tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post6265796443057661761..comments2024-03-19T10:52:32.528+05:30Comments on Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi: Recent commentsDavid Godmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-34111323456307771382010-11-17T09:06:19.792+05:302010-11-17T09:06:19.792+05:30PS.This does not mean that i don't see the imp...PS.<br>This does not mean that i don't see the importance of an all-round awareness during every state of consciousness. Only the different quality of sitting seems so obvious and make it most apt for enquiry?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-4066898561873097522010-11-17T09:06:19.137+05:302010-11-17T09:06:19.137+05:30Bhagavan did not disapprove of sitting meditation....Bhagavan did not disapprove of sitting meditation. He did, however, want devotees to have the right meditative attitude throughout the day, irrespective of what they were doing or not doing. That meant doing enquiry or some other practice in the midst of worldly activities, and not just when one was sitting with one's eyes closed.David Godmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-87802170108914878562010-11-17T09:06:18.503+05:302010-11-17T09:06:18.503+05:30Somewhere in Search in Secret India Bhagavan remar...Somewhere in Search in Secret India Bhagavan remarks that sitting meditation is for spiritual novices only.<br><br>In The Power of the Presence, part one, there is quote from Bhagavan that was recorded by Sivaprakasam Pillai:<br><br>'Destruction of mind alone is tapas. This alone is one's duty. One who is doing his own work will not pay attention to anyone else's work. One should never give room for swerving from the thought of the Self. However many duties one may have, at all the other times not meant for performing duties, one must perform only self-enquiry. While standing, sitting and taking food one can do vichara, can one not? If the mind happens to forget the enquiry 'Who am I?' because of vasanas, when it remembers the enquiry, it should try not to lose hold of the enquiry again.'David Godmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-4532596813888448982008-06-19T22:50:00.000+05:302008-06-19T22:50:00.000+05:30Regarding whether to do sitting meditations or med...Regarding whether to do sitting meditations or meditating at all times I asked the same question to a very mature teacher of Advaita here and he said that first start with sitting and then involve in the world to see whether u are able to be peaceful and centered in midst of all activities and then again come back and do the sitting meditations and continue like this till the sitting meditations drops on its own accord and u are meditating ( i.e being aware of the self ) through out the entire day .<BR/><BR/>Krishnanand,<BR/>Chennai ,IndiaKrishnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11897276223601330565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-27129045951444512442008-06-18T18:56:00.000+05:302008-06-18T18:56:00.000+05:30I appreciate your point. Most devotees I have spok...I appreciate your point. Most devotees I have spoken to feel the same way that you do.<BR/><BR/>Annamalai Swami told me that Bhagavan was always telling him to incorporate his meditation with his work while he was at Ramanasramam, but he said that he could only concentrate properly on his sadhana when he had the time to sit quietly in Palakottu, with no rushing thoughts about building matters. That was after he stopped working all day.<BR/><BR/>If sitting quietly works for you, then do it. Pragmatism is the best policy. If you find something that keeps your mind quiet, then do it. However, make some effort to keep awareness during all your other activities as well. Bhagavan gave the analogy of the besieged fort in Who am I?, saying that if you can deprive the mind of new thoughts it will soon surrender. If you sit and meditate well and then go back into the world with a busy mind, the siege gets lifted and the mind gets a chance to restock its supply of thoughts.<BR/><BR/>Saradamma told me that she would do japa while she was walking to Gudur and back, a distance of several kilometres. As Bhagavan said in the quote I gave in an earlier post: whenever you are not doing duties that require some concentrated attention, put your mind on enquiry, or whatever else your practice might be.David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-63425276058534793962008-06-18T17:39:00.000+05:302008-06-18T17:39:00.000+05:30PS.This does not mean that i don't see the importa...PS.<BR/>This does not mean that i don't see the importance of an all-round awareness during every state of consciousness. Only the different quality of sitting seems so obvious and make it most apt for enquiry?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-71190287031348232792008-06-18T17:34:00.000+05:302008-06-18T17:34:00.000+05:30Thanks, David. I admit this is not my experience y...Thanks, David. I admit this is not my experience yet. During sitting i experience a strong and stable silence which seems to be of a much higher quality and much more workable than average activity. Have not most saints like Annamalai, Lakshmana, Sarada gone through intense sitting sadhana?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-80729714497494766542008-06-18T14:02:00.000+05:302008-06-18T14:02:00.000+05:30Somewhere in Search in Secret India Bhagavan remar...Somewhere in Search in Secret India Bhagavan remarks that sitting meditation is for spiritual novices only.<BR/><BR/>In The Power of the Presence, part one, there is quote from Bhagavan that was recorded by Sivaprakasam Pillai:<BR/><BR/>'Destruction of mind alone is tapas. This alone is one's duty. One who is doing his own work will not pay attention to anyone else's work. One should never give room for swerving from the thought of the Self. However many duties one may have, at all the other times not meant for performing duties, one must perform only self-enquiry. While standing, sitting and taking food one can do vichara, can one not? If the mind happens to forget the enquiry 'Who am I?' because of vasanas, when it remembers the enquiry, it should try not to lose hold of the enquiry again.'David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-71438274513013484202008-06-18T00:57:00.000+05:302008-06-18T00:57:00.000+05:30Thank you for your comment concerning sitting prac...Thank you for your comment concerning sitting practice. This i have concluded too so far. My question was: are there any specific quotes on that?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-21415365086383571812008-06-17T20:01:00.000+05:302008-06-17T20:01:00.000+05:30Bhagavan did not disapprove of sitting meditation....Bhagavan did not disapprove of sitting meditation. He did, however, want devotees to have the right meditative attitude throughout the day, irrespective of what they were doing or not doing. That meant doing enquiry or some other practice in the midst of worldly activities, and not just when one was sitting with one's eyes closed.David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-64277283109969392842008-06-17T18:06:00.000+05:302008-06-17T18:06:00.000+05:30David,concerning samadhi i understand Bhagavan' s ...David,<BR/><BR/>concerning samadhi i understand Bhagavan' s presentation as a concentration independant from sitting practice. Are there any teachings concerning which place sitting meditation has?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-25150963102929227522008-06-13T16:55:00.000+05:302008-06-13T16:55:00.000+05:30JupesGood quotes! Thanks for reminding us.Jupes<BR/><BR/>Good quotes! Thanks for reminding us.David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-41476585343772064022008-06-13T00:51:00.000+05:302008-06-13T00:51:00.000+05:30David, thank you for these responses to the questi...David, thank you for these responses to the questions Anonymous asked about Annamalai Swami's life and final days. And thank you, Anonymous, for asking them. Ever since reading your two books on him I have felt something very special about Annamalai Swami. I don't know exactly why or what it is, but I feel it nonetheless. <BR/><BR/>As I opened Final Talks just now my eyes fell on two passages that I marked long ago. Here they are:<BR/><BR/>"In every moment you have only one real choice: to be aware of the Self or to identify with the body and the mind. If you choose the latter course, don't blame God or God's Will, or predestination. God did not make you forget the Self. You yourself are making that choice every second of your life." p.38<BR/><BR/>"There is no point worrying about the outer events of your life because you can exercise no control over these destined activities. Your responsibility in this life is to see who you are, not to rewrite your life script." p.39Jupeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04562814002037188693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-32936525906751983202008-06-12T08:43:00.000+05:302008-06-12T08:43:00.000+05:30I was in Lucknow when he passed away. Sundaram, hi...I was in Lucknow when he passed away. Sundaram, his attendant, and Gabriel, a Swiss devotee were with him at the time. Gabriel was quite close to him in the last few months of his life. Sundaram was close to him for more than twenty years. He lived in Annamalai Swami's ashram from the mid-1970s onwards, and in the later years he acted as Annamalai Swami's translator when visitors came. He also looked after the ashram for a few years after Annamalai Swami passed away.<BR/><BR/>Annamalai Swami took his 'Don't visit people, don't ask for anything and don't socialise with others' upadesa from Bhagavan very seriously. He let visitors in for an hour or so in the afternoon, but only if they had some question about Bhagavan's life or teachings. If they just wanted to sit with him, or meditate with him, he would send them to Ramanasramam. He accepted that it was good to help visitors with their questions and problems, but he didn't want his ashram to be turned into a public space where people could come whenever they wanted to.<BR/><BR/>I know from a few things he said that following Bhagavan's 'Don't ask for anything' instruction made his life physically hard. There were occasions, Sundaram told me, when he had to forage for leaves on the mountain in order to eat to stay alive. He had been refused permission to go out as a begging sadhu by Bhagavan, and he was not allowed to tell anyone that he was hungry and in need of food.<BR/><BR/>He also told me once, 'I can't sit on a sofa all day with people staring at me. I have work to do.' <BR/><BR/>He was a self-sufficient man who liked to do work himself, rather than tell someone else to do it. I saw him for the last time at the end of 1994. I was on my way to Lucknow to carry on my work with Papaji, and I went to tell him I was leaving. I found him in his garden, chopping wood. He was in his late 80s at the time, but he was still strong enough to chop firewood. I got the feeling that he would much rather be doing jobs like this than be sitting in front of a group of people, answering their questions.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, Sundaram read out to him the whole biographical account from Papaji Interviews, translating it into Tamil. <BR/><BR/>He told me afterwards, 'Swami was so happy to hear this account. He even said, "I thought that Bhagavan had passed away without leaving any sons. But now I know that he has one good son living in Lucknow."'David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-84394791762448203172008-06-11T16:36:00.000+05:302008-06-11T16:36:00.000+05:30Did he have a close disciple? How did he pass away...Did he have a close disciple? How did he pass away? Were you there when he passed away?<BR/><BR/>Anything you can share based on your knowledge and interactions with him?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-74074581772562629662008-06-11T09:09:00.000+05:302008-06-11T09:09:00.000+05:30I asked Annamalai Swami about his life in Palakott...I asked Annamalai Swami about his life in Palakottu after Bhagavan died, but he didn't want to talk about it. He was only interested in talking about his association with Bhagavan.David Godmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10354181925332694222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3961358105214008284.post-80976267719762492482008-06-11T07:33:00.000+05:302008-06-11T07:33:00.000+05:30David,Is there any possibility you can share with ...David,<BR/><BR/>Is there any possibility you can share with us more details/anecdotes on the life of Annamalai Swami following the Mahasamadhi of Bhagavan? He was indeed a pinnacle of ideal disciple and so little is known about him except through your book which only increases the hunger to find out more about him!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com