{"id":7455,"date":"2018-10-16T17:37:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T17:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/guruquote.net\/?p=7455"},"modified":"2018-10-16T17:37:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T17:37:13","slug":"how-should-a-beginner-start-this-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guruquote.net\/index.php\/2018\/10\/16\/how-should-a-beginner-start-this-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"How should a beginner start this practice?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"a0\">Question : How should a beginner start this practice?<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9966;\">Ramana Maharshi :<\/span>\u00a0 The mind will subside only by means of the enquiry `Who am I?&#8217; The thought &#8216;Who am I?&#8217;, destroying all other thoughts, will itself finally be destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre. If other thoughts rise one should, without attempting to complete them, enquire <b>`To whom did they rise?&#8217; <\/b>What does it matter however many thoughts rise? At the very moment that each thought rises, if one vigilantly enquires `To whom did this rise?&#8217;, it will be known `To me&#8217;. If one then enquires <b>`Who am I?&#8217;<\/b>, the mind will turn back to its source [the Self] and the thought which had risen will also subside. By repeatedly practising thus, the power of the mind to abide in its source increases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a0\">Although tendencies towards sense-objects [vishaya vasanas], which have been recurring down the ages, rise in countless numbers like the waves of the ocean, they will all perish as meditation on one&#8217;s nature becomes more and more intense. Without giving room even to the doubting thought, `Is it possible to destroy all these tendencies [vasanas] and to remain as Self alone?&#8217;, one should persistently cling fast to self-attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a0\">As long as there are tendencies towards sense-objects in the mind, the enquiry `Who am I ?&#8217; is necessary. As and when thoughts rise, one should annihilate all of them through enquiry then and there in their very place of origin. Not attending to what-is-other [anya] is non-attachment [vairagya] or desirelessness [nirasa]. Not leaving Self is knowledge [jnana]. In truth, these two [desirelessness and knowledge] are one and the same. Just as a pearl-diver, tying a stone to his waist, dives into the sea and takes the pearl lying at the bottom, so everyone, diving deep within himself with non-attachment, can attain the pearl of Self. If one resorts uninterruptedly to remembrance of one&#8217;s real nature [swarupasmarana] until one attains Self, that alone will be sufficient.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a0\">Enquiring `Who am I that is in bondage?&#8217; and knowing one&#8217;s real nature [swarupa] alone is liberation. Always keeping the mind fixed in Self alone is called &#8216;self-enquiry&#8217;, whereas meditation [dhyana] is thinking oneself to be the absolute [Brahman], which is existence-consciousness-bliss [sat-chit-ananda].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[675,171,164],"tags":[676,421,138],"class_list":["post-7455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice","category-questions","category-ramana-maharshi","tag-practice","tag-questions","tag-ramana-maharshi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How should a beginner start this practice? 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