[Advaita-l] The man who never thinks

[H S Chandramouli]

Sri Sony Krishna Swamyji wrote

<< The sure solution to this problem is to stop identifying with the
thinking
man (the assumed 'I' or ego) and remain as the Self which never thinks but
just 'is'. In other words just to 'be' and not to think. Therefore Ramana
Maharishi remarked that it is not our nature to think. To shift one's
attention from thoughts (thinking man) to the Silent awareness behind it
(our true nature or the unthinking man) we highly need God's grace.  Only
His grace could accomplish this shift of attention for us. This alone can
make our life blessed. >>

No doubt His Grace is essential to make our life blessed. But we need to
perform our part of the contract satisfactorily to enable Him confer His
Grace. Invariably this is lost sight of. To adopt <<The sure solution to
this problem is to stop identifying with the thinking
man (the assumed 'I' or ego) and remain as the Self which never thinks but
just 'is'. In other words just to 'be' and not to think.>> a certain level
of mental preparation is needed.  At this stage of our spiritual
development , The Lord himself has streessed in the BG what we need to do
as part of our side of the contract for achieving this. All the sadhanas
needed have been highlighted. Just see the dos and donts decreed by him
listed in chapter 16 and judge for yourself to what extent they have been
adopted in our day to day life.  It is only after we perform our portion of
the contract we can expect, and He indeed does bestow, His Grace. The sure
solution therefore is to follow scrupulously the dos and donts prescribed
in the shastras for one who desires to move up on the ladder of
spirituality. There is no short cut for this.

Regards




On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 12:22 PM, Sony Krishna Swamy <
sony.soman.pillai at gmail.com> wrote:

> A self-analysis by Anand A.
>
> Source:
> http://advaita-space.org/77-advaita-articles/199-the-man-who-never-thinks
>
>
>
> We are prone to think, to perceive, to analyze, to reflect, to dream, to
> aspire during our waking hours. We jump from one thought to another, from
> one desire to another. Thus the waking hours of our whole life are spent in
> thoughts. Thoughts control us. We do
> whatever our aspirations make us do. Thus we have become the slaves of our
> mind, dancing to its tunes, its whims and fancies. The genuine sweetness of
> life is spoilt by this addictive habit. Thoughts disturb our inherent
> peace, make us commit sins much against our wish and force us to do what
> not! We feel as though we are chasing a mirage. It seems that in this wild
> goose chase we will never reach contentment. The main question that arises
> in the mind of a discriminating man is how to free oneself from the octopic
> grip of the mind. How to find the much needed repose from the great strain
> caused by unceasing volley of thoughts? To answer these questions let us
> analyze our own experience carefully.
>
> The fundamental enquiry is - Is there a silent element in us which is free
> from   this vortex of thoughts? Do we have a transcendental real nature
> which is free from the commotion of thoughts? The key to the whole haunting
> problem caused by thoughts lies in this Self analysis.
>
> If we delve deep into ourselves we discover a Silent Substratum, the base
> on which the thoughts appear, stay for a while and disappear.  Our
> intuition tells us this clearly. For we find that in deep sleep the
> thinking man is conspicuous by his absence. Yet we recollect- 'I slept
> soundly and blissfully'.  Who is it who slept happily and was not aware of
> anything? Who recognizes having slept so soundly? No thoughts are there in
> deep sleep and yet how are we aware of sound sleep and the bliss of having
> slept? All these clearly point out to an unthinking man (Self) in us who is
> just 'being'. That Self devoid of all thoughts, free from the process of
> thinking is awareness itself.  It is aware of itself - its presence and is
> an embodiment of unconditioned bliss. We just sleep and thereby realize
> bliss. We do nothing, not even wink or think in sleep to attain that bliss.
> This means that such absolute bliss is our very nature - the nature of our
> 'being'. This inherent happiness in us is obscured on waking up from deep
> slumber. On awaking from slumber all worries, all confusions crop up. Let
> us examine as to what happens on waking up? On waking up our ego - the
> thinking man arises and we lose our natural bliss. The ego - the assumed
> 'I' - 'I am so and so' the thinking man blocks the inherent bliss of the
> Self, masquerades It. Thoughts arise and we follow them. We fall into their
> snare, forgetting our true nature. The thinking man rises and the
> unthinking man (Self) recedes to the background. Just as in a cinema show
>  when the movie starts we  no longer perceive the spotless screen but see
> only the movie, similarly on the arising of the thinking man we forget the
> Self (devoid of thoughts) and get engrossed in our thoughts .
>
> Thus from our analysis so far we have found that the thinking man rises and
> sets, appears and disappears while the man (Self) who never thinks- is
> never the agent of thinking process  is the substratum of all thoughts.
>
> The sure solution to this problem is to stop identifying with the thinking
> man (the assumed 'I' or ego) and remain as the Self which never thinks but
> just 'is'. In other words just to 'be' and not to think. Therefore Ramana
> Maharishi remarked that it is not our nature to think. To shift one's
> attention from thoughts (thinking man) to the Silent awareness behind it
> (our true nature or the unthinking man) we highly need God's grace.  Only
> His grace could accomplish this shift of attention for us. This alone can
> make our life blessed.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Sony Krishna Swamy
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