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Never Mind
Quotes from Sri Nannagaru's Teachings
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A distillation of the "Words of Nectar"from the wonderful book SADHANA FOR TAMING THE MIND by Sadguru Sri Nanna Garu.
Sri Nanna Garu is a fully awakened Master in the great tradition of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. He teaches Self-inquiry and is known for his Great Silence. Sri Nanna Garu hails from Andhra Pradesh and has a large and devoted following. He is clear as a bell, no nonsense and full of divine love. You can find him inside yourself. Sometimes in November or December you can find him at his ashram walking distance from Sri Ramana Ashram. Please read the original book for more clarity and subtle connections. Until then please enjoy these words of nectar.
Originally translated by M. Sivaramkrishna from lectures in Telugu'
- Knowledge without devotion is like dal without salt.
- Ramana Maharshi used to say that the world-the individual and God are all created by the mind, are mental concepts
- God dances ecstatically with supreme joy when you achieve supreme awareness.
- If you possess devotion, delusion dissolves. Maya has got to step down
- Until now, no sage has declared that he is a sage. The reason is this has to be told by the mind. The sage has no mind.
- In Bhagavan's presence we become the Atman. Where there is no mind, there are no words. There is nothing to tell.
- Even when someone harms the Jnani or hates him, he cannot respond in the same way. Because, he does not have that quality within himself.
- Enlightenment comes to the one who experiences sleep which is not sleep. You should be in a state of nonexistence as far as the world is concerned. That is the true state
- For the real "I" there are no limits. It is infinite. It is the witness of all. The artificial "I" has limitations.
- When we realize the self, we recognize that we havn't come from anywhere nor are we going somewhere. We feel that we are always existing and we are everywhere.
- Your body is only there for your ego.
- Thought emerges from latent tendencies (vasanas). The mind generates the limitations of time and space. All that exists everywhere is also in me.
- The Atman exists nameless, imperishable, formless and un-manifest. It is not within the reach of your mind.
- If you struggle with the mind , it gets strengthened.
- Maya moves in the middle of dualities.
- The guru's debt is redeemed only when his teaching is truly understood and sincerely followed.
- Who is it that says that a particular dish is tasty or not tasty. Catch him-the one who tastes.
- He replied: "I do not know what is happening in my mind. Why should I bother myself with the minds of others?"
- Whatever we feel agitated about, it is certain that fear lurks behind it. So long as it lasts, agitation will continue.
- What appears as different from you can never be true.
- A woman thinks that she is a woman, A man thinks he is a man. This is hundred percent a sinful quality.
- Death means an invitation that God sent.
- This entire cosmos or creation is conjured up and created by egoism. What else is there left to say?
- So long as you remain in the network, the web of mind's creation , the world pounds you into pieces and makes a pulp of you
- The sun does not know what is night. For the real "I", there is no sense of time, there are no rebirths, no qualities
- Mind, therefore, is only a bundle of dispositions and habits. Once you plant the habit of silence in the mind, the sense of "I" of egoism is destroyed.
- Your mind only punishes your mind.
- The mind likes the sense of difference, of division. It does not relish the sense of the Supreme Self. The mind has imbedded in it, thoughts that are adequate for crores of births.
- One day or the other, we have to unlearn what we learnt through the mind.
- So long as the mind lasts, we cannot imagine a formless God.
- The feeling we have when we do not digest our food-such is the feeling Buddhi(intelligence) has when it does not get its quota of sensuous objects.
- Similarly, you should live like the ocean full of water, majestically.
- The mind means a reflected picture. It is a shadow.
- A king asked a devotee: "Does God eat anything?." The devotee replied, "Yes, He does, he eats "I".
- If the student is unable to understand, the fault is not of the student, but of the teacher. When a teacher has clarity, even a wall can understand.
- "What do you want, child" Bhagavan asked. "I don't want anything,"replied the boy. Then Bhagavan exclaimed, "Oh, boy! After what a long gap, I could catch a person of my own species!"
- Bhagavan also said, "If you enquire into the question of "Who am I?" you have done the greatest service to yourself. When you question yourself without your intelligence in that manner, you will surely achieve success."
- The times of Gautama Buddha and Ramana Bhagavan are the Golden Age, They were Great Masters who tried to give peace and joy without interferemce of intermediaries.
- Bhagavan was asked: "tell me point blank when I will attain freedom(mokshaj ?" He replied: "When you realize that you were not bom." The body takes birth. But not the Self(Atman). You are that Self. When you realize this fact, you will achieve freedom. That is the point Bhagavan made. Bhagavan said: "When you are that which has no death, where is the question of your dying?"
- By keeping the mind constantly in the heart, pre-dispositions (vasanas), do not change into thoughts.
- Pain helps you interiorize your mind.
- The person who constantly thinks of the future is one who has, so to say, wasted all his time.
- A torch shows the rope as a rope and not as a serpent. Likewise, the torch light of self-enquiry shows whet is true and what is false.
- If it is ordained by fate, it will certainly happen, even if you are not aware of it. And that which is not in your fate, will not happen even if you long for it.
- So long as you have attachment to your body, sorrow follows you as your shadow. Follows you without fail.
- Those who desire fruits of their actions are bound to be born again. This is a benchmark.
- Do not identify yourself with your thoughts. Be a witness, But don't imagine that thoughts should not be there at all. Remain passive, without doing anything at all.
- The senses constitute the first entry door. All the experiences enter the mind through this door.
- You are leading your life in the darkness of ignorance and with the lamp called your mind. When the sun appears, there is no need for a lamp.
- Silence(mouna)is to stay rooted in the mind's place of birth, its origin.
- We should live in such a way that others should feel pity for us and not become jealous of us. We should externally, appear very common.
- Gandhiji said: "Not living as a wotness to the world but living as witness to the mind: The mind of a person who lives in this manner moves towards awareness."
- When you promise to visit with someone at a precisely indicated time, then go there punctually, at the exact moment.
- If you do like that, God will make those whom you hate be bom in your family in your next birth.
- Sri Krishna said "The value you attach to your guru, you should give to time also." He also said, "I am the embodiment of time."
- The path of self-enquiry is a direct path. There is no reason for the thought of "I". It is cent percent concoction, fabrication.
- Sadhana does not mean achieving something. It is getting rid of the ego.
- Surrender can be regarded as gaining huge profits with little investment.
- Swami Sivananda says: "Think twice before you speak. When doing something, think thrice before you do it."
- We gather around a TV as house flies gather round a piece of jaggery. This is opposed to the path of janana.
- We can control our mind in the waking state. But in the dream state, it is not under our control. That's why we know our innate tendencies in the dream state only. The dream is also a guru.
- Until you get vexed and tired with all the pooja, ritual and doing merit and know-there is no truth in them, your mind does not move inward.
- Muruganar, a disciple of Bhagavan Ramana, said: "After self-realization, if you continue to visit temples and mandirs, it is showing disrespect to my master, Bhagavan Ramana." Such words can be spoken only by those who have tasted the nectar of immortality.
- Believe that all that happens is for your good....all things happen according to your prarabdha (accumulated quantum of fate of your body).
- Jnana does not come to you until you uninterruptedly keep the thought that you are not the body and the mind.
- For every word, act and thought there is a reaction which is compulsory.
- The aspirant for spiritual life should not entertain ideas that "this man is good" and "that man is bad". God looks after his administration. Do not observe the bubbles. See the water.
- When your mind is quiet, guidance comes from within, from that itself.
- See everything as consciousness.
- The essence of the Gayatri mantra is: "Fill my intelligence with the light of the self."
- If one want to be happy, one should forget the past. But the ego does not allow the past to be forgotten.
- 80% of people are insane. They are upset and tense by the smallest things. Looking at them if we get disturbed, we also drift into the same state.
- Remember that everything is ephemeral.
- Paper is the basis for words, If there is no paper where will letters stand?
- Only those who have gone through miseries, trials and tribulations move closer to God. You should dissolve the mind exactly at the very point where it emerges from.
- Similarly, when the mind is destroyed, there is no question of doing meditation. Do meditation if you assume the mind exists. When you realize that you are not the mind, no meditation is necessary.
- What is the work of maya? It makes us remember all that we did in the past.
- During the night the mind merges in the heart
- But we should also forget people who talk to us adversely and disrespectfully. We should remain distant from both.
- To forget the past is also yoga.
- It is from the heart that the mental modifications(vritti) of "I" arises. From that arises the mind.
- When we remove the earth to dig a well, water gushes forth on its own. You need not discover water. Similarly, the truth is inherent, is within. You need not find or discover it. Just remove the mind which is blocking it.
- Don't imagine that you should redeem the world, make it better. You should make progress in your spiritual practice alone.
- Since there are thorns on the path, don't go on picking them and throwing them off. You put on shoes and go. Don't stop your journey. Since it is raining unfurl your umbrella and move.
- "the artificial ego" is much more dangerous than cancer. It grows as a disease from birth to birth. Ignorance is a disease.
- God's help comes when we remain calm and quiet. We ourselves do not give him an opportunity to help us.
- To a jnani (a sage) the world appears as himself. So what attraction does he have'?
- Your thoughts and your desires are your chains.
- Ostentation strengthens the ego. Simplicity weakens the ego.
- Bhagavan said: "Shut the mouth, open the heart.You should always have the longing for liberation. Your worldly desires and necessities make you go outward. Do not, at any cost, give up the longing for liberation(moksha).
- Anxiety clings to impurity. Purity has no anxiety.
- When you see a person, let not that person make you loathe him. Realize the same Brahman is there in him also.
- Similarly, when your ego dries up, your attraction and repulsion also dry up.
- Similarly, God creates many troubles and trials as well as fears so that you turn towards him and remember him. When any incident happens, do not go on brooding how did this happen. The intention behind that happening is beyonds the reach of your intelligence.
- Bhagavan said: "only to realize that there is no mind."
- Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi said: "If you want to cut at the root of the tree of egoism use the axe of "Who am I?".
- When you realize the self, you are omnipresent. You are everywhere.
- The sage loves you, because you are also himself.
- The vastness of intelligence decreases when one imposes limits on it.
- Anything comes only from where it is. It does not come or originate from where it is not.
- lf you have full faith that there is someone called "God", love him wholeheartedly, fully. He will then set aside your weaknesses, your faults and your mistakes and rescue you.
- Everyone says, "I am dying! I am dying!" but no one realizes that we are dying in sleep every night. Isn't it our condition? Why don't you reflect on your experience of the state of your sleep? The real thing is that only. But your ego makes you pretend that you are what you are not. Scriptures, Gods, worlds-you are in the space where these things are non-existent. Why don't you believe"
- You attempt to gain Jnana by going on pilgrimages. But wherever you go, your ignorance accompanies you.
- When you regard the world as unreal, your mind moves inward.
- When an outsider is suffering from sickness, you give money and think that you have done some charity. Here itself is all maya. You are not aware that (the other) body is also yours.
- Time is in your mind. There is no time in my mind.
- This is nirvana. No difference exists between life and death.
- We should have the same desperate longing to get out of the wheel of time as we have when we want to get out of a burning kiln.
- lt is from these tendencies(vasanas)only and in accordance with them only, that rebirth is decided.
- When you realize the self, all the pleasures in the entire world are equal to a small shower, compared to a vast ocean.
- When you gobble up or gulp down these words, you will experience joy
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