An Upanishad for Modern Times
What is Enlightenment and How Do You Find It?
The experience of one’s true state of total emptiness is indescribable. No pleasure or fleeting happiness or excitement I have experienced before even comes close. Nothing I can say will compare, experience it for yourself.
February 8, 2020
Sadhana
This excerpt from a famous book about dzogchen describes the lost-in-thought state, which is referred to here as ‘mind’ and ‘distraction’.
January 8, 2020
Sadhana
The Mirror: Advice on Presence and Awareness
If one recognizes one’s own intrinsic State as pure from the beginning and only temporarily obscured by impurities, and if one maintains the presence of this recognition without becoming distracted, then all the impurities dissolve. This is the essence of the Path.
January 5, 2020
Sadhana
The complete text of the best translation of the definitive instruction manual for Self-enquiry. Includes notes, commentary, and original Tamil.
January 2, 2020
Memories
A sage is remembered by his personal assistant.
December 30, 2019
Exposition
Unconditional Love and the Surrender to Fear
As we feel the moments when need or fear enters the picture, the walls that constrain the heart, that drive us to a crippling refuge in the mind, can be felt gently to begin to crumble.
December 26, 2019
Autobiography
Kundalini created a permanent conviction that the universe is benevolent and put an end to fear.
December 24, 2019
Teaching
Deep inside each of us lies a doorway between existence and nonexistence, between experience and nothingness. In that darkness you find all your abilities to experience the world. This article contains the culmination of the author’s teachings.
December 18, 2019
Sadhana
Here Lies the Whole Secret of Knowing Oneself
Somebody who was truly Self-realized explains how it happened to him and how it can happen to you.
December 12, 2019
Classic
Lord Shiva manifests as a pillar of fire to curb the egos of Brahma and Vishnu, who were fighting with each other in a dispute over which of the two was the greater, in this famous story from the Arunachala Puranam, the 17th century Tamil classic.
September 17, 2019
Classic
Some scholars believe that the Gospel of Thomas records Jesus’s teachings more accurately than the Bible does.
September 14, 2000
Experience
An anonymous scientist describes how Kundalini performs yoga with his body and mind and puts him in an elevated spiritual state. This is Kundalini in its classic form, as people wish it to be.
July 12, 2019
Self-enquiry
‘I’ and ‘I-I’, a Reader’s Query
What did Sri Ramana Maharshi mean when he used the terms ‘I–I’ and sphurana?
July 9, 2019
Self-enquiry
Focus on the Source, not the I-thought
Avoid this common mistake that many people make with Self-enquiry.
March 6, 2019
Insight
Ramana’s Metaphor of Shaving in a Mirror
Book learning and memorization of scriptures are of no use.
January 17, 2019
Insight
The Secret Room Where Peace Lives
Can you fully accept what is, however far it departs from the thing you expected or wished for? That question turns the knob on the door.
December 15, 2018
Sadhana
The power of silence sucks the mind into a spiritual black hole from which it cannot escape.
December 13, 2018
Self-Enquiry
Isolation of the Subjective Moment
Franklin Merrell-Wolff describes how he performed the crucial step that led to his enlightenment.
December 12, 2018
Autobiography
Enlightenment Came to Me Suddenly
Freeman Dyson is a famous physicist and mathematician. Did he become enlightened at age 15?
December 12, 2018
Article
Recognition, an Inversion of Consciousness
Recognition and Liberation are attained by turning the attention toward the subjective pole and away from the objective content of consciousness. The effort must be to attain a consciousness without objective content. Such a consciousness may be likened to a light in a space that contains no objects.
April 1, 2018
Autobiography
A gifted writer visits Muktananda at his ashram in India.
January 3, 2018
Interview
The End of the Spiritual Search
An interview with Scott Kiloby by Iain McNay.
December 30, 2017
Autobiography
An extraordinarily gifted writer describes how he was changed by his guru, Muktananda.
December 22, 2017
Experience
Self-Realization is the Opposite of that Black Hole
The highest form of Mystery I ever had/felt/am
June 29, 2017
Autobiography
Three Accounts of My Awakening
Richard Rose describes his moment of Self-realization.
June 24, 2017
Book Excerpt
Swami Madhavtirtha recalls a conversation in which Ramana Maharshi explained the differences between his teachings and Sri Aurobindo’s.
September 28, 2001
Book Review
The Autobiography of an Indian Monk
by Shri Purohit Swami
The first autobiography of a yogi ever written, and the only one that received editorial assistance from a Nobel laureate in literature.
September 10, 2000
Article
After experiencing nirvikalpa thousands of times, the author was deeply disappointed because he was still the same person.
June 14, 2017
Sadhana
The Question of the Importance of Samadhi in Modern and Classical Advaita Vedanta
Do Advaitins believe that samadhi is necessary for liberation?
March 4, 2004
Sadhana
You must be possessed by this idea of finding out what this “I-am-ness” is, just as you would not rest until you found the source of a smell emanating from some place.
October 18, 2001
Sadhana
The Quintessence of My Teaching
You know you are. How do you know it? And with what did you know it? This is the sum total of my teaching needed to put you on the right track, its very quintessence.
October 3, 2001
Sadhana
That intelligence comes into being only when we are passively aware of the whole process of our consciousness, which is to be aware of ourselves without choice, without choosing what is right and what is wrong.
June 8, 2017
Sadhana
Meditation is the Ending of All Experience
Meditation is the total inaction which comes out of a mind that sees what is, without the entanglement of the past.
June 7, 2017
Experience
Two Former Students Compare Memories of Their Guru, Papaji
Arjuna Ardagh and Andrew Cohen talk about their experiences with H.W.L. Poonja.
June 6, 2017
Classic
This great classic text of Tantric Shaivism describes 112 ways to catch sight of Reality beyond the mind.
June 3, 2017
Experience
The Yoga of Three Enlightenments
Consciousness is the sunlight of our soul; Awareness, the moonlight; Kundalini, the cool balancing energy.
December 28, 1999
Experience
My Meeting with Ramana Maharshi
She was a Hollywood socialite. He was the most revered sage in India. Here’s what happened when they met.
February 10, 2000
Experience
How Will I Know If I’m Really Meditating?
After struggling for years to learn to meditate with traditional techniques, the author was so discouraged he gave up. Then he tried neurofeedback.
June 30, 2000
Experience
I saw that genuine Recognition is simply a realization of Nothing, but a Nothing that is absolutely substantial and identical with the SELF. This was the final turn of the Key which opened the Door.
May 31, 2017
Sadhana
By watching the mind from points of view that are behind the mind, we can recognize our essential self.
May 30, 2017
Sadhana
Control of Mind vs. Destruction of Mind
A silent mind will not lead to Self-realization unless awareness of ‘I’ is present.
May 30, 2017
Classic
Ramana Maharshi said, “If you want liberation, write, read, and practice the instructions in Ellam Ondre.”
May 20, 2000
Dialog
Who are you? An interview with H.W.L. Poonja
Papaji explains how to get an immediate glimpse of enlightenment.
October 24, 2001
Article
Papaji’s first meeting with Ramana Maharshi
H.W.L Poonja (Papaji) describes what happened when he asked Ramana Maharshi to show him God. Sri Ramana said God cannot be seen, but as he spoke, Papaji’s heart center opened.
September 23, 2001
Dialog
Ultimately, knowledge is ignorance
The so-called birth is the appearance of ignorance which prevails till the so-called death.
May 22, 2017
Sadhana
Dialogs with Annamalai Swami, a Self-realized expert on Self-enquiry who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi.
May 18, 2017
Article
Enlightenment and cosmic consciousness are completely unrelated
It’s possible to have one without the other, and there are millions of cases of mysticism and cosmic consciousness for every case of enlightenment.
May 18, 2017
Sadhana
Helpful hints from somebody who really knows how because he really did it.
May 15, 2017
Advice
The key to Self-realization is practice, practice and practice only.
May 15, 2017
Advice
The little pamphlet Who Am I? says everything you need to know to become Self-realized.
May 15, 2017
Sadhana
For going within, there is no map and there is no guide.
May 14, 2017
Tirade
Sadhu Natanananda’s Ferocious Lecture About Self-Enquiry
His face was red with rage. “What a fool you are!” he told me. “What do you think you have come to Bhagavan for?”
May 14, 2017
Booklet
Glimpses of the Life and Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
A short booklet that contains letters by the first Western devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Frank Humphreys.
May 13, 2017
Sadhana
He who would attempt to know his Overself must learn to retire into his mind as a tortoise retires into its shell.
May 12, 2017
Experience
A presumably true story by Paul Brunton from his famous best selling book, A Search in Secret India
May 11, 2017
Article
The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 68
In the Cloud of Unknowing, complete darkness becomes blinding spiritual light.
May 10, 2017
Article
Triangulation and Jacob’s Ladder
The mind cannot be studied with the mind. It must be observed from some point outside of, and yet superior to, the mind.
May 7, 2017
Experience
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord.
May 6, 2017
Instructions
Sri Sadhu Om’s book on Self-enquiry is usually regarded as the definitive instruction manual for that practice. He was Sri Ramana Maharshi’s direct disciple and Muruganar’s literary executor. This article contains the entire chapter on technique from his book. In our opinion, these are the most thorough and authoritative instructions in existence for Sri Ramana’s method.
May 1, 2017
Reference
This gallery contains more than 1500 photos of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
April 9, 2017
Dialog
In this dialog, Nisargadatta Maharaj gave a brief, clear summary of the method of spiritual practice that he recommended.
October 7, 2016
Experience
In this interview with Unity Magazine, Eckhart Tolle describes his experience of awakening.
October 4, 2016
Experience
Spiritual teacher Adyashanti describes the day he awakened.
September 12, 2016
Interview
In this 1986 interview, former nun Bernadette Roberts describes the state of no-self, a stage she reached twenty years after enlightenment, where consciousness and self are absent.
September 12, 2016
Article
Higher consciousness healing is a simple, fast, easy method for overcoming pain, fatigue, and psychological problems.
September 7, 2016
Poem and commentary
The listener is a false intruder. Real listening is done with an open heart and all-encompassing attention.
September 6, 2016
Article
Signs of an Awakened Kundalini
How can you tell if your kundalini is active? A noted shaktipat guru lists 18 signs.
September 3, 2016
Article
My initiation and the science of shaktipat
Swami Shivom Tirth, a noted shaktipat guru, describes how he received shaktipat from another noted shaktipat guru, Swami Vishnu Tirth, in 1960.
September 2, 2016
Article
Paul Zweig’s brilliantly written description of transmission from Swami Muktananda.
August 31, 2016
Article
Adiguru Prakriti outlines the three stages of existence ‒ Experiencing, Knowing, and Being ‒ and the two events that separate them, Enlightenment and Self-realization.
June 22, 2016
Article
How to Stop Headaches Caused by Meditation
Headaches and pressure in the head are common problems for meditators. This article explains the cause and describes an easy, effective method for getting rid of them.
January 7, 2016
Article
People imagine that they are always conscious when they’re awake, but in fact they are usually lost in thought. Once you notice this you can learn to be conscious. When you are conscious, thoughts stop.
November 28, 2015
Experience
People imagine that they are always conscious when they’re awake, but if you observe yourself carefully you’ll see that you’re conscious only when you look to see if you are.
November 22, 2015
Experience
When Kundalini Breaks the Last Block
Kundalini activity made the author happy and healthy for over a year — until the night it broke through the last block and entered his head, causing a devastating neurological illness.
May 5, 2000
Book Excerpt
The Most Effective Cure for Kundalini Psychosis
Kundalini sometimes makes people crazy because it gets trapped in the head. A Taoist energy practice called “the microcosmic orbit” can prevent this from happening or fix it after it occurs.
October 16, 2015
Book Excerpt
Dada Gavand describes with remarkable precision exactly what he did that led to his waking up. This is one of the clearest and most informative depictions of spiritual practice that has ever been written.
June 16, 2014
Scripture
Some people consider this poem to be the greatest work of Advaitin literature ever written.
December 10, 1999
Biography
Rebirth of a Madwoman: The Resurrection of Byron Katie
The biography of a woman who inadvertently used clinical depression for sadhana and wound up as a spiritual teacher.
June 14, 2014
Article
A well-written, sympathetic introduction to Byron Katie and her work.
June 14, 2014
Interview
An Interview with Suzanne Segal
Shortly before her death, in this long interview, Suzanne Segal said the purpose of her life had been to suffer fear for ten years without a sense of a personal self so she could tell people that such a thing is possible. “The presence of the fear never for a minute brought back a personal reference point. It never for a minute obstructed the view of the Vastness for Itself.”
June 13, 2014
Poem
It begins, “My heart falls over itself in silence / and wraps itself in the fondest way before first dawn…”
May 22, 2014
Poem
It begins, “Descending, You undressed me in the night. / You took my Body and held It against Yours, coaxing me into the silence that I know You love.…”
May 22, 2014
Poem
It begins, “There is something that stands shining / at the end of your life. / Against all odds you will come to it…”
May 22, 2014
Book Excerpt
Self-Remembering in the Rockies
In this excerpt from his book All-Amareakin, Tom Anderson recalls a nine day road trip that began with Self-remembering and ended with samadhi.
May 17, 2014
Book Excerpt
Gurdjieff's foremost disciple explains self-remembering and recalls his first attempts to practice it.
May 17, 2014
Experience
The author recalls how Sri Ramana Maharshi's presence helped him understand who he really is.
February 10, 2014
Experience
Sri Ramana Maharshi's Moment of Realization
What did Sri Ramana do to realize the Self?
February 4, 2014
Experience
Killing the Ego: Does it Hurt?
After years of meditation, her ego is slipping away.
December 8, 1999
Poem
It begins, "My eyes were empty graves I dug with my own hands...."
February 25, 2000
Instructions
One of Ramana Maharshi's closest devotees explains that self-enquiry must be done continuously for long periods of time in order to be effective.
January 23, 2014
Experience
Nothing Existed Except the Eyes of the Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi's gaze ignited a college professor's Kundalini, opened his heart center, and stopped his thoughts.
October 29, 2001
Experience
A visitor to Sri Ramana's ashram has his first direct experience of the Self.
June 12, 2000.
Interview
Everything now feels like heaven to a woman who was depressed for years, and she calls this state "love."
October 23, 2001
Experience
An unusually vivid description of what it feels like to become enlightened.
September 20, 2000
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