Discerning the Essential from the Inessential
“Not all spiritual paths lead to the Harmonious Oneness.
Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more.”
- Lao Tzu from the Hua Hu Ching
Five Sages Teaching the Direct Path
Awareness watching awareness was taught by
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
- Sri Muruganar
- Sri Sadhu Om
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
- Sri Annamalai Swami
What is the direct path to abidance as Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-Peace,
free of the I, suffering, sorrow, desire and the world appearance?
What is the direct spiritual path with no detours and no delays?
At the following links you can find the direct path described in different
ways.
The means to Direct, Immediate, Instant abidance can be found by clicking
this link:
The same Awareness Watching Awareness method in Ramana Maharshi’s words
(as interpreted by Sri Muruganar) can be found at these two links:
This direct means to instant, immediate Self-Abidance has been almost
completely overlooked by the Ramana Maharshi tradition. Thus the collection
of Ramana Maharshi quotes in the above two links will be of tremendous
benefit to those one in a million people who actually would like to realize
the Self in this lifetime.
THE DIRECT PATH LINKS - THE FIRST RING (most direct):
Sri Muruganar was a liberated sage who spent decades in the company of
Sri Ramana Maharshi. Sri Muruganar was already a highly skilled poet before
he met Sri Ramana Maharshi, and therefore his ability to communicate clearly
is unsurpassed. One liberated sage reporting on the teachings of another
liberated sage is like two mirrors facing each other. The result is an
infinite reflection. Sri Muruganar’s words are a living transmission.
The teachings found in the First Ring links are the most clearly communicated,
condensed summary of the teachings of the Direct Path that exist today.
With orbits around the sun (the Self), the orbit closest to the sun is
the first ring, and here on the Direct Path Links Directory, the most
Direct Teachings that exist today, communicated most clearly, in the most
concise manner are called “THE FIRST RING”.
Fist Ring Links:
INSTRUCTIONS (Inquiry-Abidance): How
to practice Self-inquiry according to Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar,
and Sri Sadhu Om. Includes the awareness watching awareness method, which
is the most direct method. This is a simple, easy to understand summary.
Recommendation: Read a small portion of the teachings found at the Instructions
link everyday. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over
everyday has great value.
DISCOVERY: How I discovered the Awareness
watching Awareness method. Includes many quotes by Sri Muruganar about
the Awareness watching Awareness method. The teachings found in this link
help to put the awareness watching awareness method in context.
Read the following quote from “The Essence of One’s Own True Nature” very
slowly three times:
Question: But 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.”
Thus you can see the importance of Turning Inward.
The following three links: “THE WORLD”, “TURNING INWARD” and “READING
& DISCUSSING”, are all instructions in exactly what Turning Inward means,
and how to Turn Inward.
THE WORLD: 108 Sayings from “The
Garland of Guru’s (Sri Ramana Maharshi’s) Sayings by Sri Muruganar on
the subject of: Ignoring and turning one’s attention away from the world
and towards Awareness watching Awareness. Enjoy the living transmission
these words contain. Recommendation: read a small portion of the teachings
found at The World link everyday. The repetition of reading these teachings
over and over everyday has great value.
TURNING INWARD: Quotes from
“The Garland of Guru’s (Sri Ramana Maharshi’s) Sayings by Sri Muruganar
on the following subjects: Encouragement, the Goal, the Benefits, The
Awareness watching Awareness approach to Self-inquiry and Self-Abidance,
Practice, Earnestness, Effort and Zeal, Ignoring and turning one’s attention
away from thought and towards Awareness watching Awareness, The Body.
Enjoy the living transmission these words contain. Recommendation: Read
a small portion of the teachings found at the Turning Inward link everyday.
The repetition of reading these teachings over and over everyday has great
value.
READING & DISCUSSING: Quotes
by Sri Ramana Maharshi on the subject of reading, discussing and thinking
about spiritual teachings. The purpose of the Teachings found in this
link is to turn the mind away from reading, discussing and thinking and
towards the Direct Practice which is awareness watching awareness while
ignoring the world, thoughts, etc.
The next two links “CHOICE A” and “SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE”, describe the
experience of liberation. Reading the descriptions of the experience of
liberation increases the desire for liberation. Increasing the desire
for liberation is more important than any other factor for liberation.
All problems are solved when the intense desire for liberation arises.
Thus reading quotes from the next two links everyday is the very first
step to be taken, and is the most important step. It provides the Foundation
for the First Ring teachings.
CHOICE A: Quotes that describe the experience
of liberation. The purpose of these quotes is encouragement. Reading these
quotes can increase the desire for liberation, and the desire for liberation
is the most important factor leading to liberation. Increasing the desire
for liberation is the very first step that needs to be taken. Read a small
portion of the teachings found at the CHOICE A link everyday. The repetition
of reading these teachings over and over has great value.
SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE: Sri Muruganar
writes one of the most beautiful, heart touching, clearly communicated
and detailed descriptions of the experience of Self-realization ever written.
The purpose of the teachings found in this link are Encouragement. Reading
about the beauty of the Love-Bliss-Freedom in the experience of Liberation
can serve as a motivation and encouragement to spend more time in, and
go more intensely into, the practice that leads to Liberation which is
awareness watching awareness while ignoring the world, the body, thoughts,
etc. Recommendation: Read a small portion of the teachings found at the
Sri Ramana Experience link everyday. The repetition of reading these teachings
over and over everyday has great value.
EXPERIENCE: This page describes experiences
people have had with the teachings found in the links on the Direct Path
Links Directory. The purpose of these descriptions is Encouragement.
THE SECOND RING (second most direct):
Sri Sadhu Om spent five years in the company of Sri Ramana Maharshi and
decades in the company of Sri Muruganar.
Sri Sadhu Om wrote a book called “The Path of Sri Ramana Part 1” which
contains the most detailed teaching on the practice of Self-inquiry, Self-attention
and Self-abidance that exists today. For those people who studied the
Third Ring teachings and came to the mistaken conclusion that the Direct
Path is Self-inquiry in the form of asking “To whom do these thoughts
arise?” and “Who am I?” etc., Sri Sadhu Om provides the bridge leading
one from the Third Ring Teachings to the First Ring Teachings. The reason
Sri Sadhu Om’s teachings have been placed under the Second Ring is because
it takes Sri Sadhu Om 100 words to say what Sri Muruganar could say in
only 10 words. Sri Sadhu Om’s ability to communicate is very good, but
not as skilled as Sri Muruganar.
However, the fact that he is the Second Ring and not third or fourth or
fifth, is a way of praising the great valuable contribution that Sri Sadhu
Om has made to the understanding of the Direct Path and what it means
to inquire into, attend to and abide as the Self.
The second ring teaching is the book “The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1”.
It is a detailed guide to the actual practice of Self-inquiry, Self-attention,
Self-abidance. What Sri Sadhu Om reveals in these teachings is profound
and extraordinary. Sri Sadhu Om is very creative in his ability to use
examples and illustrations to answer those questions that almost no one
has ever answered clearly. What Sri Sadhu Om reveals lays the foundation
for an illuminated, clear understanding of the Direct Path and the Teachings
of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
When a person is no longer interested in doing a lot of reading or thinking
about, spiritual teachings, but they are only concerned with practice
instructions and encouragement to practice, then the First Ring teachings
are the best choice. However, if one is still interested in learning the
details of the matrix in which the teachings arise, or interested in thinking
about the teachings and would like to learn intellectually what inquiry,
attention, abidance, and the Direct Path of Sri Ramana Maharshi mean,
then the second ring teachings are the best choice for that.
The Second Ring teachings are also a step by step guide to the practice
of Self-inquiry, Self-abidance and Self-attention.
People would visit Sri Sadhu Om and ask him various questions and tell
him that they were not making any progress with asking ‘To whom do these
thoughts arise?’, etc. Sri Sadhu Om’s answer to such questions became
the book “The Path Of Sri Ramana, Part One”. What Sri Sadhu Om reveals
about the practice of Self-inquiry in that book amounts to a person who
was traveling in a Bullock Cart (asking ‘to whom do these thoughts arise?’)
being introduced to Jet Travel (Awareness watching awareness).
Second Ring Links:
Self-inquiry from The Path of
Sri Ramana Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om. Describes and approach to Self-inquiry
that is more like Self-attention.
The Technique of Self-inquiry from
The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om. The final chapter. A detailed
teaching on Sri Ramana Maharshi’s method of Self-inquiry.
The Path of Sri Ramana,
Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om (Yahoo group) You can receive quotes in
your email from this book. After clicking this link, click “join this
group”.
The Change: The reasons
for the change from the old web pages to the new. This link also includes
a step by step way for people within the Ramana Maharshi tradition who
think Self-inquiry is asking “Who am I?” or asking “To whom do these thoughts
arise” to see Self-inquiry in a new light, by seeing the most direct means
to realize the Self taught by Ramana Maharshi: Self-Abidance.
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. Why should confusion be created and then explained
away? Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself in this maze!”
- Sri Ramana from the book “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi”
THE THIRD RING (third most direct)
If the English translation of some of these links had been different,
thus producing a more clear communication, they might have been placed
under the first or second ring. However, when one becomes ripe and serious,
a teaching must not only be direct, but also be communicated in the clearest,
most concise manner, to qualify as most direct and therefore First Ring.
Who Am I? by Sri
Ramana Maharshi
Forty Verses on Reality
by Sri Ramana Maharshi
THE FOURTH RING
I AM THAT: An excellent and unique
collection of more than 200 quotes by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that emphasize
the importance of practice, earnestness, effort and instructions on how
to practice.
THE FIFTH RING
DIRECT PATH: An article by Mouni
Sadhu about Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Direct Path
BIOGRAPHY:
A brief biography of Sri Ramana Maharshi
WINGS: An article
by Michael James about Sri Sadhu Om and Sri Muruganar and what their role
is in clearly presenting the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
THE SIXTH RING
Ceasing to Pretend One Wishes
to be Liberated: An article about the tricky ego.
Spiritual Business:
Why spiritual Truth is distorted into lies.
Sahaja: What is Liberation
according to Sri Ramana Maharshi? Includes warnings against the false
sense of liberation.
The Path of Surrender
Click to read the instructions for the Abandon
Release Method
THE SRI RAMANA COMMUNITY
SRI RAMANA COMMUNITY PAGE:
List of Individuals and groups interested in the Teachings of Sri Ramana
Maharshi. Listed according to City, State and Country.
Ashram in India
Regarding the next two links, SRI RAMANASRAMAM NEIGHBORHOOD and TRAVELING
TO TIRUVANNAMALAI. I do not recommend that anyone make a trip to India
for any spiritually related purpose such as to visit Sri Ramanasramam
or to visit Arunachala, etc. Arunachala is the Self, and the Self is within
us. To look upon Arunachala as the Self is to take the Direct Path. To
look upon Arunachala as a mountain in India is to take an indirect path.
When people asked about making such a trip, Sri Ramana almost always advised
against making such a journey. Therefore it might look like a contradiction
to provide the travel information below. However, I know that many people
will not follow my advice or Sri Ramana’s repeated advice against making
such a Journey. I can well understand the desire of those who view Sri
Ramana as their Guru to make such a trip, even though Sri Ramana so often
advised against it. Therefore, for those people who are going to go to
Tiruvannamalai, I would like them to have the best experience possible
and I wish them well. Therefore, to make the journey a good experience
for them, I have provided the following map and directions of the Sri
Ramanasramam Neighborhood, and the other information link. Printing up
the map and directions and taking it with one to Tiruvannamalai, can dramatically
improve the quality of one’s experience in a trip to Tiruvannamalai, because
then one instantly has the feeling of knowing where things are instead
of the feeling of being lost. Also, all that energy is saved that one
would have spent in trying to find places.
SRI RAMANASRAMAM
NEIGHBORHOOD - Word Doc file: Map and directions (right click
to download without opening).
TRAVELING TO TIRUVANNAMALAI:
Lots of information including ashrams, accommodations and local gurus.
DIRECT PATH BOOKS
and a list of online bookstores that sell them.
HAPPINESS OF BEING: This
is Michael James website. It is dedicated to exploring in depth the philosophy
and practice of the spiritual teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.
After clicking that link, if you look under the “BOOKS” category you will
see a link called “Happiness and the Art of Being”. If you click that
link, you can read the book “Happiness and the Art of Being” by Michael
James.