to what needs to be attended to.
Thought and awareness are not the same. The following definitions for the word thought
and for the word awareness should be used for the Abandon Release Method:
Thought: Thoughts are the words of your native language in the mind. If your native language
is English, and the language you think in is English, then thoughts are those English words in
your mind. If you think in two languages, then thoughts are the words of those two languages
in your mind.
Awareness: When you wake up in the morning awareness is that consciousness that woke up
in the morning. Thoughts come and thoughts go, but the background of awareness does not
come and go. Awareness remains continuous during all the waking hours until you go to sleep
at night. Awareness is you, your consciousness that is looking through your eyes right now.
Feelings come and feelings go, but the background of awareness does not come and go.
Awareness is you. There are not two, you and Awareness. There is only one. Awareness is
another name for you. You wake up in the morning. Awareness wakes up in the morning.
Two ways of saying the same thing. You were sleeping, now you wake up in the morning.
What is the difference?
The difference is you were not aware while sleeping. You wake up and now you are aware.
You could call awareness awakeness. In deep sleep you are not aware of any thoughts or
objects. You wake up and now you are aware of thoughts and objects or you are aware of the
absence of thoughts and objects. That which allows you to perceive thoughts and objects or
the absence of thoughts and objects is awareness.
In the Abandon Release Method Practice the word consciousness and the word awareness
have the same meaning.
A suggestion for beginners:

Practice for at least two hours per day, everyday.
Practice either in one two-hour session, or two one-hour sessions.
Morning when you first wake up is best.
Evening just before you go to sleep is second best.
Descriptions (approaches) of how to use the Abando n Release Method are given
below. Following the Descriptions, there is a recommended schedule for alternating
among them.
Like any skill, you learn by practice. The longer you practice, the more enjoyable the practice
becomes, after you have gained some skill in letting go. Some people will find it easy and
enjoyable from the beginning. Other people will find it easy and enjoyable only after some
weeks of practicing everyday.
You can make a recording of the practice instructions (The Descriptions A, B, C, D, E or F
below) on an audiocassette or CD and then play them during your practice session, repeating
the instructions on the recording after 30 minutes.
Put the do not disturb sign on your bedroom door, turn out the lights, lay down on your bed.
If laying down flat on your back gets tiresome at some point, you can turn over on your side.
The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions

Description A
(Practice instructions must have few words, and therefore this description should be
considered a practice for beginners.)
Shut your eyes.

Relax your body.
Now ignore your body.
Let go of all effort.

Letting go of all effort means also letting go of all sense of having to do something, as though
there were nothing you have to do, nothing you have to think a bout.
Letting go of all effort means letting go of all will and all desire, as though there were nothing
that needed to be done or changed.
Let go. Relax. Let go more. Relax more.

See how far it is possible to let go.
Let go of all thoughts.
Let go of all feelings.
Let go of everything except your awareness.
Whatever thoughts, or perceptions, or images or feelings arise, let them go as soon as they
arise or even before they arise.
Do not follow thoughts, as though you had no interest in them.
Let go of all your perceptions as though they had nothing to do with you.
Continue to relax more and more.
Throughout the practice session:
Let go more, then let go even more.

As the session goes on see how far is it possible to let go.
Relax completely.
Let go totally.
Release everything except your awareness.
Letting go is giving up completely.
Letting go is surrendering completely.
Letting go is relaxing completely.
Letting go is releasing completely.
Letting go is letting go of all effort and all thought.
Letting go is letting go of all feelings, desires and images.
Letting go is letting go of everything except your awareness.
The difference between falling asleep and The Abandon Release Method is that when you fall
asleep you let go of everything including your awareness. In The Abandon Release Method,
you let go of everything except your awareness.
Description B
(These practice instructions are for those who find the words Let Go difficult to understand.
The words Let Go are superior to the words Relax and Release, and therefore
description B is also for beginners.)
Shut your eyes.

Relax your body.
Release your body.
Relax all effort.
Release all effort.
Relax your thoughts.
Release your thoughts.
Continue throughout the practice session to see how much you can relax and release your
thoughts, feelings and desires.
Relax and release everything except your awareness.
Relax totally.
Release totally.
Relax completely.
Release completely.
Continue to release and relax more and more throughout the practice session.
Description C
Shut your eyes.

Let go of all thought.
Whatever arises, let it go.
Relax, release, let go.
Continue to relax, release and let go completely.
See how far it is possible to let go of all effort and all thought.
See how far it is possible to let go of everything except your awareness.
Description D
(A preliminary practice for beginners.)
Shut your eyes.

Continue to let go of all effort during the entire practice session.
Let go of effort more and more and see how far is it possible to let go of effort.
Relax and continue to relax.
Relax more and more throughout the entire practice session.
Let go of all effort completely.
Totally let go of all effort.
Description E
(A preliminary practice for beginners.)
Shut your eyes.

Let go of all thoughts.
If a thought arises let it go.
If another thought arises let it go.
Continue to let go of thought.
Relax thought completely.
Continue to release thought throughout the practice session.
See how far it is possible to let go of thought.
Let go completely.
Description F
Shut your eyes.

Let go completely.
Totally let go.
Description G
Let go.
Suggested Schedule
Use Description D for the first month, Description E the second month, Description A
the third month, Description B the fourth month. (These four Descriptions are all
recommended for beginners.)
Go back to Description A for the fifth month and Description B for the sixth month.
Use Description C next, and continue to use description C for 1 to 4 years; however,
as a reminder, use Description A one day a month.
After 1 to 4 years of practice, you may be so familiar with the practice, that
Description F is all you need to practice. If you switch to Description F, then once per
month you should revisit Description C.
Other Methods
The Abandon Release Method is a whole and complete practice unto itself, and as long as you
are satisfied with the new life the Abandon Release Method gives you, you need no other
practice.
There are two primary Direct and Rapid Means to Infinite-Eternal-Life-Awareness-Love-

Bliss:
One is the path of Surrender

The Abandon Release Method is the most Direct and Rapid Means to Infinite-Eternal-Life-
Awareness-Love-Bliss on the path of Surrender.
The other is the path of Awareness

The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most Direct and Rapid Means to Infinite -
Eternal-Life-Awareness-Love-Bliss on the Path of Awareness.
The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is a whole and complete practice and as long as
you are satisfied with the new life the Awareness Watching Awareness Method gives you,
you need no other practice.
You can read the instructions for the Awareness Watching Awareness Method at this link:
AWA Practice Instructions
The Abandon Release Method is Passive.
The Awareness Watching Awareness Method can be done actively with effort or passively
with little or no effort.
Which method you choose to practice, the Abandon Release Method or the Awareness
Watching Awareness Method is up to you.
The Abandon Release Method is the most restful of the two methods.
The suggested order is to try the Abandon Release Method first.
Whichever method you choose, it is important to give the method a fair chance by practicing
the method for at least two hours per day for at least six months.
The Reminder Page
Do Your Spiritual Practice Everyday

If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday - eventually, sooner or later, your life will
become full of suffering.
If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday - eventually, sooner or later, one or more of
the thousands of different types of sorrow and sufferin g will enter your life.
If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday - you will continue to be caught in the cycle
of birth and death, birth again, death again, birth again, death again and in that cycle,
eventually, all of the thousands of forms that suffering takes will enter your life.
If you do not do your spiritual practice everyday - you will experience death, diseases,
violence, loss of those you love and thousands of other types of suffering, lifetime after
lifetime.
If you do your spiritual practice everyday - for the maximum amount of time you can create
by dropping unnecessary activities - eventually all forms of suffering will end and you will
live in Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
The purpose of spiritual practice is to experience Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Love-

Bliss in this lifetime, not in the afterlife or some future lifetime.
All delays are tricks of the ego.
All detours are tricks of the imposter self.
All distractions are tricks of the false pretend self.
Every thought that leads you away from spiritual practice, is a trick created by the imposter.
So look at your daily activities, and drop all those activities that are not necessary, to create
the most time you can create for spiritual practice, and practice everyday.
Taking a shower everyday is necessary. For most people, working to earn a living everyday is
necessary.
Entertainment is not necessary.
Make sure that the spiritual practice you are doing IS the most rapid means to:
Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Love-Bliss
The Choice
You have a choice between A:
Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Love-Bliss with zero suffering.
Absolutely perfect Love-Bliss for all eternity.
Living in and Knowing your True Self.
Or choice B:
Thousands of forms of suffering, sorrow, violence, disease, death, over and over again, death -
rebirth-death-rebirth.
Living in and knowing an imposter self.
Living from an acquired false self in the form of thought.
Living from a parasite that pretends to be your self.
Making Choice A
Every day that you do your spiritual practice you are making choice A.
Every day that you do not do your spiritual practice you are making choice B.
To make choice A
1. Read this Reminder Page everyday. The pretend self is very tricky and tries to lead
people away from spiritual practice. Reading this Reminder Page everyday will help to
combat the egos tricks.
2. Everyday look at your daily activities and drop all activities that are not really
necessary. Everyday create as much time as possible for spiritual practice.
3. Do your spiritual practice everyday.
Everyday you have a choice. You cannot do anything about yesterday's choices, therefore, do
not worry about them. What you can do is:
Do your spiritual practice today.
Awakening The Extremely Intense Desire For Liberation

Before the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, the false self will lead you to a
practice that will promote more egotism.
After the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will be lead to t he spiritual
practice that is the most rapid means to Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
After the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened, you will be able to see how the
pretend self has contaminated all of the spiritual teachings of the past.
Reading this reminder everyday may be enough to awaken the extremely intense desire for
liberation in you.
Self-honesty is a great help towards the awakening of the extremely intense desire for
liberation.
Watch the ego when it tries to lead you away from spiritual practice into distractions, detours,
diversions, delays, unnecessary activities and entertainments, but do not let the ego win that
battle.
Read this Reminder Page Everyday

This Reminder Page has four sections:
1. The section titled: Do Your Spiritual Practice Everyday.

2. The section titled: The Choice.
3. The section titled: Making Choice A.
4. The section titled: Awakening The Extremely Intense Desire For Liberation.
Read all four sections everyday.
Everyone on every spiritual path will benefit from reading this Reminder Page everyday.
Hindus, Buddhist, Jains, Jews, Christians, Moslems and those who are on thousands of
different spiritual paths will benefit from reading this Reminder Page everyday.
HOW I DISCOVERED THE
AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD
(The actual practice instructions are in bold)
By the year 2001, I had been studying the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi for 27 years,
from age 15 to age 42. I had read around 2000 spiritual books from the various path s, etc. and
I had seen many teachers. Reading those spiritual books, from so many different traditions,
was a waste of time, because only Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om and
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj teach the Direct Path.
I had, during that 27 year period placed emphasis on studying the books Talks with Sri
Ramana Maharshi and The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi. Since Talks came
from notes taken in Sri Ramana's presence, and since The Collected Works was written by
Sri Ramana, I thought they would be the most accurate sources of the Teaching. I had the
other Sri Ramana Maharshi books, but I did not place much attention on them. I did not want
to read Sri Ramana's teachings through what might be the distorted vision and opinions of a
sleeping aspirant.
In 2001, I was in Tiruvannamalai for the purpose of attending talks given by Sri V. Ganesan,
who is the Grand Nephew of Sri Ramana Maharshi. In the guesthouse I was staying in, in
Tiruvannamalai, I was thinking about paying attention only to the I AM, excluding all else, as
is recommended by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and feeling the sense of I or I AM as is
recommended by Sri Ramana Maharshi.
I was in my room in the Sesha Bhavan guest house in Tiruvannamalai. I was thinking about
all the possible meanings of I and I am and all the possible approaches to them that I had read
over the years in the teachings of Sri Ramana and Sri Nisargadatta. The I thought, the thought
I-am, the I-feeling, the feeling I-am, the I-consciousness, the I-am consciousness, etc. And the
different approaches to them, to think I or I-am, to feel I or I am, to focus the attention on I or
I am. The number of different combinations of the approaches and the view of what I or I -am
mean.
I was wondering whether there was some way to solve these questions and to have clarity
both in the meaning of I or I am and the meaning of what to do with it (focus the attention,
feel, think, or ?) So that there was nothing vague left, no more choices left. I really wanted to
know the answer. I was not going to confine the answer to any previous understanding. It did
not matter even if it shattered my previous understanding. It was a willingness to consider,
maybe for the last two and a half decades I have not at all understood Sri Ramana Maharshi's
teachings. A willingness to allow all old views to be swept away if need be.
Sri Ramana Maharshi had said that self-inquiry is more like feeling than like thought. Asking
Who am I? is an easy instruction to follow and asking to wh om do these thoughts arise?
is an easy instruction to follow, as long as one stays in the realm of thought. But when it
comes to feeling Who am I or feeling I am, then for me, that had always been a bit vague,
because what exactly is the feeling I am? How do I know I am? I wondered is I am the I-
thought or is I am just my present awareness? If I AM is this present awareness, just the
awareness that is now looking at this room, then paying attention to the I AM is just:
My awareness watching my awareness.
This was like a revelation to me! Instead of having some vague practice where I am told to
pay attention to a feeling I AM, without ever being sure what exactly I AM means and feels
like, here I had an absolutely clear instruction:
My present awareness watching my present awareness.
Awareness watching awareness.
Not some unknown awareness labeled the Infinite Self.
This awareness, my awareness, here and now watching itself, while ignoring thought, the
body, the world, etc.
So immediately I tried this practice:
Awareness watching awareness while ignoring thought.
I shut my eyes, because the point was also to ignore the world, to turn the attention that
normally goes out to the world around 180 degrees and to look inward. However, it also
means to ignore thought.
So awareness watching awareness and ignoring thought, etc.
If I noticed that some thought had started, I just ignored the thought, and brought the attention
back to awareness watching awareness. Awareness paying attention to awa reness,to the
exclusion of all else. Awareness paying attention only to itself.
The results were instant! From the very first moment one tries this practice, one is abiding as
awareness! There is no waiting! It is so easy.
I do not mean to imply that from the beginning the ego is dead. It might take years of
continuous practice before the ego is dead, and thought and the world are gone forever, never
to reappear.
However, from the moment one tries this simple, easy to understand practice, one is abiding
as awareness!
My first session of practice lasted around two hours and then I wanted to get some
confirmation to see if there was any support for this practice in the teachings of Sri Ramana?
Had I found something wonderful, the very heart of the practice of Self-inquiry and Self-
abidance? Or was this some detour? So I looked to Sri Ramana's teachings to see.
I read the book The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om cover to cover. It is
amazing that I searched this book first, because the premise of the whole book was the answer
I was looking for. Throughout the book, Sri Sadhu Om focuses on Self -attention, instead of
Self-inquiry. He points this out hundreds of times throughout the book, and this is the main
point being made throughout the book. Self-inquiry is really just a way of inducing Self-
attention, and only Self-attention is the true practice.
So immediately the confirmation was there, given by Sri Sadhu Om. However Sri Sadhu Om
was still using the word Self, when he wrote of Self -attention. So I looked further.
Next I read the Garland of Guru's Sayings by Sri Muruganar. Throughout the book Sri
Muruganar uses the word Awareness. In 365 of the 1254 sayings, Sri Muruganar uses the
word awareness. I was thrilled to see Sri Muruganar use the word awareness so many times, it
was clear I was on the right track.
Then I read saying #418:
The only true and full awareness is awareness of awareness.

Till awareness is awareness of itself, it knows no peace at all.
There it was! The awareness of awareness method! There was my first confirmation that this
indeed was the way and not some detour.
Then I read saying #432:
Is it not because you are yourself Awareness, that you now perceive This universe?
If you observe awareness steadily, this awareness itself as Guru will reveal the Truth.
There it was again! A second confirmation even more powerful!
First Sri Muruganar describes the exact practice:
you observe awareness steadily
then Sri Muruganar describes what the result will be of this p ractice:
this awareness itself as Guru will reveal the Truth.
Definitely not some side detour!
Just to add one more item of confirmation, I asked Sri Ganesan, Is my present awareness,
just this awareness that is looking through these eyes at you, the same as the I AM that Sri
Nisargadatta speaks of?
Sri Ganesan answered yes.
I asked Sri Ganesan, Is awareness watching awareness, as described by Sri Muruganar, the
same as practicing paying attention to the I AM, as Sri Nisargadatta taught?
Sri Ganesan said yes. Sri Ganesan says he likes to call it attention attending to attention.
One more confirmation, in a long line of confirmations, that I had discovered the true way to
practice.
Sri Ganesan was a good choice to pose this question to, because it was Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj who asked Sri Ganesan to give talks and Sri Ganesan has had a lifetime of exposure
to the teachings of, and devotees to, Sri Ramana Maharshi.
The awareness watching awareness method takes the practice out of the realm of t hought.
The awareness watching awareness method is instant abidance! No waiting!
What an amazing couple of days this was! First to see, in crystal clear language, just what the
I AM is: just this awareness, my present awareness! Then to see in crystal cl ear language the
practice instructions: awareness watching awareness! All this arising in answer to the question
I asked myself, What exactly is this 'I AM'? Then out of all the books that could have been
chosen to look in, to see if there was any confir mation, to choose The Path of Sri Ramana,
Part 1 and Garland of Guru's Sayings, where the confirmation is found throughout both
books, in great abundance and on almost every page! Then to also have the confirmation from
Sri Ganesan!
An amazing couple of days of Grace!
From the moment of the shift of focus to awareness watching awareness, the meaning of Sri
Ramana's teachings became clear.
I wish I had discovered this as a teenager. The mistake I made was to focus on the book
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi and the Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharhsi. If
instead of placing such emphasis on books like those, I had right from the beginning, read
books like The Garland of Guru's Sayings and Sri Ramana Experience by Sri Muruganar,
and The Path of Sri Ramana, Part one by Sri Sadhu Om, I could have had such a fruitful
practice of instant abidance, instead of staying within the realm of thought asking to whom
do these thoughts arise, and trying to feel the sense of I AM, etc.
I did not realize that Sri Murganar and Sri Sadhu Om were liberated sages. I discovered that
later by reading books like Sri Ramana Experience, etc.
Since then, I have discovered many more quotes by Sri Muruganar on the Awareness
watching Awareness method. From Non-Dual Consciousness, The Flood Tide of Bliss, Sri
Ramana Experience (Anubuti) by Sri Muruganar:
212. Those who have sunk within their own inner selves to dwell as pure knowledge, so that
their infatuation with worthless desires is abolished, will, through hol y silence, establish the
fulfillment of the real within their own selves. This practice of meditation upon consciousness
itself is the true way.
I feel so lucky to have discovered these buried treasure, hidden out in the open. Take the
above quote for example. It is in a section of 242 verses entitled Guru's Gracious Bounty. It
is not a category about practice. The quotes, before and after verse #212, don't give one any
clue that the true way of practice is about to be described. Only a careful study of all 242
verses, will reveal it. If one does not recognize the awareness watching awareness method,
and its value, Sri Muruganar gives you a second chance by writing is the true way in verse
#212 above.
The same applies to the following quotes from The Garland of Guru's Sayings. They are not
under the heading of practice. They come from all different sections of the book. To discover
these buried treasures, a careful study of all of the 1254 sayings was required.
FROM THE GARLAND OF GURU's SAYINGS BY SRI MURUGANAR:
AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS
52. If with mind turned towards Awareness and concentrating on Awareness , one seeks the
Self, the world made up of ether and other elements is real, as all things are Awareness, the
one sole substance of true Being.
638. If instead of looking outward at objects, you observe that looking, all things now shine as
I, the seer. Perception of objects is mere illusion .
742. In the Self, he stands firm fixed who dwells and truly meditates on himself as pure
awareness.
435. True natural Awareness, which does not go after alien objects, is the Heart. Since
actionless Awareness shines as real Being, its joy consists in concentration on itself.
428. Not like other things unreal, but always by its Being real, the Self a s permanent
Awareness, has no other dwelling place, than in its own radiant Awareness.
862. Losing the false ego in awareness, and firm abidance as awareness, is true clarity.
1068. In that flawless state of Being, the Self, without a sense of I or mi ne, the still
abidance in and as pure Awareness, this is the noblest victory worth winning.
1039. That which unaided shines within as I AM, I AM without a break, the strong, true
Being free from all adjuncts, this pure Awareness, is our firm, authentic nature.
1038. Awareness is not a quality of the Self. The Self is without qualities. Awareness is not an
action of the Self. The Self does nothing. The Self, our Being, IS Awareness.
IGNORING THOUGHTS
921. None can confront and overcome the mind. Ignore it, then, as something false, unreal.
Know the Self as the real ground and stand firm -rooted in it.
1192. The ego image moves reflected in the mind's waves. How to stop this movement, how
to regain the state of stillness? Don't observe these movements, seek the Self, instead. It is
wisdom to gain and abide in silence.
1193. The seers declare that pure silence is firm abidance in egoless, true Awareness. For
such thought free silence, the means is clinging to the Self within the Heart.
917. As in the sky covered with thick clouds no eye can see the glorious sun, one fails to see
one's own Self when the mind firmament is darkened by the dense cloud of thoughts.
918. Only He who has vanquished thought, sits like an emperor, on the neck of the majestic
elephant Knowledge. Know for certain that the mind's movements alone give rise to birth and
every cruel pain and sorrow.
IGNORING THE BODY, THE WORLD, ETC.
Some of the quotes above have already dealt with this subject, such as #638 and #435. Here
are some additional quotes:
647. If you refrain from looking at this, that or any other object, then by that overpowering
look into absolute Being, you become yourself the boundless space of pure Awareness, which
alone is real Being.
1194. When one refrains from looking out and noting outward objects, and abides within the
heart in Self-Awareness , the ego disappears. The silence pure, that then shines forth, is the
goal of Knowledge.
1103. It is folly to waste one's life running in all directions searching differ ent goals. Learn to
practice firm abidance, at the feet of the Self supreme, the eternal and auspicious silence,
which alone can still the ego's restlessness.
1157. Holding in their hands the mirror, the scripture which declares The Self alone is to be
known, many, alas, study the text and commentaries; only a few seek the Self and gain true
life.
The following quotes, on the subject of practice, effort, earnestness and zeal, are also
important to note:
694. Even in this worldly life, one's labors bear no fruit, without abundant faith. Hence till one
merges in the bliss Supreme and boundless, one's strong zeal in spiritual practice should never
slacken.
1063. Not knowing the value of this treasure, their own birthright, people perish through mere
laziness. The great ones who have found the clue and traced and gained it, they enjoy eternal
bliss.
1066. True wealth is but the gracious silence of steady, unswerving Self -awareness. This
bright rare treasure, can be gained only by those who: earnestly strive for the extinction of all
thoughts.
1186. Uninterrupted and whole-minded concentration on the Self, our true, non -dual Being,
this is silence, pure, supreme, the goal; Not the lazy mind's inertia, which is but a state of dark
illusion.
612. Undeluded by whatever else may come and go, unwinking watch the Self, because the
little fault of forgetting for one moment ones true Being as Pure Awareness, brings
tremendous loss.
692. Since it was one's own past effort that has now ripened into fate, one can wit h greater
present effort change one's fate.
780. Do not swerve from your true state, thinking some thought. But if you do, do not commit
the same mistake again. Do nothing that you may later regret. Even if you did it once, never
repeat it.
790. To err is human. When those strong in virtue err, they do not hide it in their pride.
Instead, they own up to their lapse and quickly reform themselves.
826. A superstructure raised without a strong foundation soon collapses in disgrace.

Therefore, earnest seekers first ensure by every means their own stern self-discipline, through
devotion and detachment.
Postscript (July 2006)
The above was written many years ago. I began the Awareness Watching Awareness Practice
in December of 2001. After two years of practice, with more 12 hour practice days than two
hour practice days, in January of 2004 illusion ended forever. The practice succeeded.
Knowing exactly what the I AM is and how to focus on it has great implications for Christian
practice and Christian Mysticism also. God told Moses, tell them I AM has come. From the
old testament: Be still and know I AM God. I AM that I AM. From the New Testament Christ
says Even before Abraham was, I AM. The kingdom of God is within you.
You can read a detailed description of the Awareness Watching Awareness Practice
instructions in my words, Sri Ramana Maharshis words, Sri Nisargadattas words, Sri Sadhu
Oms words, etc. by clicking this link:
Five Sages Teaching the Direct Path
Take care,
with Love,
in: Awareness watching Awareness

Sayings from Sri Muruganar's
The Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana

Maharshis) Sayings
on the subject of Turning Inward
There are seven subcategories:
1. Encouragement, the Goal, the Benefits - 25 sayings

2. The Awareness watching Awareness approach to Self-inquiry and Self-abidance - 15
sayings
3. Practice, Ernestness, Effort and Zeal - 10 sayings
4. Ignoring and turning one's attention away from thought and towards Awareness
watching Awareness - 14 sayings
5. The Body - 16 sayings
6. Turning Inward - 21 sayings
7. Ignoring and turning ones attention away from the world and towards Awareness
watching Awareness - 108 Sayings (separate page)
Sri Muruganar spent decades in the company of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Reading the Sayings
very slowly helps to understand what Sri Ramana and Sri Muruganar are attempting to
convey in these Sayings.
I have put the actual practice instructions in bold.

You can toggle bolding on or off by clicking here: on off.
START TURNING INWARD:

Encouragement, the Goal, the Benefits (25 Sayings)
393.
One who has wisely chosen the straight path of Self-inquiry
can never go astray;
for like the bright, clear Sun,
the Self-Awareness reveals itself to whomever turns towards it.
451.
The deeper into the Heart one dives,
the greater grows the bliss enjoyed,
the intense bliss of the sole Self-Awareness,
which once appeared in various forms.
452.
Once you are well established in the Heart,
true Awareness rises bright.
Then you live like an unsetting Sun,
Resplendent with the light of Truth,
enjoying the blissful peace of eternal Self-Awareness.
500.
Worth pursuing is Self-inquiry,
worth enjoying is the infinite Self-Awareness.
Worth giving up is the ego sense.
To end all sorrow, the final refuge is ones source,
the Self of pure Awareness.
554.
The deeds we do in a dream do not touch our waking life,
and slip away when we awake.
Our deeds done in this clouded ego life, disappear and leave no trace,
when we wake up, in the divine white light of Self -Awareness.
697.
They say that fate can never bind those heaven bound. What does this mean?
Not an iota of the past can touch those,
who dwell unceasingly
in the firmament of vast, boundless, borderless, full Self -Awareness.
884.
A woman with a necklace around her neck imagines it is lost,
and after a long search elsewhere,
touches her own neck and there finds it;
even so, the Self-Awareness is here within.
Probe for it within and find it.
885.
Except the path of Self-inquiry, probing the mysterious I-sense,
no other effort or action, however strenuou sly pursued,
can take one to the fount of bliss,
the treasure shining in the heart,
forever as the Self-Awareness.
924.
I shall assert with certainty,
that when the mind as thoughts has ceased to function,
it remains as a temple of Awareness-Bliss,
hidden till then behind the veil of time.
956.
The goal, the Truth, is Self-Awareness.
Reaching it is the annihilation of the painful illusion of birth.
974.
Unbroken Self-Awareness is the true bright path of devotion or love.
Knowledge of our inherent nature,
as indivisible supreme Bliss,
wells up as love.
984.
The strong one who abides in Being,
knows neither fear or doubt.
1029.
Bliss is the very nature of the Self-Awareness.
Self-Awareness is infinite Bliss.
Knowing this firmly,
abide in the Self-Awareness,
enjoying bliss forever.
1059.
The Self, the home of blissful Awareness,
is a vast ocean of serene peace.
He whose mind turns inward and dives deep within it,
gains the infinite treasure of its grace.
1062.
The ever-present Self-Awareness,
the radiant gem, this is the rarest, richest treasure.
Look within, and find and hold it fast.
Your poverty, the grand illusion, source of every trouble on earth,
with vanish without delay.
1069.
The pure unflawed Awareness of Being
is the transcendent state wherein both mind and breath find bliss.
This state of supreme grace,
surcharged with peace,
serves also as the medicine which to the sick, restless mind
restores healthful peace.
1077.
To those who dwell within the Heart,
loving the Self-Awareness,
bliss comes surging up,mounting ever higher,
as love, Self, grace, Awareness, peace and liberation.
Bliss is the real nature of the Self-Awareness.
1079.
Only when the Self-Awareness is gained,
is permanent, perfect, blissful peace attained.
In this Self-sovereignty,
non-dual, heaven-like, all pervasive,
no desire and no fear can exist.
1091.
Abiding as Self-Being,
living a life that is a steady unhindered flow of true love
welling up in the heart,
this is the bright, joyous Selfhood,
which ends forever the inveterate, false, deceitful ego.
1093.
That Heart which truly knows the Self-Awareness,
is full of love whence supreme Bliss wells up forever.
There, desire and its shadow, sorrow, have no place.
Such a life, whose nature is pure,
flows serenely calm from Being.
1121.
The river that has merged in the ocean,
will never lapse again into separateness.
No more will he who has reached his Being as Awareness,
forget the Self and be reborn.
1124.
If once the primal knot is cut,
never again can one be bound,
for this is ones natural Being.
This is the divine state,
this is the supreme power,
this is the serene peace.
1209.
When, the dense darkness of ignorance is gone,
the Hearts wide open firmament is filled with serene, clear , bright peace,
and an inner fount of love springs up,
which is true devotion,
the pure auspiciousness of Self-Awareness.
1222.
That which alone abides and shines as pure Awareness,
perfect peace, is the eternal Self.
Egoless silence,
the supreme state of Being That,
this is the fullness of liberation.
906.
The troubles that result from change,
can never touch the Self-Awareness,
as changes and flaws in earth, water, fire and air,
do not affect the element ether,
which pervades and transcends them all.
top
The Awareness watching Awareness approach

to Self-inquiry and Self-Abidance (15 Sayings)
638.
If, instead of looking outward at objects,
you observe that looking,
all things now shine as I, the seer.
Perception of objects is mere illusion.
647.
If you refrain from looking at this, that, or any other object,
then by that overpowering look into Absolute Being,
you become yourself the boundless space of pure Awareness,
which alone is real Being.
418.
The only true and full Awareness is
Awareness of Awareness.
Until Awareness is Awareness of itself,
it knows no peace at all.
432.
Is it not because you are yourself Awareness,
that you now perceive this universe?
If you observe Awareness steadily,
this Awareness as Teacher, will reveal the Truth.
52.
If mind turned towards Awareness and concentrating on Awareness,
seeks the Self, the world made up of ether and other elements is real, as all things are
Awareness,
the one sole substance of true Being.
435.
True natural Awareness, which does not go after alien objects, is the Heart.
Since actionless Awareness shines as real Being,
its joy consists in concentration on itself.
742.
In the Self, he stands firm fixed who dwells
and truly meditates on himself as pure awareness.
389.
The method of Self-inquiry is:
to turn the outward-going mind back to its source,
the Heart, the Self-Awareness, and fix it forever there,
preventing the rising of the empty I.
1066.
True wealth is but the gracious silence
of steady, unswerving Self-Awareness.
This bright, rare treasure can be gained
only by those who earnestly strive for the extinction of all thoughts.
862.
Losing the false ego in awareness,
and firm abidance as awareness, is true clarity.
1068.
In that flawless state of Being the Self-Awareness,
without a sense of I or mine,
the still abidance in and as pure Awareness,
this is the noblest victory worth winning.
428.
Not like other things unreal, but always by its Being real,
the Self as permanent Awareness, has no other dwelling place, than in its own radiant
Awareness.
1039.
That which unaided shines within as I AM, I AM without a break,
the strong, true Being free from all adjuncts,
this pure Awareness, is our firm, authentic nature.
1038.
Awareness is not a quality of the Self. The Self is without qualities.
Awareness is not an action of the Self. The Self does nothing.
The Self, our Being, IS Awareness.
1194.
When one refrains from looking out and noting outward objects,
and instead abides within the Heart in Self-Awareness,
the ego disappears.
The pure silence that then shines forth is the goal of Knowledge.
top
Practice, Earnestness, Effort and Zeal (10 Sayings)

755.
If without wasting time,
one starts and keeps up steady self-inquiry,
ones life becomes at once ennobled,
one is no more this wretched body,
and there wells up within ones heart,
a sea of supreme bliss.
694.
Even in this worldly life,
ones labors bear no fruit without abundant faith.
Hence, till one merges in the boundless supreme bliss,
ones spiritual practice should never slacken.
692.
Since it was ones own past effort,
that has now ripened into fate,
one can with greater present effort, change ones fate.
1066.
True wealth is but the gracious silence of steady, unswerving Self -awareness.
This bright rare treasure, can be gained only by those who:
earnestly strive for the extinction of all thoughts.
826.
A superstructure raised, without a strong foundation,
soon collapses in disgrace.
Hence, earnest seekers first ensure by every means,
their own stern self-discipline
through devotion and detachment.
612.
Undeluded by whatever may come and go,
unwinking, watch the Self-Awareness,
because the little fault of forgetting for one moment,
ones true Being as Pure Awareness,
brings tremendous loss.
1063.
Not knowing the value of this treasure,
people perish through mere laziness.
The great ones who have found the clue and traced and gained it,
they enjoy eternal bliss.
1186.
Uninterrupted and whole minded concentration on Self-Awareness,
our true, non-dual Being,
this is pure, supreme silence, the goal;
Not the lazy minds inertia,
which is but a state of dark illusion.
780.
Swerve not from your true state,
thinking some thought,
but if you do,
do not commit the same foolishness again.
Do nothing you may regret later,
even if you did it once, never repeat it.
790.
To err is human.
When those strong in virtue err,
they do not hide it in their pride.
Instead, they own up to their lapse,
and quickly reform themselves.
top
Ignoring and turning ones attention away from thoughts

and towards Awareness watching Awareness (14 Sayings)
921.
None can confront and overcome the mind.
Ignore it, then, as something false and unreal.
Know the Self-Awareness as the real ground and stand firm rooted in it.
Then the minds movements will gradually subside.
1192.
The ego image moves reflected in the minds waves.
How to stop this movement, how to regain the state of stillness?
Dont observe these movements, seek the Self instead.
It is wisdom to gain and abide in silence.
1193.
The Seers declare that pure silence
is firm abidance in egoless, true Awareness.
For such thought-free silence,
the means is clinging to the Self-Awareness
within the Heart.
421.
The one true light there is, is pure Awareness.
Other kinds of knowledge clinging to it, and claiming to be real,
are ego-born conceptual clouds.
To trust them is sheer foolishness.
424.
What if one knows, the subtle secret, of manifold inscrutable mysteries?
Until one knows the Awareness which reveals all other knowledge,
does one know the Truth?
529.
The individuals thirst will vanish,
only when the habits-predispositions-tendencies, of the frenzied mind, die,
and direct experience comes of pure Awareness.
If mirage water could quench thirst,
then only would indirect knowledge satisfy the individuals longing.
644.
Those who do not keenly seek and recognize
the Being Awareness shinning incessant in the heart,
sink deep into delusive illusion,
due to the denotative knowledge piled up by the mounting ego.
750.
What we incessantly think of, that we become.
Hence, if we keenly seek the Self-Awareness,
and think of nothing else,
the malady of birth will cease,
and all thoughts will end.
1161.
What need is there for any thinking for those
who in the thought-free bliss of Self-Awareness, live their lives?
All they experience is bright stillness.
In this supreme state, there is no other and nothing to gain.
1184.
Shining as the bright void,
devoid of concepts raised by the villainous ego,
this is the true experience of infinite Being-Awareness,
the one non-dual bliss of pure silence.
1197.
When the ego, shaking off all tricky concepts,
finally merges in the silence of the Heart,
the fullness of blissful, bright Self-Awareness, this,
this is what the sages call transcendent speech.
1238.
The Self, who is pure Awareness, transcending thought,
is only known to heroic seers,
who with minds extinct,
abide thought-free within the Heart,
and not to those whose minds are still engaged in thought.
917.
As in the sky covered with thick clouds,
no eye can see the glorious sun,
one fails to see ones Self-Awareness,
when the mind firmament is darkened by a dense cloud of thoughts.
918.
He who has vanquished thought,
only he sits like an emperor on the neck of the majestic elephant, knowledge.
Know for certain that the minds movements alone
give rise to birth and every cruel pain and sorrow.
top
The Body (16 Sayings)

97.
Only the mind deluded by illusions might, and looking outward, sees the body.
The true Self knows no body.
To call the Self of pure Awareness, the bodys owner or indweller, is an error.
125.
Like one who takes a crocodile for a boat,
and with its help tries to cross a river,
are those who, while they pamper the trivial flesh,
claim that they are earnest seekers of the living Self-Awareness.
(Give up the thought that this frail body is the Self -Awareness. Pursue the Self-Awareness,
which is eternal bliss. To seek It, while cherishing the perishable body, is like trying to cross a
river, using a crocodile for a raft. Sri Ramana.)
615.
Except the Self-Awareness, nothing exists.
But then the deep delusion that the body is ones self,
makes one let go the solid, non-dual bliss of immortality,
and fall into birth and death.
657.
Worship of the Formless is for him alone
who has left behind the notion I am this form, this body.
One who is still identified mentally with his body-form, worships only form,
though he may think he is worshipping the Formless.
682.
Those who love,
deeming they are this putrid body of flesh,
that in a brief while turns clean food to filth,
are baser than the swine that feast on filth as food.
(Those who deem themselves the body, that soon converts clean food to filth, are worse than
swine that feed on filth. Sri Ramana)
688.
What is conquest of the elements?
Destroying the ego, the attachment to the body,
made up of the five elements,
and scorning with contempt the flaws of the flesh,
which have nothing to do with the true Self-Awareness,
but are only based on the five elements.
775.
He who, being ignorant of the truth that he is I, I, the Self -Awareness,
regards this body as himself,
can only perish with the perishing flesh,
caught in the web, the dreamlike web,
woven by his own illusions.
847.
What is liberation, the bliss supreme attained by few?
And what is noble renunciation?
What is Death that brings immortality?
What is the highest achievement?
All are but this one thing:
the ending of the foolish, false illusion that I am the body.
866.
When the sense that I am the body dies,
all troublesome illusions and confusions vanish once and for all.
Within the explored heart,
the non-dual Self of pure Awareness appears as I, I.
953.
Our real Being, the Sun that never can see the darkness of illusion,
knows no trace of pain or suffering.
Misery is what one brings upon ones self,
by fondly thinking that one is the body, not the Self-Awareness.
954.
Blissful and auspicious is the Self-Awareness, our real Being.
One who knows this, sees in life no trace of suffering or pain.
Misery is what one brings upon ones self,
by foolishly thinking that the body, not the Self-Awareness,
is ones true self.
955.
Not seeing ones self as the One Self-Awareness,
one always suffers fear and aguish.
Destroy the I am the body thought,
and in Self-Awareness firmly fixed,
abide in real non-dual Being.
1012.
When the false notion I am the body dies,
what abides is whats worth having,
the vast, bright, silent void, the Self-Awareness.
Why is it so? Because in truth,
the only state free from all pain and all desire is pure Self -Being.
1085.
The darkness of illusion never touches
the seer who knows his true identity as pure Awareness,
vast as the sky, bright as the sun.
Only the blind, who think they are bodies,
suffer from dark ignorance.
1088.
Why do you suffer in vain,
believing you are hemmed in by the body?
Even in sleep, when you are free from thoughts of separateness,
your being abides intact and whole.
1200.
True silence is the state of being Self-Awareness in the heart ,
when the false, foolish sense that one is but the body, is no more.
Mere verbal silence, undertaken without inquiring Who am I?,
is no better than a mental trick.
top
Turning Inward (21 Sayings)

17.
To those who look within,
the highest good gained by the Masters grace
is wakeful sleep, the fourth state,
the undying flame, the sweet, uncloying fruit, forever fresh.
140.
True poetry, springs only from the calm hearts clarity,
which follows the elimination of the ego,
by inward search, and finding out that none of the five sheaths is I.
763.
Only a one-pointed mind, turned inward,
succeeds in Self-inquiry.
Weak, faltering minds, like green banana trees,
are not fit fuel to feed this fire.
878.
Self-Awareness alone is the true Eye.
One has direct immediate knowledge, only of the Self-Awareness .
But minds averted from the Self-Awareness,
look through the senses at a world other than the Self -Awareness,
and mistakenly think it can be known directly.
551.
Only those foolish folk,
who have not searched and found the Truth supreme, the Heart,
flounder in fear, in the treacherous illusion.
Those who have known the supreme bliss,
the boundless flood of heavenly brightness,
fear no more.
822.
The boat moves in the water,
but water should never enter into it.
Though one lives in the world,
the world should not occupy ones mind.
191.
Not like a boats sail, outspread wide and worn away by wind and weather,
but like the humble anchor, sunk in the vast oceans depth,
the mind should plunge and settle in the heart of wisdom.
1065.
Though one should win at one stroke all the powers people yearn for,
all ones learning is just wasted,
if one fails to undo the primal knot,
and to reclaim the one sole, perfect Jewel,
the Self-Awareness.
594.
Non-existent illusion, this alone,
seeming to be real and powerful,
makes fools of even the cleverest folk,
and smiles inwardly, with wonder at its own success.
560.
A dream in a moment comes and goes. This waking life is enduring.
Such argument is but the trick played by mind and illusion conspiring.
1016.
The inner light, self-luminous, shines all the time as I, as I.
To go from place to place in search of That,
is like looking at noon, torch in hand, for the bright Sun
which hides the full moon from our sight.
1007.
You who in eager search of Truth,
roam over the world looking for saints,
when you examine what they teach as definitive,
it is only the empty sky of pure Awareness.
1008.
Seekers hurrying round the world in search of teachers,
find at last that their paternal gift
is only the marvelous sky of mere Awareness.
804.
The true physician is ones Self-Awareness.
Hence, people tell the would-be Teacher:
Before you start prescribing medicines for us,
first cure yourself (of blindness),
and then come to us.
1234.
Reality is one and only one.
This permanent and perfect Being,
has been described variously by sages
who with keen minds have searched the Heart,
and there experienced It.
115.
Though thus Reality is one,
all schools concede at first, three primal entities, God, individual and world,
because the discursive, outward looking mind
cannot straightaway, face the unity of Being.
108.
In the mere presence of the Lord, Himself free from all traces of thought,
individuals set out in numerous paths of action, work away,
and wearied, turn inward and return to freedom.
966.
That which Is, forever shines in Grace as I,
the Self-Awareness, the Heart.
Can that be blamed for lacking Grace?
The fault is theirs who do not turn within
and seek the Self-Awareness, in love.
967.
Mind turned inward and ego dead,
there shines the Self, the Being-Awareness,
and though transcending form and feature,
It appears as Teacher.
Thus does God, the Self-Awareness,
bestow as Teacher, His Grace.
970.
Why should Gods glance of Grace,
which falls on all alike, seem to avoid some sinners?
The universal Eye avoids no creature.
We are blind, for we look outward, not within.
247.
What else is death, but straying from,
the perfect state of Being the immortal Self,
home of eternal love and supreme bliss,
the heaven of true Awareness?
On this page are 108 sayings from Sri Muruganar's
The Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana Maharshis) Sayings
on the topic of:
Ignoring and turning ones attention away f rom the world

and towards Awareness watching Awareness
The ego knows that if one turns inward, the ego will be found to be a myth.
Therefore, the ego keeps ones attention focused on the world as a deliberate ego
preservation strategy.
In the Awareness Watching Awareness method, one turns ones attention away from
the world, and towards Awareness watching Awareness.
In these quotes, the portions that deal with turning ones attention away from the world
(which are the portions the ego is most likely to block out) are displayed in bold.
You can toggle bolding on or off by clicking here: on off.
Sayings on the World

638.
If, instead of looking outward at objects,
you observe that looking,
all things now shine as I, the seer.
Perception of objects is mere illusion.
647.
If you refrain from looking at this, that, or any other object ,
then by that overpowering look into Absolute Being,
you become yourself the boundless space of pure Awareness,
which alone is real Being.
1194.
When one refrains from looking out and noting outward objects ,
and instead abides within the Heart in Self-Awareness,
the ego disappears.
The pure silence that then shines forth is the goal of Knowledge.
1202.
Those in whose Heart, pure silence shines,
and the perennial, blissful nectar of Self-Awareness overflows,
will never look at or get lost in this world ,
and its false, trivial, maddening pleasures.
1096.
Those whose five senses no longer turn towards the world,
which once seemed real,
those who have learned to live without their mind being moved
by the illusive universe of forms,
they need perform no penance.
749.
The universe out there appears when scanned.
When not scanned, the universe disappears.
Turning away from this,
search keenly for the Self-Awareness within the Heart,
and think no more of birth.
1006.
Non-dual infinite Awareness,
where the error of seeing, hearing, and knowing various objects
has been destroyed,
this is the purest bliss supreme.
1017.
The I is false; this world is false;
the seeing of this world by I is false.
The primal ignorance of illusion is also false.
The sole reality is the bright, marvelous inner space, Being -Awareness.
1224.
Unless there is a final end
of so called knowledge of things out there,
one cannot gain release from bondage to the sense-created world.
This knowledge being destroyed by firm abidance in the Self-Awareness,
what remains is the supreme bliss of liberation.
630.
Having felt the suns fierce heat,
the wise one stays in the shade,
and those who know the fire raging in the world,
will never leave the Heart and turn again towards the world .
186.
Poor seer who suffers endlessly,
because you still perceive the object, not the subject,
please look inward,
not without,
and taste the bliss of non-duality.
876.
Until the snake illusion goes,
its ground, the real rope, will not be recognized.
Until the world of false phenomena disappears,
the Self-Awareness, its ground, will not shine clear.
877.
Only when the world illusion goes,
does the blissful light of Self-Awareness arrive.
Life lived in this bright, blissful light, is our true natural life.
Other ways of life are full of trouble and fear.
905.
Is there a greater foolishness, than the aching foolishness,
of supposing that the Self, the I of pure Awareness,
which does not see this changing world at all,
is subject to some change.
708.
Until in the seers awareness objects disappear,
until firm and clear, one knows the truth of Self-awareness,
what use is it to mouth in vain the words I am God, I am God?
293.
Know that these countless things are pictures in a dream,
and none is real, apart from the beholder.
Shun this phantom world of names and forms,
and dwell in the pure, blissful being of Awareness.
971.
When the intellect, withdrawn from questing after outer objects,
returns to its own natural home,
the Heart, our Being-Awareness-Bliss,
restored to us, abides forever.
337.
Awareness which survives,
when all illusions, the mirage-like world,
he who beholds it and the sight his eyes drink in,
are destroyed without a vestige,
this Awareness, this and nothing else, is Knowledge.
430.
Those who have not searched and found the truth of their own natural Being,
will perish, deluded by alien forms.
Live as one sole Being-Awareness.
Everything, except for this, is false appearance, the realm of illusion .
549.
When the full identity is reached,
the Self-Awareness is all, and there is no other,
the various common perceptions,
in the absence of self-inquiry and Self-Abidance,
are all seen as mere mistakes.
611.
Seeing this mind-projected world is sheer delusion,
then taking it as real,
and swerving from the sublime truth of ones own Being as pure Awareness,
one but proves oneself insane.
25.
Alienated and deluded from your true being as Awareness,
do not pursue appearances, deeming them as real.
They are false, since they must disappear.
Your own being as Awareness is real, and cannot cease to be.
643.
The Self, the sole Reality, the light of pure Awareness,
shines clear as I, I in the heart.
This dear, dear Being, directly known, alone is true,
not the things perceived by the eye and the other senses.
829.
Even the strongest willed aspirant,
does not know how long his life will last.
Hence, when you feel the body and the world turn sour,
renounce them all at once.
833.
Seeing how transient the world is,
Lord Buddha gave up wealth and kingship.
When one has seen how false and fleeting
that which is perceived by the senses is,
how can one still be worldly minded?
834.
Courageous ones, who know no fear,
renounce the world, and find the world to be worthless ,
and so gain true wisdom.
Others are foolish folk, blinded by falsehood.
835.
Renouncing this phenomenal world,
which seems to, but does not, exist,
we gain (the great Ones say) the Self,
the shining, unseen, Awareness.
836.
After we have renounced whatever can be renounced,
That which abides, and cannot be renounced,
is True Being shining in the Heart,
the fount, the flood of Bliss.
825.
The tamarind fruit grows unattached to its dry shell.
Even so, the wise renounce at heart,
and quite forget the wondrous charms of this false world ,
which only ruins those who trust it.
51.
Only those who have utterly renounced the world and all attachment,
and rejoicing in Self-luminous Awareness,
have minds pure and free from illusions power
only they know the sense in which The World is Real.
673.
Destroying through discrimination, the basic error that I am the body,
an object, and rejecting it, and the world as mere false mirages ,
the surviving Awareness that shines alone as Being, That I am.
1223.
Firm, steady abidance in the serene peace
gained by the quest for Self, the Awareness,
the sole ground supporting all appearances,
and the consequent relinquishment of all objects as unreal,
this alone is liberation.
34.
The bewildered mind, which mistakes the body for oneself,
conceives the transient world of names and forms,
makes it seem real and lovable,
and promptly entraps one in the strong, illusive bondage of desire.
60.
With mind turned inward,
drown the world in the great void and dispel illusion.
Beholding then the void as void,
destroy the void, by drowning it in the deep ocean of Self -Awareness.
71.
How piteous is the spectacle of people wandering aimless in the worlds ways,
and ignoring the discipline that leads to permanent freedom.
128.
Those who forget the harm the false world does,
and cling to it as real and comfortable, mistake a floating bear for a boat,
only to be crushed and drowned in the sea of births.
130.
When will the fool, who thinks the body and the world are permanent,
and clings to them, find peace?
Only when this foolishness leaves him,
and like a limpet, he clings to that Self-Awareness within.
From then on, he shall never know pain.
245.
The worlds many and various bright objects, give pleasure,
only to bring grievous evil.
Unlike these, inner purity alone has true beauty.
Hence, the wise regard and marvel at the sage, the living embodiment of truth,
as God made manifest, here on this earth.
288.
Grasping aright the ineffable grace of the supreme Teacher,
being unentangled in the illusory world that stands in front,
abidance in mere Being, is true bliss.
368.
What is That, forgetting which,
we have fallen under the powerful spell of this false world?
Unless we know That, the Real,
there is no chance for the death, and disappearance, of our pain.
536.
O worldly folk, who long for, and run after, an endless series of temporary things,
it is true wisdom, to seek and know, That one thing,
on knowing which, all other things will cease to be.
538.
Knowing aright the nature of the Self-Awareness,
and abandoning the non-self as void and unreal, is true wisdom.
All other knowledge is ignorance, and not wisdom.
550.
Like a dream,
this waking world is but a mind conceived appearance in mind space.
Hence, greatness lies, in firmly ending indicative knowledge,
and the foolishness of fondness for outer objects .
785.
O heart of mine,
instead of being confused by this conceptual world,
enter within, and seek the source.
Then in the realm of pure Awareness,
you experience sheer non-duality,
where the one Self-Awareness,
shines as all things.
1027.
Having found that Self-relish is the highest bliss,
the wise abide as Self-Awareness alone.
But those who do not know
that the sole, certain, supreme bliss is in Self-Awareness alone,
they stay forever worldly minded.
1028.
Those who cannot see that Bliss is their own Self-nature
roam bewildered like the musk deer in the forest.
Those who have know the Self-Awareness,
instead of wandering in the world,
abide in their own natural state.
1094.
The only goal worth seeking
is the supreme bliss of Self-Awareness.
Constant remembering and abiding as That,
within the Heart,
amounts to completeness of life.
1095.
Such a life of Grace alone,
is life lived in full, real Being.
This worldly life of false phenomena,
full of fear,
is sinking deeper in illusion,
not authentic living.
1154.
The sage abiding in Self-Being,
asleep and yet awake,
immersed in the still, deep, immutable ocean of supreme bliss,
will never lapse back into this ruinous world and suffer.
188.
Do not perish running out in search of wonders,
and dancing there with pleasure.
Better with the light of grace to look, look within,
and find certitude in being and abiding as your true Self-Awareness.
1023.
When the villainous mind,
instead of being bewildered by objects appearing there without,
looks inward, questing Who am I?,
and rests firmly in its ground, the Self-Awareness,
this is our true, authentic Being.
429.
While in truth you are that Awareness,
you do not abide as such, but suffer,
since you only recognize this worldly life alone,
which rises from yourself, this sole Awareness.
How shall I describe this foolishness?
127.
Those who desire, like, and live, the trivial life the ego knows,
reject, as if it were unreal,
the natural life of infinite bliss within their own hearts,
ever present for their enjoyment.
131.
Those who enjoy the egos life of false phenomena, perish and die .
The state of grace, supreme Awareness, the life lived in Self -Being,
this alone is the bliss worth seeking.
185.
How to make the mind,
which now looks painfully, at forms and features without,
turn inward?
By asking who is this I, this mind, which sees this trivial world,
and thus directing it towards the Self-Awareness.
454.
In the false, frenzied ego life,
created by the mind, constricted to some thought,
who can enjoy the clear, bright, bliss of pure Awareness, free from thought?
911.
Within, without, and through and through all objects,
the ethereal sky is present and yet is bound or affected by none.
And unless one knows ones Self as the pure transcendent Self -Awareness,
one cannot but get caught in the worlds illusive bonds.
1089.
You desire life. But you do not know how to live.
Thinking that sinking in this deep, void,
vain, illusive waking-dream is life,
you proudly claim you live.
Pierce this illusion,
go, grasp the Truth, eternal life.
1103.
It is foolishness to waste ones life
running in all directions, searching different goals .
Learn to practice firm abidance in Self-Awareness,
the eternal and auspicious silence,
which alone can still the egos restlessness.
1117.
Those whose minds are merged and lost in one non-dual fullness,
will never be bewildered by this false, phenomenal life.
In that blessed, supreme state of Being pure Awareness,
That exists alone without an I or this.
1118.
The sage whose knot of doer-ship has snapped,
finds no more duties to discharge.
In his Awareness there is no other and no objects,
hence no doubt and no delusion.
1067.
As the pearl fisher, with single thought, weighted with a stone,
dives deep into the sea and grasps the pearl most precious, and rejoices,
dive into the Heart with stern non-attachment,
gain the Self-treasure,
and so end all suffering and sorrow.
291.
For those who seek eternal life, the assurance stands:
the five senses retracted like a tortoise,
the mind turned homeward to the Self-Awareness,
and there abiding, is pure bliss.
327.
Steadfast clinging to the wisdom learnt,
the mind restrained and withdrawn from the field of the false senses ,
living within,
in the clear light of Truth,
such practice is the only true teaching.
77.
What does one gain, you well may ask,
by giving up the immense wealth of worldly pleasure,
and seeking only mere Awareness?
The benefit of true Awareness is the unbroken prevalence of peace within the heart,
the bliss of ones own natural being.
331.
Since every vice springs from the false pleasures
of swerving from the Self-Awareness,
the completion of virtue, is the perfect peace of pure Awareness,
following the end of the ego, which is fed by such false pleasures.
502.
The apt speech of one firmly established in the Heart,
prevents the bewildered and confused devotees mind,
from wastefully running in the desert of the senses,
and points the way inward,
to permanent liberation.
581.
Knowledge is multiple and various,
say those who know objects,
but not freedom from, the dire delusion of differences.
When the five senses, driven outward by desire, are pulled back ,
then, true, full Awareness comes,
and there is no other to be known.
584.
The only Being is Awareness,
and Bliss is nothing but Awareness.
Pleasure from elsewhere is mere delusion.
Apart from the Self of Being-Awareness,
how can real joy come from objects merely fancied?
586.
Not knowing the bliss of Self-Awareness,
people highly rate sex and other similar pleasures.
Living thus, they yearn for these, even when they die.
587.
Forgetting the pure bliss eternal,
welling up in the heart for our enjoyment,
foolish people yearn for honey driblets,
squeezed from objects, worse than broken rice.
589.
Sense pleasures, sought and found by blind, unguarded fools,
are fit only for contempt by those who long to taste the rich,
ripe fruit of immeasurable sweet, supreme Bliss.
605.
Those who with minds far from mature,
yearn for and wallow in sense pleasures,
why would they seek, why would they join,
the company of saints whose conquest of the senses is complete and final?
678.
Absence of mental craving for sense enjoyment is true fasting.
Abidance in the Self is true worship,
hence, those with pure, clear wisdom,
cherish as most precious, this fasting and this worship .
686.
Instead of plugging holes, and keeping Awareness still within,
to break the lock, and spill it through the senses, is despicable ,
like demolishing the bank and draining out the tank,
to devastate the land.
764.
Seeing that desires, bring in their wake, increasing sorrow,
noble ones, renouncing all desires, begin direct self-inquiry
and attain the infinite bliss, of the Self-Awareness within.
784.
Until you taste the bliss at the Hearts core,
the five senses will never subside.
Till these distracting senses utterly die,
you will not gain true Beings bliss.
916.
It is true wisdom to restrain the mind
from flowing out into any of the five senses,
the home of every sorrow and pain,
and to contain and keep it still,
like a once roaring ocean, now lying calm and tranquil.
960.
Those who, unlured by the false senses,
abide in the heart lotus in waking sleep,
enjoy the bliss of true Awareness,
which is liberation.
Others but slumber,
lost forever, in the illusive worlds dense darkness.
1026.
Being is by its nature supreme bliss.
It is the treacherous minds fond, eager search
all day for pleasure in alien objects
that insures the loss of our inherent bliss.
1120.
Those who live within the Heart,
the life of pure Awareness,
find no happiness in the trivial pleasures of the senses.
Is not that still, silent state of Being,
the one boundless and unbroken supreme bliss
of absolute Self-Awareness?
237.
Some fortunate, through former deeds,
naturally disdain pleasures, of this world and the next.
To these alone, does true Awareness come with ease.
134.
Those who, learning to forget completely all objective knowledge,
turn inward firmly, and see clearly the truth, abide serene.
Those who try to recall forgotten things, pine bewildered,
fretting over false phenomena.
645.
The import of the teaching Know the Self
is only giving up the illusive knowledge of the non -self.
For bright like the true Sun, shines Being-Awareness as I am, I am, in everyone.
343.
Those who, diving deep within, have found the Self-Awareness,
have nothing else to know. And why?
Because they have gone beyond all forms, and are Awareness without form .
415.
To recognize through reason, the Supreme,
and in the heart, renounce the relative,
to act without a sense of I and mine,
is the sages way of life divine.
420.
The knowledge that ignores the Self-Awareness, the knower,
and holds as true the field perceived,
is but illusive foolishness.
No matter how much one has learned,
true knowledge is the merging of all indicative knowledge
in Awareness of the Self.
422.
All other kinds of knowledge are base, trivial.
The only true and perfect knowledge, is the stillness of pure Awareness.
The many differences perceived in the Self, whose nature is Awareness,
are wrong attributions, and not real.
423.
What sort of knowledge, is this wretched bodily-mental knowledge, of objects?
Would those who long for pure Awareness, hanker after this?
To know pure Awareness is true wisdom.
All other knowledge, is mere foolishness.
427.
What is lifeless and unreal, needs for support pure Being -Awareness.
The mind deluded and impure, forgets its oneness with the Self-Being-Awareness,
and then looks for some other object of Awareness.
436.
Incomparable liberation, is the truth of clear, shining Self-Awareness,
when, all differences destroyed by concentration,
knowledge being but Awareness,
becomes merged in the Self, which is Awareness.
455.
For those who have enjoyed the supreme bliss of profound sl eep,
devoid of every object,
it is foolishness not to cherish pure Awareness,
and to long for some other object,
pretending it could give dependable relief from suffering.
537.
For those who see with keen insight the subtle Truth,
what is there to gain from knowledge of gross material things?
What the imperishable inner sense perceives,
surpasses by far, the sight seen by the physical eye.
998.
Only those who have experienced this union with Self-Awareness,
can know its bliss.
How else is one to know it?
And those who have the experience,
know nothing but That,
lost in stillness.
Like honey bees drunk with honey.
1076.
To search amid bewilderment,
some other truth than the supreme Truth,
the Truth of Self-Awareness,
is the foolish barbers vexed exploring of each and every hair,
instead of swiftly sweeping out the rubbish on the floor.
1201.
When the mad craving for false, trivial objects is no more ,
and the ego is absorbed in its source and lost,
the life of true Self-Awareness,
that now shines forth, is supreme bliss.
372.
Good hearts, that yearn for dear contentment,
to swim across this poverty of heart, it is good to gain serenity of mind,
instead of gathering piles of tangible things.
187.
O heart of mine, it is not wise to stay out.
It is safe to stay within.
Conceal yourself from illusion, which plans to draw you out and to destroy you .
Stay within.
192.
For the man of Truth, seeking experience of the supreme state,
the heroic action needed, is to draw in, the outward darting mind,
and fix it firmly in the Heart.
193.
If the mind turned outward and distracted,
starts observing its own being,
alienation ends, and the vestige ego,
merges in the light of true Awareness, shining in the heart.
1225.
The foe desire, is the sole cause of our laughable bondage to birth and death.
Know and use the means to end desire.
Pure Being, free from all desire, this alone is liberation.
783.
O mind, you wander far in search of bliss,
not knowing your natural state of freedom.
You will regain your home of infinite bliss,
only if you go back the way you came.
908.
Of all the many qualities desirable,
in an earnest seeker of imperishable liberation,
none is more essential than love for the bliss of solitude.
435.
True natural Awareness, which does not go after alien objects, is the Heart.
Since actionless Awareness shines as real Being,
its joy consists in concentration on itself.
389.
The method of Self-inquiry is: to turn the outward going mind,
back to its source, the Heart, the Self-Awareness, and fix it forever there,
preventing the rising of the empty I.
190.
You pilgrims, who without discovering what is within,
proceed from place to place, forever hovering like a bird,
the Self supreme is but Awareness, Absolutely still, centered in the Heart.
786.
If in an earnest seeker it is a fault
to slip from the high summit of pure non -dual Self-experience,
would it be right for him to interfere in others affairs ?
802.
Only he who has attained immortal life,
can save the world.
For the ignorant one to help another,
is but the blind leading the blind.
(Only the Liberated One can save the world. The blind cannot guide the blind. Sri Ramana)
Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi on the topic of
THINKING ABOUT, READING AND DISCUSSING
SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS
Part One - Verses from The Garland OF Guru's Sayings" By Sri Muruganar
132.
Why do people call me learned?
What is the mark of real learning?
Learning that all collected knowledge of things is empty ignorance,
and that true knowledge is the search for the Knower.
133.
He, who by questing inward for the Knower,
has destroyed the ego and transcended so-called knowledge, abides as the Self.
He alone is a true Knower, not one who has not seen the Self
and therefore is an ego still.
144.
Unless by one means or another mind dies out
and certitude from true Self-recognition comes,
the knowledge which mere learning brings, is like the horses horn, unreal.
328.
Sensible people shun the company of empty talkers
who are not content to humbly tread the path of righteousness,
and uphold in practice lifes ideals,
who instead proudly mouth vain words.
329.
Many are the ills that flow from mixing with mad folks
afflicted with confused minds and rattling tongues.
The best friendship is with those good men whose minds are dead
and who abide in the pure silence of Awareness.
330.
Give up without delay, O mind,
the friendship of worthless folks with speech perverse and wicked ways.
From now on, live in the company of sages steadfast in their state of motionless stillness.
Hence, gain new life by dwelling in the company of those
who live in the purity of true Awareness, free from all falsehood.
391.
Those who do not dive into the Heart and there confront t he Self,
in the five sheaths hid,
are only students answering out of books, clever questions raised by books,
and not true seekers of the Self.
420.
The knowledge that ignores the Self, the Knower,
and holds as true the field perceived, is but illusive f oolishness.
No matter how much one has learned,
true knowledge is the merging of all indicative knowledge in Awareness of the Self.
421.
The one true light there is, is pure Awareness.
Other kinds of knowledge, clinging to it and claiming to be real,
are ego born conceptual clouds.
To trust them is sheer foolishness.
422.
All other kinds of knowledge are base, trivial.
The only true and perfect knowledge is the stillness of pure Awareness.
The many differences perceived in the Self, whose nature is Awaren ess,
are wrong attributions, and not real at all.
423.
What sort of knowledge is this wretched Bodily-mental knowledge of objects?
Would those who long for pure Awareness hanker after this?
To know pure Awareness is true wisdom.
All other knowledge is mere folly.
424.
What if one knows the subtle secret of manifold inscrutable mysteries?
Until one knows the Awareness which reveals all other knowledge,
does one know the Truth?
431.
How can any treatise thrust some wisdom into that human-seeming heap of clay,
which keenly watches things perceived and not the Self, Awareness?
432.
Is it not because you are yourself Awareness, that you now perceive this universe?
If you observe Awareness steadily,
this Awareness Itself as Guru, will reveal the Truth.
522.
Of fate and effort, which is stronger? Which will yield? Which will prevail?
Those who wage this war of words are wholly ignorant
of That from which the world and the ego both appear
and into which they disappear.
523.
Some there are who endlessly jump and, sweating,
shout full throated refuting or elaborating doctrines,
instead of biding in clear silence, inquiring into That which is,
and in the Heart enjoying it.
524.
None can perceive the Sun, the Self, by arguments.
Irritating mental disputes are but conceits that cloud the light of truth
and make the eyes swim in dizziness.
525.
Far from revealing Truth, words only darken and conceal It.
To let the Truth shine of itself, instead of burying It in words,
merge in the Heart both word and thought.
526.
Let not your intellect become a slave to the mere sound and fury of controversy.
Enter the Heart with mind clear, concept free, and realize your natural Being as the Truth.
529.
The individuals thirst will vanish,
only when the habits-predispositions-tendencies of the frenzied mind die,
and the direct experience of pure Awareness comes.
530.
True, non-dual experience of the Self supreme as pure Being
is called direct Knowledge.
False dualistic knowledge too is called knowledge though qualified as indirect,
even as a demon might be called virtuous!
531.
From questing inward in the Heart comes knowledge which destroys all false illusions.
Searching books for pure, clear wisdom is like trying to cook and eat the picture of a gourd.
532.
Can hunger be appeased by eating food cooked over a painted flame?
The end of pain, the bliss of peace results from egoless Awareness,
not from verbal wisdom.
533.
Never through argument,
but only by abiding in the heart as pure Awareness,
which lights up and shines within the mind,
can one enjoy the thrill, the throb, the bliss supreme of being the Self.
538.
Knowing aright the nature of the Self,
and abandoning the non-self as void, unreal, is wisdom true.
All other knowledge is ignorance, and not wisdom.
599.
The innocent bride thinking that betrothal is full conjugal union is filled with joy.
Even so the learned who have yet to turn within and taste true bliss,
claim that the verbal wisdom which they prattle is non-dual Knowledge.
600.
Those whom from books have learnt about the Truth supreme,
esteem themselves supreme in Wisdom,
and fail to seek the Knower and taste the bliss of Self,
but they test and measure the silent sage. What foolishness is this!
649.
Do not wander endlessly searching in vain for certitude
through strenuous study, listening, learning.
In love surrender to the Love supreme, the Lord,
and reach and hold the supreme state of Real Being.
708.
Till in the seers Awareness objects disappear,
till firm and clear one knows the truth of Self arig ht,
what use is it to mouth in vain the words I am God, I am God?
709.
Instead of wandering about proclaiming I am God, abide as the Supreme.
For such abidance in the Self, not loud repeated noise, puts an end to sorrow.
710.
For curing a dire malady, one must consume, not merely name, the medicine.
Even so, the bonds of birth wont snap by merely muttering I am That and so on.
802.
Only he who has attained immortal life, can save the world.
For the ignorant one to help another, is but the blind lea ding the blind.
(Only a liberated sage can save the world. The blind cannot guide the blind. Sri Ramana)
902.
The primal ground whose being is silence, That I am.
Why take the trouble of thinking That am I?
Meditation is stillness; it is the extinction of the I.
When I is gone, where is the room for thought?
917.
As in the sky covered with thick clouds, no eye can see the glorious sun,
one fails to see ones own Self
when the mind-firmament is darkened by a dense cloud of thoughts.
918.
He who has vanquished thought, he only,
sits like an emperor on the neck of the majestic elephant Knowledge.
Know for certain that the minds movements alone
give rise to birth and every cruel pain and sorrow.
927.
For those whose mind has not completely subsided,
the false knowledge already theirs has only served to pile up sorrows.
Gaining more such so-called knowledge, only deepens illusions darkeness,
and does not help life at all.
993.
While the mind exists, creeds too exist.
When the mind turns inward in Self-quest and gets caught up in the heart,
no creed can survive in that peace.
997.
What scope is there for speech or breath
in silent union where the two, the I and He, have merged in one?
When I is gone, and when two pairs of lovers eyes have met and mingled,
of what use are spoken words?
998.
Only those who have experienced this union with the Self can know Its bliss.
How else is one to know it?
Those who have the experience, know nothing but That,
lost in stillness, like honey bees drunk with honey.
1076.
To search amid bewilderment some other truth than the Truth supreme,
the Truth of Self,
is the foolish barbers vexed exploring
instead of swiftly sweeping out, the rubbish on the floor.
1155.
The learned man who, letting go the Self, the rea l Being,
sees and cherishes this dream, this false, illusive world,
may be a scholar.
Something different is he who has gained the clarity of Knowing the Self;
he is a Knower.
1157.
Holding in their hands the mirror,
the scripture which declares The Self alone is to be known,
many study with care the text and commentaries;
only a few seek the Self and gain true life.
1158.
Far different from the scholar learned in books of wisdom, is the Seer.
Those who seek freedom from the bondage of ignorance had better leave scholars alone,
and enter the presence of Seers established in the Self supreme.
1176.
What is true religion?
It is not speculating with the inconstant mind and endless speaking:
That is Being. No, that has no being. That has form. No, th at is formless.
That is non-dual. No, it is dual.
True religion is the silence, the experience of deathless Being -Awareness-Bliss.
1181.
If we look deep, these troublesome questions and answers
both belong to the language of duality.
In silence, the transcendent speech of non-duality, they have no place at all.
(In the language of duality alone are questions and answers. In non -duality they are not. Sri
Ramana)
1183.
What is the bliss supreme attained by keen inquiry,
and what is the Self in the Heart?
It is pure silence, free from false dualistic knowledge.
1184.
Shining as the bright void,
devoid of concepts raised by the villainous ego,
this is the experience true of infinite Being-Awareness,
the one non-dual bliss of pure silence.
1197.
When the ego, shaking off all tricky concepts, finally merges in the Heart,
the silence, the plentitude of Self-Awareness, blissful, bright, this,
this is what the sages call transcendent speech.
1238.
The Self, who is pure Awareness transcending though t,
is only known to heroic Seers,
who with minds extinct abide thought free within the Heart,
and is not known to those whose minds are still engaged in thought.
Part Two - Paragraphs from the book Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
331.
18th January, 1937:
To resume polemics the author of Vritti Prabhakara claims to
have studied 350,000 books before writing this book.
What is the use?
Can they bring in Realization of the Self?
Vichara Sagara is full of logic and technical terms.
Can these ponderous volumes serve any real purpose?
However, some people read them and then seek sages
only to see if they can meet their questions.
To read them, to discover new doubts and to solve them,
is a source of pleasure to them.
Knowing it to be sheer waste,
the sages do not encourage such people.
Encourage them once and there will be no end.
Only the inquiry into the Self can be of use. (Self -inquiry)
Those familiar with logic, Vritti Prabhakara, Vichara Sagara or Sutra Bhashya, or similar
large works,
cannot relish small works like Truth Revealed (Forty verses on Reality)
dealing only with the Self and that pointedly too,
because they have accumulated latent tendencies of mind (vasanas).
Only those whose minds are less muddy, or are pure,
can relish small and purposeful works.
392.
6th April, 1937: Later Sri Bhagavan continued:
The intricate maze of philosophy of different schools is said to clarify matters and reveal the
Truth. But in fact they create confusion where no confusion need exist.
To understand anything there must be the Self.
The Self is obvious.
Why not remain as the Self?
What need to explain the non-self?
Take the Vedanta for instance:
They say there are fifteen kinds of prana. The student is made to commit the names to
memory and also their functions. The air goes up and is called prana; goes down and is called
apana; operates the indriyas and is called something.
Why all this?
Why do you classify, give names and enumerate the functions, and so on?
Is it not enough to know that one prana does the whole work?
The antahkarana thinks, desires, wills reasons, etc., and each function is attributed to one
name such as mind, intellect, etc.. Has anyone seen the pranas or the antahkaranas?
Have they any real existence?
They are mere conceptions.
When and where will such conceptions end?
Consider the following:

A man sleeps. He says on waking that he slept. The question is asked: Why does he not say
in his sleep that he is sleeping? The answer is given that he is sunk in th e Self and cannot
speak, like a man who has dived into water to bring out something from the bottom. The diver
cannot speak under water; when he has actually recovered the articles he comes out and
speaks.
Well what is the explanation?
Being in water, water will flow into his mouth if he were to open the mouth for speaking. Is it
not simple?
But the philosopher is not content with this simple fact.
He explains, saying that fire is the deity presiding over speech; that it is inimical to water and
therefore cannot function!
This is called philosophy and the learners are struggling to learn all this!
Is it not sheer waste of time? Again Gods are said to preside over the senses of Virat
(samashti). So they go on explaining Hiranayagarbha, etc.
Why should confusion be created and then explained away?
Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself in this maze!
I was indeed fortunate that I never took to it.
Had I taken to it, I would probably be nowhere - always in confusion.
My former tendencies (purva vasanas) directly took me to the inquiry Who am I? It was
indeed fortunate.
428.
15th December, 1937:
How can logic or other polemics be of real use?
Can the favorite examples of the logicians, such as the pot and the cloth (ghatapatas) sa ve you
in a crisis?
Why waste your time thinking of them and on discussion?
578.
15th November, 1938:
Coming here, some people do not ask about themselves.
They ask: Does the sage, liberated while alive (Jivanmukta), see the world?
Is he affected by Karma? What is liberation after being disembodied?
Is one liberated only after being disembodied or even while alive in the body?
Should the body of the sage resolve itself in light or disappear from view in any other
manner?
Can he be liberated though the body is left behind as a corpse?
Their questions are endless.
Why worry oneself in so many ways?
Does liberation consist in knowing these?
Therefore I say to them: Leave liberation alone.
Is there bondage? Know this.
See yourself first and foremost.
252.
30th September, 1936:
Questioner: What is the Sun marga? What is the moon marga? Which of them is easier?
Sri Bhagavan: Ravi Marga (Sun Marga) is jnana. Moon marga is Yoga. They think that after
purifying the 72,000 nadis in the body, sushumna is entered and the mind passes up to the
sahasrara and there is nectar trickling.
These are all mental concepts.
The man is already overwhelmed by world concepts.
Other concepts are now added in the shape of this Yoga.
The object of all these is to rid the man of concepts and to make him inhere as the pure Self
i.e. absolute consciousness, bereft of thoughts!
Why not go straight to it?
Why add new encumbrances to the already existing ones?
616.
23rd January, 1939:
Therefore the seekers aim must be to drain away the latent tendencies of mind (vasananas)
from the heart and not allow the reflecting medium obstruct the Light of Eternal
Consciousness. This is acheived by the search for the origin of the ego and by diving into the
heart.
This is the direct method for Self-Realization.
One who adopts it need not worry about nadis, the brain, the Sushumna, the Paranadi, the
Kundalini, pranayama or the six centers.
297.
Mr Cohen asked: Meditation is with mind in the waking (jagrat) state. There is mind in
dream also.
Why is there no meditation in dream? Nor is it possible?
Sri Bhagavan: Ask it in the dream.

After a short silence Sri Bhagavan continued:
You are told to meditate now and find who you are.
Instead of doing it you ask
Why is there no meditation in dream or in sleep?
If you find out for whom there is waking (jagrat), it will be clear that dream and sleep are also
for the same one.
You are the witness of waking (jagrat), dream (svapna) and sleep (sushupti) rather, they
pass before you.
Because you are out of meditation now, these questions arise. Stick to meditation and see if
these questions arise.
109.
Two gentlemen from Ambala (the Punjab) had been here for a few week s.
Just before taking leave of Sri Bhagavan one of them asked how he should remove the
spiritual drowsiness of his friends or of other people in general.
Sri Bhagavan: Have you removed your own spiritual drowsniness?

The force which is set up to remove your own drowsiness will also operate in other centers.
There is the will-power with which you can act on others.
But it is on a lower plane and not desirable.
Take care of yourself first.
226.
3rd July, 1936:
A visitor from Tirukoilur asked if the study of the sacred books will reveal the truth.
Sri Bhagavan: That will not suffice.
Questioner: Why not?
Sri Bhagavan: Samadhi alone can reveal it.

Thoughts cast a veil over Reality and so it cannot be clear in states other than Samadhi.
Questioner: Is there thought in Samadhi? Or is there not?
Sri Bhagavan: There will only be the feeling I am and no other thoughts.
Questioner: Is I am a thought?
Sri Bhagavan: The egoless I am is not thought. It is realization.

The meaning and significance of I is God.
The experience of I am is to Be Still.
28.
4th February, 1935:
Questioner: Is the study of science, psychology, physiology, philosophy, etc. helpful for: 1.)
this art of yoga-liberation 2.) the intuitive grasp of the unity of the Real?
Sri Bhagavan: Very little.
Some knowledge is needed for yoga and it may be found in books.
But practical application is the thing needed, and personal example, personal touch and
personal instructions are the most helpful aids.
As for the other, a person may laboriously convince himself of the truth to be intuited, i.e. its
function and nature, but the actual intuition is akin to feeling and requires practice and
personal contact.
Mere book learning is not of any great use.
After realization all intellectual loads are useless burdens and are thrown overboard as
jetsam.
565.
23rd October, 1938:
Questioner: I have read many books. My mind does not turn to the Self.
Sri Bhagavan: Because the Self is not in the books; it is in you.

Reading books makes one learned.
That is its purpose and it is fulfilled.
Part Three - Quotes from "The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi"
From WHO AM I:
23.
Questioner: Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?
Sri Bhagavan: All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind
quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent;
once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading.
In order to quiet the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what ones Self is; how could
this search be done in books?
One should know ones Self with ones own eye of wisdom.
The Self is within the five sheaths; but books are outside them.
Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it
in books.
There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
From the book "Self-Inquiry":
31.
Questioner: How is one to think of the Self?
Sri Bhagavan: The Self is self-luminous without darkness and light, and is the reality which
is self-manifest. Therefore one should not think of it as this or as that.
The very thought of thinking will end in bondage.
The purport of meditation on the Self is to make the mind take the form of the Self.
In the middle of the heart-cave the pure Absolute (Brahman) is directly manifest as the Self in
the form of I-I.
Can there be greater ignorance than to think of it in manifold ways, with out knowing it as
aforementioned?
From "Reality in Forty Verses," also known as "Truth Revealed"
3.
The World is true; No, it is a false appearance; The World is Mind; No, it is not; The
World is pleasant; No, it is not;
What avails such talk?
To leave the world alone and know the Self, to go beyond all thought of One and Two, this
Ego-less condition is the common goal of all.
9.
Twos and Threes depend upon one thing, the ego.
If one asks in ones Heart What is this ego? and find s it, they slip away.
Only who have found this know the Truth, and they will never be perplexed.
11.
Without knowing the Self that knows, to know all objects is not knowledge; it is only
ignorance.
Self, the ground of knowledge and the non-self, being known, both knowledge and ignorance
fall away.
12.
True knowledge is being devoid of knowledge as well as ignorance of objects.
Knowledge of objects is not true knowledge. Since the Self shines self -luminous, with nothing
else for it to know It, the Self is Knowledge. Nescience It is not.
19.
The debate Does Free-will prevail or Fate? is only for those who do not know the root of
both. Those who have known the Self, the common source of Free -will and of Fate, have
passed beyond both and will not return to them.
22.
Without turning inwards and merging in the Lord His light that shines within the mind and
lends it all its light, how can we know the Light of Lights with the borrowed light of the
mind?
29.
Cease all talk of I and search with inward-diving mind whence the thought of I springs
up.
This is the way of wisdom.
To think, instead, I am not this, but That I am, is helpful in the search,
but it is not the search itself.
32.
When the Vedas have declared, Thou art That , not to seek and find the nature of thy Self
and abide in It, but to think I am That, not This is want of strength; because That abides for
ever as the Self.
34.
The natural and true Reality for ever residing in the Heart of all; - not to realize It there and
stay in It but to quarrel: - It is, It is not, It has form, It has no form; It is one, It is
two, It is neither; - This is the mischief of illusion (maya).
40.
If asked; Which of these three is final liberation; - with form, without form, or with-and-
without-form? I say, Liberation is the extinction of the ego which inquires with form,
without form, or with-and-without-form?
From "Supplement to Reality in Forty Verses"
2.
Not by listening to preachers, nor by study of books, not by meritorious deeds nor by any
other means can one attain that Supreme State, which is attainable only through association
with the sages and the clear quest of the Self.
34.
For unlearned folk there is only one family consisting of wife, children and dependents. But
in the mind of those with much learning there are many families of books, theories and
opinions as obstacles to yoga.
35.
What is the use of letters to those lettered folk who do not seek to wipe out the letters of fate
by inquiring Whence are we born?
What else are they but gramphones, O Lord of Arunachala?
They learn and repeat words without realizing their meaning.
36.
The unlettered are easier saved than those who are learned but unsubdued.
The unlettered are free from the clutches of the demon Pride,
they are free from the malady of many whirling thoughts and words;
they are free from the mad pursuit of wealth;
they are free from many, many ills.
The following is a stray verse written by Sri Bhagavan
By him alone whos saved himself can other folk be freed;

The help of others is as if the blind the blind would lead
From "Maharshi's Gospel"
Questioner: Why does not Bhagavan go about and preach the Truth to the people at large?
Sri Bhagavan: How do you know that I am not doing it?

Does preaching consist in mounting a platform and haranguing the people around?
Preaching is simple communication of Knowledge;
it can really be done in silence only.
What do you think of a man who listens to a sermon for an hour
and goes away without having been impressed by it so as to change his life?
Compare him with another who sits in a holy presence
and goes away after some time with his outlook on life totally changed.
Which is the better, to preach loudly without effec t
or to sit silently sending out inner force?
Again, how does speech arise?
There is abstract Knowledge, whence arises the ego, which in turn gives rise to thought, and
thought to the spoken word.
So the word is the great-grandson of the original Source.
If the word can produce effect, judge for yourself,

how much more powerful the preaching through Silence!
But people do not understand this simple, bare truth,
the truth of their everyday, ever-present, eternal experience.
This Truth is that of the Self. Is there anyone unaware of the Self?
But they do not like even to hear of this Truth,
whereas they are eager to know what lies beyond, about heaven, hell and reincarnation.
Because they love mystery and not the Truth, religions cater to them so as eventually to bring
them round to the Self.
Whatever the means adopted, you must at last return to the Self; so why not abide in the Self
here and now?
CHOICE A QUOTES
The purpose of these quotes is Encouragement. The following quotes are descriptio ns of the
experience of liberation by those who have ended the ego. Reading these quotes can increase
the desire for liberation, and increasing the desire for liberation is the most important step one
who desires freedom can take.
How important is the desire for the Realization of Truth?
The following quote from Sorupa Saram* reveals the answer:

* 16th centrury advaita text (free download at David Godman's website)
Q:
How to be rid of desires?
A:
Through the desire for realization of the truth.
O desire!
Though I suffered much through you,
(the desire for objects and intellectual and sensual experiences)
on account of your help I dwelt in the Self.
(the help of the desire for the realization of truth)
I reached the True Teacher (Sadguru) through you
In liberation I have, along with you, become the Self.
I swear to this.
Read the quotes very slowly, reflecting on the meaning of each sentence before going onto the
next sentence.
The following quotes are from the book The Garland of Gurus (Sr i Ramana Maharshis)
Sayings by Sri Muruganar translated by K. Swaminathan:
393.
One who has wisely chosen the straight path of Self-inquiry,
can never go astray;
for like the bright, clear Sun,
the Self-Awareness reveals itself to whomever turns towards it.
451.
The deeper into the Heart one dives,
the greater grows the bliss enjoyed,
the intense bliss of the sole Self-Awareness,
which once appeared in various forms.
452.
Once you are well established in the Heart,
true Awareness rises bright.
Then you live like an unsetting Sun,
Resplendent with the light of Truth,
enjoying the blissful peace of eternal Self-Awareness.
500.
Worth pursuing is Self-inquiry,
worth enjoying is the infinite Self-Awareness.
Worth giving up is the ego sense.
To end all sorrow, the final refuge is ones source,
the Self of pure Awareness.
554.
The deeds we do in a dream do not touch our waking life,
and they slip away when we awake.
Our deeds done in this clouded ego life, disappear and leave no trace,
when we wake up, in the divine white light of Self -Awareness.
697.
They say that fate can never bind those heaven bound.
What does this mean?
Not an iota of the past can touch those,
who dwell unceasingly in the firmament of vast, boundless, borderless, full Self-Awareness.
884.
A woman with a necklace around her neck imagines it is lost,
and after a long search elsewhere,
touches her own neck and there finds it;
even so, the Self-Awareness is here within.
Probe for it within and find it.
885.
Except the path of Self-inquiry, probing the mysterious I-sense,
no other effort or action, however strenuously pursued,
can take one to the fount of bliss,
the treasure shining in the heart,
forever as the Self-Awareness.
924.
I shall assert with certainty,
that when the mind as thoughts has ceased to function,
it remains as a temple of Awareness-Bliss,
hidden till then behind the veil of time.
956.
The goal, the Truth, is Self-Awareness.
Reaching it is the annihilation of the painful illusion of birth.
974.
Unbroken Self-Awareness is the true bright path of devotion or love.
Knowledge of our inherent nature,
as indivisible supreme Bliss,
wells up as love.
984.
The strong one who abides in Being,
knows neither fear or doubt.
1029.
Bliss is the very nature of the Self-Awareness.
Self-Awareness is infinite Bliss.
Knowing this firmly,
abide in the Self-Awareness,
enjoying bliss forever.
1059.
The Self, the home of blissful Awareness,
is a vast ocean of serene peace.
He whose mind turns inward and dives deep within it,
gains the infinite treasure of its grace.
1062.
The ever-present Self-Awareness,
the radiant gem, this is the rarest, richest treasure.
Look within, and find and hold it fast.
Your poverty, the grand illusion, source of every trouble on earth,
will vanish without delay.
1069.
The pure unflawed Awareness of Being
is the transcendent state wherein both mind and breath find bliss.
This state of supreme grace,
surcharged with peace,
serves also as the medicine which to the sick, restless mind
restores healthful peace.
1077.
To those who dwell within the Heart,
loving the Self-Awareness,
bliss comes surging up, mounting ever higher,
as love, Self, grace, Awareness, peace and lib eration.
Bliss is the real nature of the Self-Awareness.
1079.
Only when the Self-Awareness is gained,
is permanent, perfect, blissful peace attained.
In this Self-sovereignty,
non-dual, heaven-like, all pervasive,
no desire and no fear can exist.
1091.
Abiding as Self-Being,
living a life that is a steady unhindered flow of true love
welling up in the heart,
this is the bright, joyous Selfhood,
which ends forever the inveterate, false, deceitful ego.
1093.
That Heart which truly knows the Self-Awareness,
is full of love whence supreme Bliss wells up forever.
There, desire and its shadow, sorrow, have no place.
Such a life, whose nature is pure,
flows serenely calm from Being.
1121.
The river that has merged in the ocean,
will never lapse again into separateness.
No more will he who has reached his Being as Awareness,
forget the Self and be reborn.
1124.
If once the primal knot is cut,
never again can one be bound,
for this is ones natural Being.
This is the divine state,
this is the supreme power,
this is the serene peace.
1209.
When, the dense darkness of ignorance is gone,
the Hearts wide open firmament is filled with serene, clear, bright peace,
and an inner fount of love springs up,
which is true devotion,
the pure auspiciousness of Self-Awareness.
1222.
That which alone abides and shines as pure Awareness,
perfect peace, is the eternal Self.
Egoless silence,
the supreme state of Being That,
this is the fullness of liberation.
906.
The troubles that result from change,
can never touch the Self-Awareness,
as changes and flaws in earth, water, fire and air,
do not affect the element ether,
which pervades and transcends them all.
The following is a dialogue with Sri Ramana Maharshi from the book Le tters from Sri
Ramanasramam by Suri Nagamma
Q:
Swami, it is good to love God, is it not? Then why not follow the path of love?
RM:
Who said you couldnt follow it? You can do so.
But when you talk of love, there is duality, is there not? -
the person who loves and the entity called God who is loved?
The individual is not separate from God.
Hence love means one has love towards ones own Self.
Q:
That is why I am asking you whether God could be worshipped through the path of love.
RM:
That is exactly what I have been saying.
Love itself is the actual form of God.
If by saying, I do not love this, I do not love that,
you reject all things,
that which remains is the real form of the Self.
That is pure bliss.
Call it pure bliss, God, Self, or what you will.
That is devotion, that is realization and that is everything.
If you thus reject everything, what remains is the Self alone.
That is real love.
One who knows the secret of that love
finds the world itself full of universal love.
The experience of not forgetting consciousness, alone,

is the state of devotion
which is the relationship of unfading real love,
because the real knowledge of Self,
which shines as the undivided supreme bliss itself,
surges up as the nature of love.
Only if one knows the truth of love,

which is the real nature of Self,
will the strong entangled knot of life be untied.
Only if one attains the height of love will liberation be attained.
Such is the heart of all religions.

The experience of Self is only love,
which is seeing only love,
hearing only love,
feeling only love,
tasting only love
and smelling only love,
which is bliss.
The following is the preamble to the book Who am I by Sri Ramana Maharshi
As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery,
as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme love for one's self,
and as happiness alone is the cause for love,
in order to gain that happiness which is one's nature
and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep
where there is no mind, one should know one's self.
For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry
of the form "Who am I?", is the principal means."
The following quotes are from Sorupa Saram. (16th centrury advaita text)
92.
Question: Will not the ego-nature, beginning with desire,
touch these liberated sages (jnanis)?
Answer: As they have attained total destruction of tendencies,

it will not.
81.
O mind!
Just as I once remained, assuming your form,
now you have come and merged with me as my own form.
Is there anyone like you who values the virtue of gratitude?
Dwell henceforth in the loving care of the supreme state,
without returning to your prior form.
76.
Question: How to be rid of desires?
Answer: Through the desire for realization of the truth.
O desire!
Though I suffered much through you,
on account of your help I dwelt in the Self.
I reached the true teacher (Sadguru) through you.
In liberation I have, along with you, become the Self.
I swear to this.
12.
The following are the names for the Self, given by the scriptures (Vedas):
Knowledge is I;
love is I;
perfect bliss is I;
being is I;
consciousness is I;
tranquility is I;
purity is I;
that which is unique and beyond the scope of the Vedas is I;
pure consciousness, the source of all, is I.
13.
Question: Are all these descriptions experienced?
Answer: They are experienced and also transcended.
60.
Question: Why do they suffer instead of inquiring and realizing the Self?
Answer: They suffer because what they have known to be one, by studying, has not been
experienced.
67.
Question: Will not this experience come to everyone?
Answer: If one becomes inward-turned instead of being externalized, this experience will
come for everyone.
I declare: If their minds are directed inward, attending to the light (the Self), and do not
become outward-turned, all those upon this earth are capable of seeing the Self, just as I have
seen my Self.
26.
Question: What is obtained and experienced if one sees the Self?
Answer: The mind dissolves in love and one becomes being-awareness-bliss.

The following selection of verses is one of the most detailed, clearly communicated, profound
and heart touching descriptions of the experience of Self-Realization ever written. Penned
many years after the event, they look back in awesome wonder to this momentous experience
of Grace. A few notes on Muruganar appear at the bottom of the page.
SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE
By Sri Muruganar
8.
I have ended the confusion
of my bewildered, suffering mind.
A lowly cur,
I have merged with the gracious feet of my Master.
In the surging brilliance of his Divine Wisdoms splendor
the broad ocean of deadly desires has disappeared completely.
9.
The dark prison, which bound my tortured soul,
crumbled and I became his servant,
finding joyous life in the open sky of his ambrosial Grace.
The knot, which locked my spirit to my physical body,
was sundered by the bright sword of my Masters Glance
and was no more.
12.
I was a learned fool.
My flawed mind knew nothing till I came to dwell with Him
whose Glance filled my heart with the Light of Awareness.
Dwelling in that gracious state of Peace,
whose nature is Holy Silence,
so hard to gain and know,
I entered into union with the deathless state
of the Knowledge of Reality.
13.
As the deadly delusion of a body-bound ego faded,
a flower of pure Light unfolded at his Holy Feet.
That radiance grew ever brighter with my love
until I realized the flawless Knowledge of the Self,
manifesting as the unbroken Awareness I-I within my Heart.
15.
He became one with my very soul,
the Supreme Lord, the flawless Self,
the life of all that is, the jewel of the Self,
turning my souls night to day
with the fulsome rays of True Wisdoms Sun.
16.
The confusion of the senses ended
and the worlds illusion was dispelled
as Graces bright Sun rose,
absorbing me in itself
and obliterating all distinctions.
And as I entered the Light
of a life lived in the Holy Silence
of the glorious non-dual state,
the I and all that arises from it
subsided and dissolved away.
18.
I was wandering deluded
in the minds labyrinth of dreams,
running hither and thither,
desiring one thing after another
until the Joy of union with the Lord welled up within me.
My body merged into the Infinite Light of Divine Wisdom
and my Heart was filled with a deep inner tranquility.
23.
Corrupted by the senses defilement,
yet was I drawn by the Light of the Self
which shone in your eyes
so that I conceived a great Love for you.
With melting Heart,
like a cow with young calf,
I remain a supplicant at your Feet,
which hold the reward of final Liberation.
27.
He is the teacher of the eternal law through whose Glance the Truth unfolded,
filling my Heart with the dazzling radiance
of His blissful consummate Grace,
so that the body, ego and intellect were all no more.
I became merged in the Divine Silence,
which is the abiding Knowledge of the auspicious one
who destroys illusion.
28.
A noble lion,
He fixed his victorious gaze of True Knowledge
upon the rutting elephant of my ego,
which was drunk with self-conceit,
filling me with the sweet nectar of union
with the auspicious one who destroys illusion,
so that the inner experience of Divine Wisdom
became my whole Existence.
29.
I was bound for destruction
through my disastrous attachment
to the worlds illusory reality until,
under my fair Lords gracious Gaze,
my understanding was flooded
with the delightful experience of the bliss of
the auspicious one who destroys illusion,
and I entered a new Life
in the boundless realm of Holy Silence.
32.
Through the light of inquiry
into the nature of the Self,
which is True spiritual practice,
and through the precious words of my teacher,
who is established in the state of Holy Silence
wherein Liberation has its origin,
my soul has tasted the nectar of union with
the auspicious one who destroys illusion
in the state of bliss beyond duality,
merging into the all-transcending oneness of His Grace.
38.
Deeply absorbed in the state of Holy Silence
which Realitys perfect Light illumines,
filled with the exaltation of the non-dual state,
my consciousness merged with the Lord
and I became one with Him,
winning the greatest reward of all,
to dwell in final Bliss,
beyond birth and death.
39.
As the struggle between desire and aversion
came to and end,
I ceased to invoke in mere words the one True Godhead,
and as the Light of Reality which is truly sublime
grew ever brighter within my Heart,
I attained that state of Grace,
which is to dwell unwearyingly in Holy Silence.
40.
My poor helpless mind was swept along
in the swirling torrent of objective phenomena
until my Lord guided my deluded understanding
into the broad calm of his Holy Silence
so that the Light of His majesty shone in my Heart.
42.
My divine Lord and Grace-bestowing Teacher
replaced the loathsome darkness of my minds delusion
with the clear Light of divine Knowledge
so that my understanding overflowed
with praise to His glorious Reality.
43.
Light of lights,
graciously he plunged me into the ocean of Divine Love
at his Holy feet so that I tasted the sweetness of final Bliss
with which I could not be sated.
Origin and source of my understanding,
the spreading radiance of his True teaching
rushed forth in all directions
until within my Heart it united with my very Being.
44.
Through the power of his Feet,
gracious beacons of the unconditional Knowledge;
he pierced my desolate existence to the core,
and when his noble Gaze fell upon me,
spreading the unfailing Light all about
of the auspicious one who destroys illusion,
I experienced the incomparable Bliss of authentic Being.
48.
Transporting me into a realm of pure Bliss,
the vision of the authentic Self expanded within my Heart
and I attained the state of Grace whose essence is Love.
Then, in the state of Holy Silence,
bliss and Love merged together into realization
of the one True Reality,
which is the experience of
the auspicious one who destroys illusion.
49.
In Holy Silence at his flawless Feet,
thinking, yet beyond the realm of thought,
I established in my Heart that Consciousness
wherein his Self and mine were one.
The confusion of eye and mind,
born of treacherous desire,
died away,
its falsehood revealed,
and amidst Graces honeyed flood,
Divine Reality was all.
50.
I read the scriptures
but my mind could not grasp their meaning.
It was only through the gracious intervention
of my Wise teacher and Master,
working inwardly,
that his own state of unbroken meditation
became permanent within me
and my Heart was penetrated
and held in Realitys eternal grasp.
53.
Without dissimulation he revealed to us
through the purity of His Grace
that infinite state of pure Consciousness,
manifesting as a radiant expanse of Light
within our hearts, so that,
sitting at the feet of the Creator,
with no one to give and no one to receive,
we enjoyed the union we so eagerly sought.
54.
He is my Master,
manifesting the Light of True Knowledge,
whose nature is Love,
and that same Knowledge is the means by which
I worship Him, so that in my Heart,
as Knowledge and Love merge
indistinguishably into Holy Silence,
my True Nature stands revealed.
56.
It was fitting that he should accept me
into His Holy company and fitting that I, for my part,
should approach Him as a loving devotee.
Through that fair union, as I became one with Him,
he bestowed upon me the glory of Liberation,
whose attribute is Realization in Holy Silence.
57.
Languishing in the slough of my souls defilement,
I knew not a single moment of clear understanding
until my Lord revealed to me my own Self
as the pure Being,
and as the light of Grace shone forth from his fair Feet,
graciously bestowing the supreme Bliss of His Holy Silence,
all was illumined by the magnificence of
His mind, voice and form.
59.
Through the ever-present treasure
of His Grace within my Heart,
my life became free of the suffering
caused by the humiliating bonds of the world and the soul.
And as the ruinous effects of my former deeds
were consumed like cotton in a flame,
my spirit attained the highest Bliss,
which is to dwell with my Master
in that state of Grace.
61.
The pure eternal state of Grace
beyond the taint of mind
flared up within my Heart,
spreading through my entire physical form.
The reward I gained was the experience
of the Self as pure Being
and the victory I won was to vanquish
the bitter suffering of birth and death.
63.
A poor sinner gripped by the bonds of excessive desire,
I was deluded by my ruinous attachment
to the pleasures of the senses,
but when He conferred upon me the Bliss
of His True Knowledge,
all delusion was dispelled.
Dwelling thus as one with Sri Ramana
is nothing less than union with
64.
Exposing the vast expanse of the heavenly realm
as mere illusion,
and the entire world known to the senses as false,
the I shown forth as the supreme Self,
ruling over me and revealing to me
the goal of the Teachers sacred sound.
66.
The Lord bathed me in the light
of my own inner Realization
so that the mental trickery that bound me
to a world of illusion was exposed.
Then, as all desires and the thoughts that give rise to them
fell away,
the glory of His holy Feet was all that remained,
radiating Peace and graciously shedding the Light
of His True teaching all about me.
68.
My mind extinguished,
I am His devotee,
meditating upon His ruby feet,
which bestow the Grace of the Self,
whose nature is pure Knowledge.
The supreme Bliss of Realization
arising in the sweet nectar of holy Silence
has established itself within my Heart
as eternal freedom from birth and death.
71.
Through my erroneous identification with my ego,
which was filled with desires through my false understanding
of the nature of the soul and the world,
I remained enmeshed in the web of birth and death.
But when I attained the blessed state of Grace,
wherein I was embraced by the supreme Bliss
of Realization of the Self,
my Heart entered the realm of sublime majesty.
75.
He saved me,
his humble devotee,
from destruction,
bringing me to salvation
through His own ambrosial Being,
even as I languished in the dark night
of my minds deadly delusion.
Then indeed did the holy feet of my noble Master,
bestowing His Grace in Holy Silence,
become immovably established within my Heart,
illuminating my inner Being
with the golden Light of True spiritual practice.
77.
Showing me the Light of his True teaching,
His holy feet drove out the ruinous ignorance that,
like a dark cloud, defiled my soul with corruption.
Revealing to me in all its clarity the Truth
whose nature is Liberation,
He joyfully filled my Heart
with the Bliss of profound Peace.
79.
Through the victorious experience
of True Realizations full glory,
the confusion caused by my souls defilement
disappeared completely.
Then indeed did a tide of deep Peace,
which my Heart could not contain,
well up and spread within me,
and as the flood increased,
desires thirst was quenched at last.
80.
As Love for my Master grew to fill my consciousness,
the blissful Realization of
like sweetest ambrosia,
swept me up in its flood.
Then, as I became established in that same True Awareness,
the Light of Liberation shone out with a steady radiance
within my Heart.
81.
His gracious Gaze entered my Heart,
bestowing the Knowledge of
the auspicious one who destroys illusion
in all its fullness.
All the petty cares of my erring mind,
along with the fears they bring with them,
disappeared completely,
and as that false awareness of a personal self
which gives rise to the multifarious and bewildering world
of appearances vanished,
a new Life began for me at His holy feet.
83.
As I waited nervously, weeping and distraught,
on the threshold of His Grace-bestowing Divine Presence,
my Master cut away the worldly desires
which so tormented me, and there,
beneath His bounteous Foot,
I received a noble gift,
the Realization of the True Knowledge of
84.
The Lord graciously manifested as my Teacher,
eradicating the bondage of my deluded cravings.
Revealing to me the glory of His Feet,
driving out all my desires,
He ruled over me,
so that in my soul only He remained.
The Joy of reflecting upon my deep affection for Him
never leaves my Heart.
85.
Seeking sanctuary I took shelter at His Feet,
and He, through His Silent Presence,
bade me henceforth fear no more.
From that day on,
through that authentic union
in which he became ineradicably established
within my Heart,
my life has been filled with
a child-like happiness and profound joy.
87.
Abolishing the deep attachment
which sent me wandering in pain
from birth to birth,
he revealed to me the state of Liberation
which is my own birthright,
and what is more,
he charged my voice with poetry so that,
unworthy as I was,
I was able through His Grace
to speak of True Wisdom even before the learned,
as if I were the goddess of learning Herself.
88.
A poor devotee,
I fell into evil through the mean quality of my petty mind,
but when the experience
of the True Knowledge of the Self
welled up within my Heart,
thought melted away
in the spreading radiance of Holy Silence
and he showed me the radiance of His Bliss,
eternal and all transcending.
92.
There was no good in me.
I was no better than a dog,
but when my Master looked upon me,
an intense longing for Him arose
which penetrated my Heart
and became established there,
and as the suffering
born of the illusion of separateness abated,
the deep Peace of a Realization which knows no bounds
shone forth,
graciously bestowing the Wisdom of the Self.
93.
My Heart was sunk in the sleep of delusion,
and my self-obsessed mind
swept up in a whirlwind of dreams
so that the Real Glory of His True Nature
was hidden from me
until He revealed It in all its majestic splendor.
Such is the compassion of my Lord and God.
97.
Bidding me behold and embrace Him
without a seconds delay,
my Lord and Master became inwardly one with me,
absorbing me into the great ocean of his own Self.
The Realization that consists of
the merging of consciousness into that Self
was established ineradicably within me
and I began a new Life,
sharing His divine nature.
101.
In the parched desert of my sinful life
I groaned in agony,
trembling with fear,
until my Lord put an end to my suffering
and revealed to me in the sight of men
that state of Grace
which even the gods cannot know.
102.
Delighting my gaze he showed me His feet
which graciously bestow True Knowledge.
No one can reach and know them
through the contentious ego
with its endless convolutions,
but only through His Grace,
when the mind is delivered up to be subdued
by the power of those Holy feet.
103.
As the gracious Light of inner Realization
entered my Heart,
all knowledge acquired through learning
was experienced as merely a creation of the mind,
and as it fell away,
my futile habitual mode of awareness,
in which I did not cleave to
the unconditional Glory of the Self,
ripened triumphantly into True Knowledge.
104.
The shadowy creations of my deluded mind,
filled with desire and worthy only of reproach,
faded as the Lords Divine Grace
welled up within me.
And for my thoughts,
there remains no object
other than the Glory of the Self
where I dwell in awe and wonder.
105.
My minds activity along with my ego subsided
and fell into total abeyance
so that no object of thought existed within my consciousness.
Then, in that overflowing emptiness,
did I experience the goal of the Self,
eternal and ever present,
as my own True goal.
106.
Entirely banishing lust and all the rest
(anger, miserliness, delusion, pride and jealously),
my gracious Lord, Teacher Ramana,
True Wisdoms Flame,
watches over me.
Through His Glance alone he revealed to me
that upsurge of Divine Love,
sweet like the rich juice of a ripe mango,
which is the Bliss and the blessing of
107.
Ocean of compassion,
he took pity on this poor ignorant fool
and through His Grace,
cleansing the evil from my Heart,
he established the supreme Reality there.
Even the final cataclysm at the universes end
could not dislodge His radiant Feet from that place.
109.
He it is who is eternally one with myself
in the state of one-pointedness,
who holds me in his grip like a magnet,
who is not separated from me by so much as an atom.
And, as the vanity of the I am the body notion fades
and is no more,
it is His presence that illumines my Heart
with the teaching of the indivisible Self.
110.
Through His Glance he united me with Himself,
false and deluded knave that I am,
and He now dwells illustrious within my Heart of hearts.
In Holy Silence,
as the experience of the immaculate Self,
like sweetest nectar,
overwhelms me in its flood,
my Life has reached fulfillment.
112.
Holding me in Liberations final embrace,
my Teachers Holy Feet Light up my Heart,
graciously bestowing the Knowledge of the Self.
Awakened through His divine power,
I have attained strength and clarity of mind
so that the false desires
that held me in the illusion of worldly bondage
have vanished like a dream.
116.
Lost in the fruitless round of birth and death
I surrendered before my Master
and my sins were cleansed by His gracious Gaze.
Holding to the path of His Holy feet
my deadly vices dissolved in the Light of my devotions
and I merged with the Nature of the Real.
120.
Through my Masters gracious revelation,
seeking deep within myself,
I knew that it was pure falsehood to claim that the state
of Self-forgetfulness in which thought diversifies,
giving rise to the pairs of opposites,
could be inherent in the lofty condition of pure,
non-dual consciousness.
The nature of His Grace,
conferred through the Bliss of Divine Silence,
was such that it established in me an unshakeable devotion
that I experienced as a deep Love for my Lord,
a Love in which my bondage was ended
and my mind dissolved
in the limitless expanse of the Supreme Self.
124.
Setting me on the straight path of True Knowledge
he led me to the glorious Goal of union with Him
in the one-pointed state of Holy Silence.
My Hearts gracious Jewel,
True Wisdoms Sun,
He dissipated the dark clouds of the senses illusory world.
126.
When the Lords gracious Gaze fell upon me,
my Heart was filled with the Selfs divine radiance
in which all distinctions are obliterated
so that my evil and treacherous ego faded
in the spreading Glory of Divine Realizations dawn,
and was no more.
127.
Gladly He ruled me,
True Wisdoms Flame,
and now within my Heart
where in Joy I made for Him a home
I can perceive no other.
Only He remains,
the Supreme Self,
manifesting as consciousness pure Light,
empty and yet replete.
128.
Those who perform penances,
refusing all sustenance,
are called great men,
but never once did I refuse food with its six flavors.
Yet no sooner had His feet entered my Heart,
delighting my eyes with their blissful sight,
than I fell at once into a state
where my penance became continuous
without any effort on my part.
132.
Through the Knowledge granted to me by the Lord
I came to Realize that the Reality that lies beyond the mind
is my own True Nature.
In that state the objective Knowledge
which dominated my fevered mind
dissolved and fell away,
and in Holy Silence the fire of a pure Realization,
transcending duality,
was kindled within me.
133.
Subduing and bringing me under His control,
He drew my consciousness to Himself
with the irresistible magnet of His Grace.
From the profound depths of His Holy Silence
His gracious Glance cut away my egos ruinous cravings
in an instant.
How great is the power of His piercing Gaze!
136.
Even as I grieved over my own lack of worth,
He revealed to me the infinite heaven of His Grac e,
purifying me with His limitless and all-pervading Light.
The delusion of a personal self was swept away
and in that clear Awareness my existence became one
with Lord Siva.
137.
The Holy state of Grace has become established
within my Heart.
The false I of my personal self,
which arises through lack of attention,
has vanished.
And as the deadly ocean of wicked desires was drained,
I entered that state of clear Awareness,
which is to be one with
138.
A blissful Emptiness invaded my Heart
as He caused me to experience in Holy Silence
the Bliss of His Divine Grace,
proffering me His Holy feet,
and with them the eternal Truth of the Self.
I am left without even the power of thought
to reflect upon this.
139.
The Lord filled me with the radiance of His own Self,
established within my Heart,
so that I was left quite without the power of thought.
Separate from nothing and dependent on nothing,
my True Nature is to abide in the profound Wisdom
of that Self.
141.
Dwelling as the Supreme Self,
whose Nature is inherently free of all becoming,
that unique Reality became established within my Heart
as my own True Nature
and my personal self was totally annihilated in Him.
142.
Through the arrogance of the body-bound ego
my mind rushed hither and thither
until it was irrevocably defeated
as my consciousness merged into
that glorious eternally blissful state of
unbroken Awareness,
which is the boundless realm of the one True Self.
143.
Established in the highest Awareness
which is of the nature of the indivisible Self
and which is free of a discriminating consciousness
based on discursive thought,
my minds illusory cravings have ceased
and that enervated state dominated by desire and aversion
has come to a final end.
146.
As the natural confusion caused by
sinful and injurious desires ceased
and everywhere, all about me,
my True blissful Nature became manifest,
I was enfolded by the glorious Light
of the True and exalted Self,
the Reality of which is the foundation of all things
and is known as the being of
the auspicious one who destroys delusion.
148.
He is the Holy One who entered my inner Being,
holding me in thrall through His compassion
so that I dwelt at His feet,
devoting myself to His service.
His will, shining within me,
became one with my own
and my ego-self subsided,
driven from my Heart by True meditation,
which is to be one with Him.
150.
So deserving of devotion,
He is the Lord in whom True Knowledge is embodied.
Through His nature I attained an Awareness
which is the clear, bright and unadulterated expression
of His Love.
And it is that loving Awareness
that opened up my inner Being,
eradicating the desire and aversion
caused by the souls identification with the body,
so that the bondage of the worlds impurity faded
and was no more.
151.
Through His Gaze
he bathed me in the rising flood of His Grace,
revealing to me the Glory of the Self
so that the stain of my imprisoned souls defilement
was washed away.
Bringing my Existence to ample fulfillment
by restoring it to its True Nature,
He has become one with me,
dwelling within my Heart
and filling me with His Light.
153.
Transforming yourself into the pure gold of Realization
through spiritual practice,
be still at my gracious feet
and let your troubles be ended.
As He spoke these words an exalted state of Awareness grew
and came to fruition within me
in which I experienced the Truth
of the Scriptures.
156.
Through my deep yearning I discovered Him
within my Heart.
As the Holy state of Grace opened up
into the Fulfillment of the Real,
He bestowed on me the blessed state
of Divine Contemplation that is His teaching,
and His Peace transformed my consciousness
into itself.
157.
Through His gracious teaching
He abolished the desires
that clouded my mind with delusion,
engendering in my consciousness
the Infinite Fulfillment of authentic Being.
And thus, in Holy Silence,
the river of my soul ran True at last,
filled with the waters of the experience
of the Supreme ineffable
auspicious Lord who destroys illusion.
158.
Through the glorious Wisdom
of His all-transcending nature,
which graciously granted me
the attainment of final Bliss,
free of all mental confusion,
I entered a place where all actions,
whether of thought, word or deed,
are no more:
the realm of Holy Silence.
164.
In glory, severing bondages knot,
my Master fixed His Gaze upon me,
establishing His Grace once and for all
within my Heart.
And as the Bliss of True Knowledge suffused me,
that ego-bound knowledge,
filled with desires that bring suffering in their wake,
was abolished completely.
165.
As the glory of His eternal teaching
suffused my Understanding with Bliss,
abolishing the demonic I sense
which brings with it the delusion of separateness,
I obtained the blessed reward of His Holy Feet where,
in Holy Silence,
resides the ineffable Reality
which is the import of all the Vedas.
166.
Through the blessing of your True Knowledge,
perceiving without distinction myself in you
and you in myself,
I have come to Know within my Heart
Selfhoods fair and undivided form.
How then shall I praise you
when you are fully one with me?
169.
Bestowing upon me,
through His compassionate Glance,
His Wisdom,
which is like a diamond, hard and bright,
my Lord, Teacher Ramana,
graciously accepted my surrender.
And as the black cloud of ruinous self-delusion,
which wore my bodys form as a cloak,
melted away,
I perceived the precious jewel
of my own True form.
173.
When I perceived the Self
manifesting in His radiant form,
fulfilling my Hearts deepest yearning,
I was humbled by the full flood of His Grace
which cleansed me of obscuring desires,
and as my ego fell away,
I bowed my head in profound humility.
175.
Beneath my Teachers Gaze
my Heart of emptied of guile
so that the false understanding
that had usurped my Heart
disappeared completely,
and there, in Silence at His Holy Feet,
the pure ocean of the Self,
which nothing can contain,
swept me into the deep Bliss
of the Absolute Godhead.
182.
The disordered and chaotic world
created by my minds endless modifications
ended when, through His Grace,
I entered the harmonious condition of authentic Being
and found my True place,
merging with His Holy Feet which bestow
the clear Understanding of True Knowledge.
184.
For there will henceforth be
neither pain nor pleasure
now that I have experienced Love
at my good Lords gracious Feet.
The desires, which attended that illusory existence
lived on the level of the flawed and untrustworthy mind,
have ceased and my own essential Self
has become One with the Supreme.
186.
There are those who bear the marks
of the highest maturity,
but even they will fail to perceive the way to salvation
and must suffer accordingly
unless they seek illumination from an enlightened Master
and Realize the Truth.
It is the True Teacher alone
who can cut away the fretters of the world and the soul.
187.
No matter that we read the Truth in Holy books,
no matter how many vows we keep,
it is only with the help of the True Teacher
that we can conquer our confusion.
Although I was a sinner,
impure in mind,
He established me in His own state
and showed forbearance,
accepting my homage and becoming my Lord.
195.
Through the virtuous state of absorption
wherein He dwells in Holy Silence as the Self alone,
He came and made me His devotee.
In that moment this whole world became as nothing to me
and I entered into a fitting union with Him
who dwells as That.
196.
Becoming established in the clarity of True Knowledge
I, his humble servant,
have attained to the consummate state of Holy Silence.
Abandoning the ego
I have forsaken all company other than that of the Self,
whose glorious nature is none other than my own.
197.
Dwelling in the thought-free state of Holy Silence
I experienced the True Knowledge in all its clarity
and in the dawn of the Real I entered a new Life
filled with tranquility.
At His Holy Feet,
becoming immersed in His Peace,
I took as my own form
that which is beyond bondage and Liberation,
the Absolute of Absolutes.
198.
Attaining a vision beyond the reach of sight
and an Awareness more subtle than the tiniest atom,
I have become established in the Absolute Reality of the Self.
And thus my mind has merged with the Supreme
in which there is no going, no coming,
no connection with anything whatsoever.
Seeing itself in all that is,
its separation has come to an end.
200.
My Heart was filled with that Holy Silence
in which the Self if fully manifest
as that profound Reality whose nature is Consciousness.
And the Peace which I experienced
in that gracious state of pure Awareness
was transformed into Love for Him.
202.
When I became worthy of experiencing
that Reality whose nature is oneness,
and therefore cannot be described,
the good and evil was ended
and my existence was suffused by the Real.
221.
As long as my Heart was not filled
with the Divine blessing of Love and True Knowledge
bestowed in Silence,
I was like a noisy drum,
beating out my message in words.
But through the compassion of my savior,
who has the power to confer the final state
of total transcendence through His Grace,
I entered into the deathless state
of silent absorption in Him.
226.
He revealed to me the transcendent Truth
so that I came to dwell in Holy Silence at His Feet,
bathing again and again
in the sacred waters of Divine Awareness
until my Heart was pure and refreshed,
and as the flame of Bliss flared up within me,
all my bitter suffering came to an end.
233.
He forgave me my misdeeds
and made good my imperfections.
Through the Grace of the Self
which shines within the Heart,
cleansing it of its fundamental corruption,
he gave me the gift of a greater Life lived in the Real.
He is the Lord to whom I cling as my True support,
abandoning all other attachments.
235.
He is my teacher, the Supreme Godhead,
whilst, as for me,
I am not worthy of sitting at the Feet of such a Master.
And yet through the power of His gracious Gaze
I was able to offer Him my devotion
and remain in unbroken communion with Him.
238.
Surrounded by desires that led me astray,
my Heart was hardened
and my understanding was tricked
by the illusion of a personal self.
But now that the power of that delusive ego has dissolved
at the bounteous feet of my great Master,
my Divine spouse,
I will devote my Life to the service
of those who serve those Holy Feet.
241.
Hail to the Lord who nourished me
with the delicious ambrosia
of the eternal teaching of the being of
who through His Love refreshed my Heart,
banishing my deluded attachment
to land ownership, wealth and women,
who looked upon me through the Selfs gracious eye and,
entering my soul,
made it part of Him!
Published in The Power Of The Presence, Part Two edited by David Godman.
Sri Muruganar first met Sri Ramana Maharshi in 1923. On a subsequent visit to Sri Ramana
Maharshi, Sri Ramana answered Sri Muruganars pleas for Grace by directing His Divine
Look at him. Under this penetrating Gaze, Sri Muruganar lost his delusions and found himself
restored to his natural state of Self-awareness. The experience was permanent for Sri
Muruganar. The ego and limited human consciousness never returned and the Infinite-Bliss-
Love-Awareness remained forever.
EXPERIENCES AND COMMENTS
In January of 2004 after two years of practicing awareness watching awareness, the illusion of
the ego ended. Gone forever, never to return.
What remained is Infinite-eternal-awareness-bliss-love aware only of Infinite-eternal-

awareness-bliss-love. Five words that point to that which is one and does not change.
The practice instructions for the Awareness Watching Awareness metho d can be read at this
link: AWA Instructions
What follows is a report of what happened during those two years of practice:
A quote by Sri Muruganar from Garland of Guru's (Sri Ramana M aharshi's) Sayings:
1038. "Awareness is not a quality of the Self. The Self is without qualities. Awareness is not
an action of the Self. The Self does nothing. The Self, our Being, IS Awareness."
A quote by Sri Ramana Maharshi from Day by Day with Bhagavan:
"You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. All that you have to do is to give up
being aware of other things; that is, of the not -Self. If one gives up being aware of them, then
pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self."
Self Awareness is: Awareness of Awareness.
This discovery, translated into practice as awareness watching awareness, was a great blessing
for me.
I was trying to find a clear easy way of understanding and practicing Sri Ramana Maharshi's
and Sri Nisargadatta's instructions regarding focusing the attention on I or I AM.
The awareness watching awareness discovery solved everything.
I wrote about the details of what lead up to that, including practice instructions here: AWA
Discovery
That discovery was back in December of 2001. The following is a brief report on the
progression of the actual practice of awareness watching awareness:
In the beginning of the practice, Sri Muruganar's quotes regardi ng refraining from looking at
thought, the body, the world etc., and instead turning the awareness towards awareness
watching awareness were helpful.
Because the habit of looking outward is so strong, reading these practice instructions and then
actually practicing them was helpful:
Inquiry - Abidance (Jan 2004 version of AWA Instructions)

The World (108 sayings on turning away from the world) - from Garland of Guru's Sayings
by Sri Muruganar
Ramana Maharshi on Thinking About, Reading & Discussing Spiritual Teachings
Turning Inward - from Garland of Guru's Sayings by Sri Muruganar
There were other things that were helpful to read such as descriptions of liberation which
helped increase the desire for liberation and quotes by Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Annamalai
Swami, Sri Muruganar and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that encouraged intense, constant,
continuous practice.
I won't list all those links here, they can all be found on this page: Five Sages
As the practiced progressed there was far less reading.
Very rapidly the practice simplifies and it is just awareness watching awareness.
In the beginning it took a lot of effort to turn the attention away fro m thought, the body, the
world, etc., towards awareness watching awareness, due to the long habit of looking outward.
Awareness watching awareness is not just keeping quiet. One can keep quiet and still be
looking outward.
There are not two awarenesses, one watching the other. Awareness watching awareness is
only one awareness watching itself.
Awareness watching awareness is the perfect practice.
It instantly becomes awareness of awareness

which instantly becomes abiding as awareness,
which instantly becomes being awareness.
Or one might say:
awareness watching awareness

is really awareness of awareness
which is really abiding as awareness
which is really being awareness.
I prefer to shut the eyes. Because the habit of abiding as awareness is there, upon shutting the
eyes, there it is.
Instant abidance.
Just awareness by itself.

As the practice progresses, it becomes simpler.
One just abides as awareness.
Awareness only.
No thought, no body, no world, no universe.
As Sri Ramana describes it in Talk 17:
Questioner: "Does Maharshi enter the nirvikalpa samadhi?"
Sri Ramana: "If the eyes are closed, it is nirvikalpa; if open, it is (though differentiated, still in
absolute repose) savikalpa. The ever-present state is the natural state sahaja."
If the attention is turned inward away from the body, thought, world, universe, etc. and
towards awareness watching awareness it does not take long to realize that I am that
awareness that lives forever.
Thinking will not help. One has to feel the eternal life within, for the fear of ending the human
known to disappear. Awareness watching awareness makes one aware of that feeling after
only a little practice.
Having felt that eternal life within, one wants only that, and the desire for an imaginary bod ily
existence that is really a kind of death and not life at all, disappears.
Or as Sri Ramana described it:
"So I am the spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit transcending it cannot
be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit."
"All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived
directly..."
It begins just as a subtle feeling, then rapidly it emerges as the Reality.
That subtle feeling can be felt after only a little time s pent turning within towards awareness
watching awareness. Maybe from the very first time one attempts it, or maybe after a few
attempts.
Because of the long habit of looking outward and calling a dream reality, it is good to
continue to look inward long after one's first glimpse-feeling-awareness of what one really is.
Knowing who one really is, is to remain without any sorrow, suffering, disease or death.
Thus one trades in this limited imagination for Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-
Peace and those are not seven, that is just one.
The solution to the fear of losing the known (imagining oneself to be a body living in a world)
is just to turn inward, to cease looking outward at a world, body and thought and towards
The ending of the fear comes with the experience. Some experience comes very quickly. One
begins to feel the eternal life within. As that feeling grows, the worry about losing what one
formerly called life, which was not life at all, disappears.
If one just starts turning inward towards awareness watching awareness, there is nothing one
need think about.
One falls in love with empty awareness, and discovers I am empty awareness, then "I am"
disappears and one remains as: being-awareness.
That being-awareness is eternal life.
Just see the beauty of it!
Being-Awareness is:
Awareness.
There is no thought, no body, no world and no universe in that awareness.
Although empty of all these, it is full.
Full-whole-complete-perfect-Awareness.
The practice took some time.
However the end of the ego happened in just an instant.
The above is the progress report.
Here is a brief commentary:
Due to the fear of ending the known, almost no human wishes to end the human known.
In almost all humans the desire to preserve the ego illusion is trillions of times greater than the
desire to end the ego illusion.
This includes those humans who study, think about and discuss spiritual topics.
Therefore, having a means to end the ego illusion which is extremely quick rapid and Direct,
really does not matter, until the desire for liberation is awakened.
Pretending that it has been awakened when it has not been awakened, while the fear of ending
the known is still there, does not help to awaken it.
Self honesty does help.
There are thousands of relevant quotes by Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu
Om, Sri Annamalai Swami and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and I will continue to add them to
the Direct Path Links Directory [Five Sages page].
Awareness watching awareness was taught by Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu
Om , Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Annamalai Swami.
Ceasing to think about such quotes, and instead taking one at a time, and not moving from it
until it has been put into practice, is a powerful key.
One might read such a quote many times with no effect, because the extremely intense desire
for liberation has not yet been awakened.
After the extremely intense desire for liberation awakens, then when one reads the very same
quote, instead of thinking about it, or discussing it, one puts it into practice.
Putting it into practice, there are no more questions, not even questions on spiritual topics.
In the practice of awareness watching awareness, no questions arise.
Take care
A previous experience:
The last 4 or 5 months have been the most rapid change in consciousness that I have ever
experienced. Like a river of insight everyday sweeping away all the old views including most
of the old spiritual views.
The desire for liberation became the extremely intense desire for liberation in a quantum leap.
The awakening of the extremely intense desire for liberation is such a blessing!
It takes care of everything.
It brings everything one needs (spiritually),
it removes all doubt and it answers all spiritual questions
so that there are no more questions.
It brings great honesty, clarity and insight.
It brings one to intense practice.
It dissolves all obstacles.
It is like surrendering to liberation and the core Direct Path T eachings.
Ones whole life is surrendered.
I cant read spiritual teachings with detours. If I try, after just a few sentences I can see the
detours and I put the book down quickly, just like one would withdraw ones hand quickly
from a hot stove. This represents quite a change in consciousness. The intellectual approach is
now ended, gone forever, dead.
One of the amazing things about this new river of insight is that first there is the insight, then
later a quote will be discovered. In other words I see something, have a profound insight,
then later I see that a sage has seen what I have seen.
I can see that almost all spiritual paths are detours and distractions, nothing more, and I can
see why they are distractions and detours, nothing more.
Then later I came across the quote by Lao Tzu and see that Lao Tzu has also seen this:
Not all spiritual paths lead to the Harmonious Oneness.

Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more.
Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching
Sri Ramana Maharshi stated it like this:
Truth. But in fact they create confusion where no confusion need exist. Why should confusion
be created and then explained away? Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself
in this maze! I was indeed fortunate that I never took to it. Had I taken to it, I would probably
be nowhere - always in confusion. My former tendencies directly took me to the inquiry Who
am I?. It was indeed fortunate.
Regarding spiritual teachings, a demand for no detours and delays has arisen. The core
Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Annamalai Swami, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om and
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj survived this sweep, but almost every other spiritual path did not.
Even what are called the teachings of those five Direct Path Sages, are filled with detours.
The detours come from answers to questions which are a reflection of the thoughts of
spiritually immature questioners. This is another example of having the clear insight first, then
later discovering that some sage has also seen what I have seen.
Here is a quote by Sri Muruganar from the Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana Maharshis)
Sayings:
1106. The sages pure mind which beholds as a mere witness the whole world is like a mirror
which reflects the foolish thoughts of those who come before him, and these thoughts are
then mistaken to be his.
Those distractions and detours must be removed from the Teachings in order to reveal the
Direct Path. On the Direct Path Links Directory [Five Sages page] only the core Teachings
are found, with all the distractions, detours and reflections of the thoughts of those questioners
who were spiritually immature removed.
There are a few core teachings that can help to turn the mind inward and I have placed them
on the Direct Path Links Directory. Teachings which describe the love -bliss of liberation are
helpful to increase the desire for liberation. There are teachings that help motivate one
towards practice. There are teachings that describe the Direct Path Practice. There are
teachings about how to turn inward and teachings about honesty, exposing the false and
dropping the false. All of these core teachings can be helpful and have been placed on the
Direct Path Links Directory.
However, what are usually called spiritual teachings, as Lao Tzu pointed out, are distractions
and detours, nothing more. The intense desire for freedom allows one to see that and before
the intense desire for freedom awakens, that fact remains hidden by the ego.
The Direct Path, the Direct Practice, goes by various names such as: Self -inquiry, Self-
abidance, Self-attention, Awareness watching Awareness focusing the mind on I am, seeing
the seer, knowing the knower, Who am I?, finding the source of consciousness, turning
attention away from the world, body and thought, towards attention attending to attention.
There is a mistaken notion that only those who are ripe are ready to practice the Direct Path.
This is used by the ego as an excuse to avoid the Direct Path Practice.
The ego is unreal and its ripeness or unripeness is also unreal. One need not take a lot of time
becoming ripe.
Anyone who is willing to do the Direct Path Practice is ripe for it. For those who are not
willing all that is needed is to decide to give it a try and then follow through with the decision.
I have seen all this clearly and this is another example of having the insight first and later
discovering that a sage has also seen this. The following is a quote by Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj from I AM THAT:
Questioner: In the beginning we may have to pray and meditate for some time before we are
ready for self-inquiry.
Nisargadatta: If you believe so, go on. To me, all delay is a waste of time. You can skip all
the preparation and go directly for the ultimate search within. Of all the Yogas it is the
simplest and the shortest.
Almost all humans may have some very weak desire for liberation. However, it is very rare
that the extremely intense desire for liberation is awakened. It is also very rare in those
humans who are on a spiritual path and rare even in those humans who are on what is often
considered to be the Direct Path. Therefore almost everyone ignores these insights found in
the quotes above.
I am going to write those quotes again here. Please read them very slowly and open your mind
to the possibility that they reveal something extraordinary:
Not all spiritual paths lead to the Harmonious Oneness. Indeed, most are detours and
distractions, nothing more. Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching.
Truth. But in fact they create confusion where no confusion need exist. Why should confusion
be created and then explained away? Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself
in this maze! I was indeed fortunate that I never took to it. Had I taken to it, I would probably
be nowhere - always in confusion. My former tendencies directly took me to the inquiry Who
am I?. It was indeed fortunate. Sri Ramana Maharshi
Questioner: In the beginning we may have to pray and meditate for some time before we are
ready for self-inquiry.
Nisargadatta: If you believe so, go on. To me, all delay is a waste of time. You can skip a ll
the preparation and go directly for the ultimate search within. Of all the Yogas it is the
simplest and the shortest.
1106. The sages pure mind which beholds as a mere witness the whole world is like a
mirror which reflects the foolish thoughts of t hose who come before him, and these thoughts
are then mistaken to be his.
The above is brief and someday I may create a separate page to go into much more detail as to
how this great change took place, what lead up to it, including a more detailed desc ription of
why the indirect paths are distractions and detours, nothing more.
However, what allows one to see all that is the awakening of the intense desire for freedom.
The foundation pages on the Direct Path Links Directory were created for the purpose of
showing how to awaken the intense desire for liberation. However you manage to do it,
whatever you can do to make your desire for liberation take a quantum leap is well worth
doing.
The awakening of the intense desire for freedom will insist on only t he Direct Path because it
insists that one take no detours.
The awakening of the intense desire for freedom is what sustains intense, constant,
continuous, practice.
The awakening of the intense desire for freedom exposes the ego -lies, falsehood and
preservation strategies and removes them.
The awakening of the intense desire for freedom removes all obstacles.
The awakening of the extremely intense desire for liberation is therefore, the key of keys.
The Direct Path Links Directory is the precious Jewel. Why it is the precious Jewel, you can
get some sense of from reading the above.
You can read instructions on the practice here: AWA Instructions
There will be a few more additions and changes to the Direct Path Links Directory in 2004.
Since this is the Experience page, I thought you might enjoy reading the following.
A few weeks ago I had a dream. In the dream Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj was teaching me how
to practice feeling the I Am.
Nisargardatta only made a brief appearance in the beginning of the dream. The dream lasted a
long time and consisted only of practicing feeling I am and learning a different way to
practice it. Although there were a few verbal instructions or th ought instructions, mostly the
instruction was non verbal. In other words, a practice had been initiated in the dream and the
corrections were made automatically in the practice in the form of feeling -attention.
The practice is difficult to describe. It is like feeling I am in the chest. However, it is not
really a matter of anything physical, that is more just a place for focusing the feeling and
awareness.
One of the main points in the instruction is to not expect any experience and not to allow any
experience to arise. With feeling, one does not allow any experience to arise, so that there is
nothing, just stillness. It is the rejection of any experience with feeling, while feeling the I
am.
The reason is that any experience would be something new. One feels very subtly what
already is, and not something new. What feels without any motion.
One feels feeling that which is still and allows no other feeling or experience.
I woke up from the dream. Later I went back to sleep and the new practice began again.
A few days ago I read the following from the book I am That:
Those who practice the sadhana (spiritual practice) of focusing their minds on I am may
feel related to others who have followed the same spiritual practice and succeeded. They may
decide to verbalize their sense of kinship by calling themselves Navnaths.
If you accept a Navnath Sampradaya teacher as your Guru, you join his Sampradeya.
Usually you receive a token of his grace a look, a touch, or a word, sometimes a vivid
dream or a strong remembrance. Sometimes the only sign of grace is a significant and rapid
change in character and behavior.
Those of you who know me might wonder how the above would be possible since Sri
Ramana Maharshi has always been my Guru.
There is only one Guru. That is the Infinite Self-Awareness within.
In the dream humans call the waking state or in the dream humans call the dream state
there may be the appearance of a sage who appears to have a body.
As Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta have pointed out, such appearance of a body is
only an illusion, a dream just as the world and the universe is only an illusion, a dream.
However, as Sri Nisargadatta has pointed out, the sage is a dream that can wake you up, and it
is the teachings of the sage that are important and not the person of the guru.
When one talks about the type of sage that appears to have or did appear to have a body, then
you can say that Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om, Sri Annamalai Swami
and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj are all my teachers.
However, they are all one and that One does not have a body, it is the Self -Awareness within.
There is no need of going here and there to see some supposed sage or Guru or teacher. Their
teachings can be found in books. What is important is to practice those teachings.
To physically go to see some supposed sage is to follow an indirect path. To go deep within
ones consciousness to discover the inner teacher is to follow the direct path.
If the intense desire for freedom is awakened, all that one needs spiritually will be brought to
you. If there is any need for Sri Ramana Maharshi, or Sri Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om, Sri
Annamalai Swami or Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj to come to you, they will come to you.
The fact that they are no longer in a body does not matter. They never were in a body in
Reality. However, there is usually no need for any such appearance.
The teachings are there, they can be practiced, the inner teacher can be discovered, and the
inner teacher is Infinite-Awareness and it has no form, no body, etc.
In the dream described above, the appearance of Nisargadatta in the dream was very brief.
Because the appearance of Nisargadatta in the dream was not what was important. The
teaching was what was important.
Awareness watching awareness is still the primary means to Self-Abidance; however, as a

way of saying thank you, I spend a little time everyday practicing the method that was
taught in the dream as described above.
I usually end what I write with the words take care. What I mean by take care is: pay
attention, be honest with yourself, slow down, be careful, be aware, challenge your beliefs and
assumptions, put an end to the ego illusion, practice the Direct Path constantly, continuously,
intensely, and do all that with love!
"How to Practice Self-Inquiry"
A very concise description of the Awareness Watching Awareness practice.

(The page was expanded in January 2004)
Awareness Watching Awareness

Precise instructions in the most direct means of
Self-Abidance, Self-Awareness, Self-inquiry, Self-Realization, Liberation.
THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS APPROACH

IS THE MOST DIRECT METHOD
In the book The Path of Sri Ramana Part One, Sri Sadhu Om describes an approach to Self -
inquiry that is more like Self-attention, or awareness watching awareness, or awareness aware
of awareness, and less like asking a question Who am I.
A question might arise: Was this awareness watching awareness approach actually taught by
Sri Ramana Maharshi?
According to both Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om the answer is yes.
In the book Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana Maharshis) Sayings Sri Muruganar uses the
word awareness throughout the entire book and describes this awareness watching
awareness approach to Self-inquiry in detail, such as in the following passages:
418.
The only true and full awareness is awareness of awareness.
Till awareness is awareness of itself, it knows no peace at all.
432.
Is it not because you are yourself awareness that you now perceive this un iverse?
If you observe awareness steadily,
this awareness itself as Guru (Teacher) will reveal the Truth.
921.
None can confront and overcome the mind.
Ignore it, then, as something false, unreal.
Know the Self as the real ground and stand firm -rooted in it.
Then the minds movements will gradually subside.
If one were to distinguish between Self-inquiry and Self-abidance, then it might be more
accurate to call the awareness watching awareness approach Self-Abidance.
If the instructions given by Sri Ramana Maharshi to Be the Self or to abide as the Self have
not been clear for you as to how?, this instruction of awareness watching awareness while
ignoring thought, provides easy clear instructions as to how.
Just your present awareness watching itself.
There are other ways that this can be described: Know the knower, watch the watcher etc.
However, the clearest easiest instruction to follow is:
Your awareness watching your awareness while ignoring all else.
(ignoring thought, the body, the wo rld, etc.)
Automatically the your will drop off and it will be obvious that awareness watching
awareness is really awareness abiding in or being awareness.
The reason to start with the instruction: your present awareness watching your present
awareness
is so that it is clear that one is not referring to some far off awareness called the Self.
It is just: your awareness that is now looking through your eyes turned around to watch itself.
Awareness watching awareness, consciousness watching consciousness.
If you notice you are thinking, just go back to awareness watching awareness.
Take your attention away from the thinking and back towards awareness watching awareness.
Your attention should be turned around 180 degrees, away from and ignoring the wo rld,
people, places, things, the body and thought, and towards awareness watching awareness.
It is awareness watching awareness only, excluding all else.
How long should you practice? Practice for at least an hour or two per day, everyday.
Set aside as many hours per day as you can, just for awareness watching awareness practice,
with no other activities going on during your practice time.
Shut your eyes during practice, because that helps with ignoring the world.
Body posture is not important on the Direct Path.
You can do the practice sitting or lying down, if you are able to lie down without falling
asleep.
Everything you need to know to practice the awareness watching awareness method is written
above. The following are some additional quotes regarding the practice:
From the Garland of Gurus sayings by Sri Muruganar
52.
If one with mind turned towards Awareness and concentrating on Awareness, seeks the Self,
the world made up of ether and other elements is real, as all things are Awareness, the on e
sole substance of true Being.
435.
True natural awareness which goes not after alien objects is the Heart. Since actionless
awareness shines as real Being, its joy consists in concentration on itself.
638.
If instead of looking outward at objects, you observe that looking, all things now shine as I,
the seer. Perception of objects is mere illusion.
694.
Even in this worldly life ones labors bear no fruit without abundant faith. Hence till one
merges in the bliss Supreme and boundless, ones strong zea l in spiritual practice should
never slacken.
742.
In the Self, he stands firm fixed who dwells and truly meditates on himself as pure awareness.
755.
If without wasting time one starts and keeps up steady self-inquiry, ones life becomes at once
ennobled, and there wells up within ones heart a sea of bliss supreme.
756.
Barring fruitful self-inquiry there is, for real mind control, no other spiritual practice
whatsoever. The mind may seem to be controlled by other methods, but after a while it will
spring up again.
1038.
Awareness is not a quality of the Self. The Self is without qualities. Awareness is not an
action of the Self. The Self does nothing. The Self, our Being, IS Awareness.
1066.
True wealth is but the gracious silence of steady, unswerving Self-awareness. This bright, rare
treasure can be gained only by those who earnestly strive for the extinction of all thoughts.
1103.
It is folly to waste ones life running in all directions searching different goals. Learn to
practice firm abidance at the feet of the Self supreme, the eternal and auspicious silence,
which alone can still the egos restlessness.
1157.
Holding in their hands the mirror, the scripture which declares The Self alone is to be
known, many alas, study the text and commentaries; but only a few seek the Self and gain
true life.
1192.
The ego image moves, reflected in the minds waves. How to stop this movement, how to
regain the state of stillness? Dont observe these movements, seek the Self instead. It is
wisdom to gain and abide in silence.
From Sri Ramana Experience by Sri Muruganar
212.
Those who have sunk within their own inner selves to dwell as pure knowledge, so that their
infatuation with worthless desires is abolished, will through holy silence, establish the
fulfillment of the real within their own selves. This practice of meditation upon consciousness
itself, is the true way.

The Most Rapid and Direct Means To Eternal Bliss Plus Extras

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Most Rapid and Direct Means To Eternal Bliss Plus Extras

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Most Rapid and Direct Means

By: Michael Langford

Chapter 1 - THE IMPOSTOR 7

Chapter 2 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TRICKS 11

Chapter 3 - THE IMPOSTOR'S TOOLS: THOUGHT, THINKING, AND BELIEFS 15

Chapter 4 - THE DESIRE FOR LIBERATION 19

Chapter 5 - HOW TO AWAKEN THE EXTREMELY INTENSE DESIRE FOR

Chapter 6 -THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS DISCOVERY 27

Chapter 7 - THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD

Chapter 8 -FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE AWARENESS WATCHING

Chapter 9 - THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD 42

Chapter 10 - THE ETERNAL METHOD 45

Chapter 11 - THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD 48

Chapter 12 - THE LOVING-ALL METHOD 51

FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE LOVING ALL METHOD 52

Chapter 13 - THE REMINDERS 54

The Awareness Watching Awareness Practice Instructions 57

The Practice Instructions 58

The Path of Awareness 61

The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions 68

A suggestion for beginners: 69

The Abandon Release Method Practice Instructions 70

The other is the path of Awareness 73

The Reminder Page 74

HOW I DISCOVERED THE 77

AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD 77

Sayings from Sri Muruganar's 84

The Garland of Gurus (Sri Ramana Maharshis) Sayings 84

on the subject of Turning Inward 84

START TURNING INWARD: 84

Practice, Earnestness, Effort and Zeal (10 Sayings) 89

The Body (16 Sayings) 93

Turning Inward (21 Sayings) 95

Sayings on the World 99

CHOICE A QUOTES 126

SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE 133

EXPERIENCES AND COMMENTS 152

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

My awareness watching my awareness!

54. This was a revelation!

My present awareness watching my present awareness.

THE AWARENESS WATCHING AWARENESS METHOD

THE ABANDON RELEASE METHOD PRACTICE

Whatever thoughts, perceptions, images or feelings arise, let them go as so on as they

THE ETERNAL METHOD PRACTICE

THE INFINITE SPACE METHOD PRACTICE

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LOVING ALL

FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF THE LOVING ALL

Read Chapter Thirteen very carefully at least three times.

The Awareness Watching Awareness Practice Instructions

The preliminary instructions

It is better if you can be undisturbed during your practice.

The Practice Instructions

Shut your eyes.

Consciousness watching consciousness.

Shut your eyes.

Shut your eyes.

Shut your eyes.

If there are not many thoughts, just ignore them.

Shut your eyes.

Shut your eyes

Concentrate in a relaxed manner without strain.

Shut your eyes.