Ramana Maharshi Devotee Swami Chidbhavananda Shares His Experiences

Swami Chidbhavananda joined the Ramakrishna Order at a very young age. Later he established his own Asramam near Tiruchi which is flourishing. His birth centenary was celebrated recently.

IT WAS in the year 1922 that a few of us religiously inclined college students undertook a pilgrimage from Madras to Tiruvannamalai for a darshan of Ramana Maharshi. The Asramam was then in its initial stage. An august person was seated on a raised platform, and it was evident he was the sage whom we had come to see.

Around him on the floor were seated a number of devotees, all intently looking at him, and we found our places among them. Silence reigned supreme. The presiding deity of the Asramam was the author of that silence, hence its perfection. This was a novel experience for us, but we took to this congenial environment quite happily.

There was no such thing as a formal introduction of newly arrived devotees. As others did, we sat quietly. Maharshi turned his penetrating gaze at us off and on. We felt ourselves highly blessed by his benign look. Occasionally he spoke a word or two, which was always pertinent and to the point. But his silence was more eloquent. An occasional smile revealed his bliss.

Visiting devotees often brought packets of sugar-candy or some such thing and offered them to him. He would help himself to a tiny piece from the packet and pass it on to the assembled group. Then and there it would be shared by the entire lot.

I made deeper personal contact with the Maharshi in the year 1928. I had renounced the world in 1923 and joined the Ramakrishna Math. In 1926 I entered the order of sannyasa.

From 1926 to 1940 I was in charge of the Ramakrishna Asramam at Ootacamund. During that period, when I travelled between Ootacamund and Madras, I took as many opportunities as possible to go to Tiruvannamalai in order to see the Maharshi. I was not inclined to talk much with him; being seated in his presence was more than sufficient. Occasionally he spoke, but his silence was what I sought and prized every time I went to him. A purified enquirer made a rich harvest of the blissful calmness that prevailed in his presence.

The Maharshi occupied a couch in a corner of a middle-sized hall in the Asramam. Barring this corner the entire hall was at the disposal of the visiting public, and anybody could go into the hall at any time of the day or night. Visiting devotees would quietly steal in, sit for a while in quiet meditation and then leave unobtrusively. One day a man following the path of devotion came in and occupied a place very near the sage. Then he unburdened all that lay buried in his heart.

His speech was choked with feeling. He poured forth, "I have gone on pilgrimage all over the land. I have been regular in my spiritual practices. Many a sleepless night have I passed in prayer. Still to this day I have had no mercy from the Lord. I am forlorn." He cried bitterly, but Maharshi sat unconcerned. Eventually all his suppressed feelings were worked out, and then in a measured voice the sage said, "Strange man. He cries – what is there to sob about? Instead of being poised in the blissful Self, he goes on wailing." This observation had a telling effect. The man saw that his problem was self-created, and a new chapter in his life started.

On another occasion a talkative man made his appearance in the hall. He chose to sit near the sage and unceremoniously raised a question, "Bhagavan, what is your view on birth control?" There was no answer, so the man explained at length the importance of the topic. Again getting no reply, he continued until he could say no more, and then fell silent. Silence reigned supreme in the hall. In the midst of this silence, Maharshi asked, "Do you know death control?" There was no response.

One day it was suggested to Maharshi that no spiritual progress could ever be made without sadhana, or spiritual discipline. After a pause he made these observations:

"Mind it is that binds man, and the same mind it is that liberates him. Mind is constituted of sankalpa and vikalpa, desire and disposition. Desire shapes and governs disposition. Desire is of two kinds – the noble and the base. The base desires are lust and greed. Noble desire is directed towards enlightenment and emancipation. Base desire contaminates and clouds the understanding. Sadhana is easy for the aspirant who is endowed with noble desires. Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over. This is the essence of all spiritual discipline!"

During one of my visits I was seated at some distance from Maharshi. There were many devotees in the hall and the usual silence prevailed. I remembered his injunction to "Plunge the pure mind into the Heart," and decided to practise it then. I gazed at him and he gazed back at me. What followed was indescribable. His body seemed a glass case from which a blissful brilliance streamed out. More than half an hour passed this way. It was an experience unique and unforgettable.

It confirmed Ramakrishna's statement that spiritual experience can be transmitted from one person to another in the manner in which material things are handed over.

Bharata Varsha is ever the bestower of spirituality on mankind. Ramana Maharshi is verily a true spiritual son of this holy land, who spontaneously and impersonally showered benediction on mankind.

— The Mountain Path, Jayanthi, 1998

Source: http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2010/?pg=jul-aug#article.5

My Spritual Friend Subramanian R garu wants to add few more points

Swami Chidbhavananda is quite popular in Tamizh Nadu.In fact,right from early 60's after he left SRK Math, he has been running a Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam, in a small town on the banks of Kaveri river, called Tirupparaithurai, about 20 kms from Tiruchy.

He published a bulky hard bound book, a commentary on Srimad Bhagavad Gita, in Tamizh, which was priced at Rs 5.00.He has also done a similar commentary on Tiruvachakam, equally bulky and hard bound for Rs 5.00. These two books have seen about 35 editions.The price is somewhat more now because of inflation.It should be priced around Rs 150 now. The commentaries have been interlaced with SRK's stories and anecdotes. He is running a orphanage in that small town, where Vedas and Tamizh bhakti literature are taught to the children.

I am not sure whether he is still alive now. My father had met him several times, while we were in Tiruchy.

Like Chidbhavananda, Sri Chinmayananda has also met Bhagavan Ramana, before his joining Swami Tapovan in Uttarakasi.He has said: All that I had learnt for 6 years in Uttarakasi, had been taught by Bhagavan in about 15 minutes of His gazing at me! He was then called Balakrishna Menon.

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Interview with Ramana Maharshi Devotee David Godman

Source: http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2010/07/interview-with-david-godman.html



“I was born in 1953 in Stoke-on-Trent, a British city of about 300,000, located about halfway between Birmingham and Manchester. My father was a schoolmaster and my mother was a physiotherapist who specialised in treating physically handicapped children. Both of my parents are dead. I have one sister who is a year older than me. She is a former professional mountaineer who now teaches mountain and wilderness skills and occasionally leads groups to exotic and inaccessible places. My younger sister, now 43, teaches in a college in England, although nowadays she apparently spends most of her time monitoring the competence of other teachers, which I assume doesn't make her very popular.

I was educated at local schools and in 1972 won a place at Oxford University, where I did very little academic work, but had an enormous amount of fun. Sometime in my second year there I found myself getting more and more interested in Eastern spiritual traditions. I seemed to have an insatiable hunger for knowledge about them that resulted in massive bookstore bills, which I couldn't really afford, but not much satisfaction. Then, one day, I took home a copy of Arthur Osborne's The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi in his Own Words. Reading Ramana's words for the first time completely silenced me. My mind stopped asking questions, and it abandoned its search for spiritual information. It somehow knew that it had found what it was looking for.

I have to explain this properly. It wasn't that I had found a new set of ideas that I believed in. It was more of an experience in which I was pulled into a state of silence. In that silent space I knew directly and intuitively what Ramana's words were hinting and pointing at. Because this state itself was the answer to all my questions, and any other questions I might come up with, the interest in finding solutions anywhere else dropped away. I suppose I must have read the book in an afternoon, but by the time I put it down it had completely transformed the way I viewed myself and the world.

The experiences I was having made me understand how invalid were the academic techniques of acquiring and evaluating knowledge. I could see that the whole of academia was based on some sort of reductionism: separating something big into its little component parts, and then deriving conclusions about how the "big something" really worked. It's a reasonable approach for comprehending mechanical things, such as a car engine, but I understood - and knew by direct experience - that it was a futile way of gaining an understanding of oneself and the world we appear to be in. When I went through my academic textbooks after having these experiences, there was such a massive resistance both to their contents and to the assumptions that lay behind them, I knew I could no longer even read them, much less study them in order to pass exams. It wasn't an intellectual judgement on their irrelevance, it was more of a visceral disgust that physically prevented me from reading more than a few lines.



David Godman, Tiruvannamalai June 2010





I dropped out in my final year at Oxford, went to Ireland with my Ramana books, and spent about six months reading Ramana's teachings and practicing his technique of self-inquiry. I had just inherited a small amount from my grandmother so I didn't need to work that year. I rented a small house in a rural area, grew my own food, and spent most of my time meditating. This was 1975. At the end of that year my landlady reclaimed her house and I went to Israel. I wanted to go somewhere sunny and warm for the winter, and then return to Ireland the following spring. I worked on a kibbutz on the Dead Sea and while I was there decided I could have a quick trip to India and Ramanasramam before I went back to Ireland. I figured out the costs and realised I couldn't afford it unless another 200 Pounds appeared from somewhere. I decided that if Bhagavan wanted me to go to India, he would send me the money. Within a week I received a letter from my grandmother's lawyer saying that he had just found some shares that she owned, and that my share of them would be 200 Pounds. I came to India, expecting to stay six weeks, and have been here more or less ever since.”


Questions:

RS: You said that you spent six months practicing self-inquiry based on your reading of Sri Ramana's books. Were you able to get a good understanding of the method from your reading? I ask because this seems to be difficult for most people. Did you need to modify your understanding later when you went to Sri Ramanasramam?

DG: I did find it hard to practise self-inquiry merely by reading books simply because I did not have access to much material. I had at that time only managed to find Arthur Osborne's three books on Ramana. Though they explained most aspects of the teachings quite well, I don't think that Osborne had a good understanding of self-inquiry. He seemed to think that concentrating on the heart center on the right side of the chest while doing self-inquiry was an integral part of the process. When I later read Bhagavan's answers in books such as ‘Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi’ and ‘Day by Day with Bhagavan’, I realized that he specifically advised against this particular practice. Overall, though, I got a good grounding from these books. I had a passion to follow the practice and a deep faith in Bhagavan. I think that this elicited grace from Bhagavan and kept me on the right path. If the attitude is right and if the practice is intense enough, it doesn't really matter what you do when you meditate. The purity of intent and purpose carries you to the right place.

RS: If someone wants to learn self-inquiry, what should they read?

DG: I don't know what book I would recommend to new people who want to start self-inquiry. ‘Be As You Are’ is certainly a good start since it was designed for Westerners who have had no previous exposure to Bhagavan and his teachings. There is also a book by Sadhu Om: ‘The Path of Sri Ramana Part One’. It is a little dogmatic in places but it covers all the basic points well. Self-inquiry is a bit like swimming or riding a bicycle. You don't learn it from books. You learn it by doing it again and again till you get it right.

Arunachala brought me here in the same way it brought Ramana here. And it has kept me here for most of the last 25 years. I have occasionally left to be with teachers in other places: Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay, Lakshmana Swamy in Andhra Pradesh, Papaji in Lucknow, but Arunachala has always brought me back here afterwards. It's my spiritual center of gravity. I can make an effort to be somewhere else if I feel I would spiritually benefit from it, but when I stop making that effort, the natural pull of Arunachala brings me back here again. It's the only place in the world that I feel truly at home.

Arunachala has been attracting people for well over 1,500 years. Ramana liked to quote a saint of about 500 years ago who wrote in one of his verses, "Arunachala, you draw to yourself all those who are rich in jnana tapas." Jnana tapas can be translated as the extreme efforts made by those who are in search of liberation.

There are dozens of teachers nowadays who tour the world touting their experiences and their teachings. Many of them trace their lineage back to Ramana Maharshi via Papaji. And where did Ramana Maharshi's power and authority come from? From Arunachala, his own Guru and God. He explicitly stated that it was the power of Arunachala that brought about his own Self-realization. He wrote poems extolling its greatness, and in the last 54 years of his life, he never moved more than a mile and a half away from its base. So, it is the power of Arunachala that is the true source of the power that now appears as "advaita messengers" all over the world.

For me, this is the world's great power spot. Arunachala has brought about the liberation of several advanced seekers in the past few centuries, and its radiant power remains even today as a beacon for those who want to find out who they really are.

If you ask people, ‘What are Sri Ramana’s teachings?’ who have become acquainted with his life and work, you might get several answers such as "advaita" or "self-inquiry." I don't think Sri Ramana's teachings were either a belief system or a philosophy, such as advaita, or a practice, such as self-inquiry.

Sri Ramana himself would say that his principal teaching was silence, by which he meant the wordless radiation of power and grace that he emanated all the time. The words he spoke, he said, were for the people who didn't understand these real teachings. Everything he said was therefore a kind of second-level teaching for people who were incapable of dissolving their sense of "I" in his powerful presence. You may understand his words, or at least think that you do, but if you think that these words constitute his teachings, then you have really misunderstood him.

I have come to the conclusion that Bhagavan brought me to Tiruvannamalai to write about him and his disciples. I have learned this the hard way. I went back to England twenty years ago, hoping to earn enough money to come back to India and not do any work here. Nobody was willing to hire me to do anything. I even flunked an interview for picking up litter in the London zoo. But as soon as I had the idea of writing a book about Bhagavan, everything fell into place. Though I had never written anything in my life, I was given a contract by a major publisher and sent back to India to write about him. That's how, ‘Be As You Are’ came into existence.

Whenever I do work on Bhagavan or his disciples, everything goes well. Whenever I try to do something else, so many problems come up, nothing ever gets accomplished or completed.

Having learned this from experience, I have now surrendered to this destiny. I enjoy the work, and many, many people seem to appreciate the books. I asked Papaji years ago whether writing all these books on Bhagavan was a distraction for the mind.

He replied, "Any association with Bhagavan is a blessing." I took that as an instruction to carry on with the work.”

To read more about David Godman and to view a list of his published works, please visit his website at:

http://www.davidgodman.org/

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Ramana Maharshi Disciple Sadhu Om About Two Meanings Of Mind

The word ‘mind’ is generally taken to be a collective name for the whole multitude of thoughts, although in actual fact the only fundamental and essential characteristic of the mind is the root thought ‘I’, the first person singular feeling.

Thus the word ‘mind’ may be said to have two meanings. Its primary meaning is the subjective aspect of the mind, namely the first person thought ‘I’, while its secondary meaning is the objective aspect of the mind, namely the multitude of other thoughts, all of which exist only by depending upon this first thought ‘I’. This multitude of thoughts is only a crowd of second person objects.

Source: The Path Of Sri Ramana Part Two By Sri Sadhu Om

Note: Moreover in srimad bhagavatam it is written

The mind is not to be killed.Mind or desire cannot be stopped, but to develop a desire to function for spiritual realization, the quality of engagement by the mind has to be changed. The mind is the pivot of the active sense organs, and as such if the quality of thinking,feeling and willing is changed, naturally the quality of actions by the instrumental senses will also change.

Srimad Bhagavatham, 2.1.17.

My Spritual Friend Viswanathan Garu wants to add few more points

In Sri Ramana Noorrirattu,under the chapter NaanYar , Bhagaan repeatedly uses the word Mana adakkam and I do not find the word mano nasam(killing of mind) anywhere.I consider the original Tamil version Nan yar as gospel..

Probability, when Naan Yar was translated in English/sanskrit, the word mano nasam has been introduced.This is the problem with translation of original tamil works of Bhagaan in other languages.As per Mr.Gangolli,in his video interview wide ,he says that mano nasam is not the appropriate word and mano nigraham is the proper word because the mind itself is non existence apart from Self and if so where is the question killing of non existence thing.

If you go through the English translation of Naan yar by Mr.Michel james whom i have highest regard,he uses the word mano nigraham only and not mano nasam and his transalion of Naan yar is reproduced below in italics.

PARAGRAPH SIXTEEN

Since in every [true spiritual] treatise it is said that for attaining mukti [spiritual emancipation, liberation or salvation] it is necessary [for us] to restrain [our] mind, after knowing that mano-nigraha [holding down, holding within, restraining, subduing, suppressing or destroying our mind] is the ultimate intention [or purpose] of [such] treatises, there is no benefit [to be gained] by studying without limit [a countless number of] treatises. For restraining [our] mind it is necessary [for us] to investigate ourself [in order to know] who [we really are], [but] instead [of doing so] how [can we know ourself by] investigating in treatises?

Bhagavan has given a beautiful answer about the state of Samadhi also known as Jagrat Sushupthi and i quote from Guru Ramana under the chapter meditation and the answer was dated 12th Feb 1936 and is as follows:In Samadhi,the mind is in jagrat, but being free from thoughts,it enjoys the bliss of sushupti in which the mind is withdrawn.In samadhi,the mind is so alert that it experiences Brahman.if it were not so fully awake,how would it know Brahman?.

From this reply of Bhagaan,it is clear that in Samadhi state which as per Bhagavan is the state of self,mind is fully awake and is also alert.I am sure that this answer by Bhagavan will clear the doubt whether there is mind(thoughts) or not after realization.

There is another beautiful definition given by Swami Suddhananda wrt to difference between deep sleep state and Samadhi state and is as follows."In deep sleep, you are withdrawn but you are not aware that you are withdrawn where as in Samadhi state you are withdrawn and you are also aware that you are withdrawn.

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Ramana Maharshi About Simultaneous Creation

“When Adi Sankara wanted to explain this process of simultaneous creation, He gave the example of a city which is seen reflected, in a mirror”. ‘Visvam darpana drisyamana nagari…’ (the opening words of Dakshinamurti Stotram). In his time no better example than that was available. But if he were living nowdays,he would certainly have given the very apt example of a cinema projector.

Let us therefore see how Sri Bhagavan used to explain the creation of the world
with the example of a cinema projector.

In a cinema projector there is a bright arc-lamp,in front of which passes a film, and in front of that there is a lens. The rays of the light which comes from the arc-lamp pass through the film, are enlarged by the lens and create a large picture on the distant screen. The arc-lamp in the projector is similar to Self, which shines within our body.

The film which is close to the arc-lamp is similar to the very subtle tendencies or vasanas accumulated within us.

The lenses by which these tendencies are enlarged and made gross are the five sense organs.When the tendencies, which are thoughts in their very subtle seed-form, are projected out through the five senses by the light of Self, they are made gross and are seen as the picture of this outside world consisting of so many different names and forms,which are merely the five sense-knowledges.

That is,the multitude of very subtle tendencies which exist within us is seen by us as the vast universe outside.Therefore everything which is seen outside is in truth
only what was already existing inside.

Know clearly that everything which is perceived having come (out) through the mind (and the five senses), was already existing as tendencies (vasanas) in the heart, like a hidden treasure, and (therefore merely) an old story which has come out to be seen.

– Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 84.

If there were no arc-lamp in the cinema projector,the picture show could not appear on the screen.Similarly, if the light of self were not present, the creation, sustenance of this world could not take place. The light of Self is that which is commonly known by the name ‘God’.

If the film-reel were not in the projector, the picture-show consisting of names and forms would not appear on the screen. Instead only a bright light would be seen there.

Similarly, what shines in the outlook of the Jnani, in whom all the tendencies have been destroyed, is not this world picture consisting of names and forms; what the Jnani experiences is only Himself, the unlimited light of Selfconsciousness.

Source: The Path Of Sri Ramana Part Two By Sri Sadhu Om

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Ramana Maharshi About Second And Third Person Objects

Among these three entities, what is called the soul or jiva is ‘we’, the first person. This world which we perceive in front of us through the five senses is a second person object, while God and these objects of the world which we do not now directly perceive through the senses are third person objects.

The Tamil word for second person is munnilai, which etymologically means ‘that which stands in front’, so whenever the term ‘second person’ is used, in Sri Bhagavan’s teachings it denotes those objects which are directly perceived in front of us through the five senses, while the term ‘third person’ denotes those objects which are not now perceived in front of us but which are thought of by the mind.

Concerning which one of these three entities, the soul, world and God, and to which one of these three entities do problems arise? The world, which now appears in front of us as something insentient, is an object known by us.

No problems arise for it concerning either the soul or God, and hence it does not have to grieve over its inability to solve those problems. If we then consider God, “Where is He? What is His nature? Does He have any problems concerning the world and
soul?

If any such problems exist for Him, are they the first and most important thing for us to attend to?” We will have to conclude that for Him also there cannot be any problems.

Thus it is clear that no problems of any kind exist either for the world or for God. Therefore it is only for us, the soul, the knowing subject, that countless problems arise concerning the world and God.

Source: The Path Of Sri Ramana Part Two By Sri Sadhu Om

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Suryanarayana Raju: Self-inquiry is the process of dissolution of ego in Self awareness

We live with the ego,in ego,centered in the ego.We say "I","I" without knowing
its import.We do not know the nature of "I" but we go on announcing "I am,I am".

So this type of I amness is false because we do not know who this "I" is.So the one who says "I" is a false "I".Many think that Self-inquiry is to find out really "who am i".

In Self-inquiry if we can cling to "I" thought constantly other thoughts are rejected.So the whole bundle of thoughts which is commonly called ego is rejected,negated just by clinging to "I" thought.So if we go on inquiring "who am i" like that we are bound to find that ego is ephemeral.

So this inquiry leads to dissolution of false "I" i.e ego, in awareness.Once we are aware of the ego process a distance is created between our consciousness and the ego and we no longer give energy to it.

Ego is not self sustaining entity unlike the Self,so if energy supply is stopped
because we are aware of it,it subsides slowly and naturally and it lasts for quite sometime even after energy supply is cut to it till its past momentum comes to zero level.

Many feel that they get some answer by doing "who am i' inquiry if they go on doing it sincerely.There is going to be no answer.It is only that the question and the questioner will dissolve.Then there will be no one to ask the question "who am i".

When you existentially that false 'I' is not,the "real I" opens.When the ego is not,you are for the first time encountering your being.That being is a conscious void.So when you become aware of ego it dissolves.

Try to find out whether there is any center in you that you can call your "I".Go deep down within yourself,go on trying to find out where is this "I',Where is the abode of this ego.So Self-inquiry is the process of negating the false 'I',it is not a technique in literal sense.

When you are an ego,you are like a peak.Ego means you are above every one else
whether they recognize it or not.Because you feel like a peak nothing can enter you.
With Self-inquiry we find that ego does not exist.Then one becomes a depth,a valley,a vacant space,like a conscious sky which cannot be bound to anything.

We can bind somethingness but we cannot bind nothingness.When we find our being which is nothing but bottomless vacuum,in that void the whole existence begins to pour into our being from everywhere.

This type of feeling that we are a conscious void happens when we surrender our ego to a mater and he begins to flow into us immediately.

If we cannot feel energy flowing into we must know well that we have not surrendered our ego to the master who is none other than your own Self.

Once we know that through surrender we receive something unknown,unbelievable,unexpected,never even dreamed of, then we surrender to
the existence totally.(Poorna saranagathi).So surrendering to the master gives you the courage for total surrender.

So Self-inquiry is the process of dissolving the false "I" in Self awareness which implies surrendering of ego to the Self awareness.In this way "when you are not as the ego",for the first time you are "as you really are".

About the Author

Sri Suryanarayana Raju is interested in Self-Enquiry in the light of Sri Ramana Maharshi,Osho,JK.He wrote two books on "Self-Enquiry" and "Commented on Upadesa Saram and Akshara Mana Malai". available for download at http://www.esnips.com/ web/ramana-maharshi

http://www.facebook.com/Arunachalasiva

Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=416613621864

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Swami Sivananda About Vritti And Mind

The mind-stuff is citta. It is a mental substance.Vrtti or thought-wave is a modification of the mind stuff. It is a process. Just as waves and bubbles arise from the surface of the ocean, so also these vrttis arise on the surface of the mind-ocean.

Just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun, so also these mental rays (modifications of the vrtti), emanate from the mind-sun. Just as the sun merges itself into the horizon at sunset, by collecting all its rays, so also you have to merge in the sun of suns, absolute consciousness, eternal peace, by collecting all the dissipated mental rays and dissolving the mind itself.

The function of the vrtti in the mind is to cause the removal of the cause of ignorance covering objects. Gross ignorance is enveloping all objects. When it is removed, then perception of objects becomes possible.

Through its own effort the mind assumes the shape of any object, and concentrates upon itself. When the mind thinks of Brahman, the sole ultimate thought of Brahman is formed. Be vigilant. Watch the mind and its activities. The object does not bind you - it is the vrtti, the identification with the vrtti, that causes attachment and bondage.

If you become one with the mind, body and vrttis you get various sorts of miseries and sufferings. The whole universe is created by the vrttis alone.If these mental thought-waves subside you can attain the absolute state of highest peace and bliss. Just as soap cleanses the physical body, even so japa (repetition) of any mantra, dhyana (meditation) and kirtan (chanting), together with the practice of yama and niyama (discipline), cleanse the mind of all impurities. Just as you nourish the physical body with food, even so you will have to give food for the mind and spiritual food for the soul.

Only when the modifications cease do you enter the silence. Realise this. Close the eyes, draw in the senses, still the mind, silence the thoughts, sharpen the intellect, purify the citta, meditate on Om and chant it with feeling. Enter the silence. Silence is Atman, the centre - it is in the heart-cave. When the mind runs from one object to another, the state in the interval, wherein you become mindless, is Brahman.

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