2022-08-07 San Diego Ramana Satsang: Michael James discusses ‘I am I’, sphuraṇa and the ‘I’-thought

In a Zoom meeting with the San Diego Ramana Satsang ([e-mail]) on 7th August 2022 Michael answers questions about ‘I-I’, ‘I am I’, sphuraṇa, the ‘I’-thought, what Bhagavan meant by the terms the first, second and third persons, his death experience, the need for both grace and effort, and various other aspects of his teachings, particularly the practice of self-investigation and self-surrender.
A clearer audio copy of this video can be listened to on Sri Ramana Teachings podcast (ramanahou.podb... ) or downloaded from ramanahou.podb... and a more compressed audio copy in Opus format (which can be listened to in the VLC media player and some other apps) can be downloaded from mediafire.com/...

[@SriRamanaTeachings]

A clearer audio copy of this video can be listened to on Sri Ramana Teachings podcast (ramanahou.podbean.com ) or downloaded from ramanahou.podbean.com/e/i-am-i-sphurana-and-the-i-thought and a more compressed audio copy in Opus format (which can be listened to in the VLC media player and some other apps) can be downloaded from mediafire.com/file/h7m6jua86xu0vlc

[@michaeldillon3113]

I have ' Thus spoke Ramana ' on my bookshelf, but I see it is still available on-line . I thought ' Ramana Maharshi and The Path of Self Knowledge ' ((by A Osbourne)was a lovely book that in itself really open my eyes to the genuine spiritual nature of Bhagavan . The story of thief striking Bhagavan's thigh and Bhagavan offering the other thigh made me think ' In Bhagavan we can see the real face of Christ and our original face before anything was born ' . Thank you Michael 🙏🙂

[@judithrobb6407]

So much appreciation for much needed clarity.

[@dreamliner2]

Wonderful again. Your clarity about the teachings are a blessing. 🙏

[@rviswanathan]

🙏

[@SureshKumar-zi1mj]

Beautifully explained. 🙏

[@mohanbhaibhad3703]

Very very clear after this lecture so many of my confusion and doubts clarified now I only wish for his grace & make me clear and make me firmly settled on Aatmadev

[@ramprax]

On the point of 'I'-thought rising up for every thought, my understanding is that the 'I'-thought needs an object to latch on to. In the absence of an object of thought, it cannot but subside back into the source. IIRC, Bhagavan has mentioned somewhere that for a very ripe & keen mind, it is possible to discern the source, the self, even in the tiny gap between two consecutive thoughts. For normal folks like me, the flow of thoughts is just too fast, for this gap to be detectable. That said, I am on the same page as Michael that there is just one single 'I'-thought. It is the same 'I'-thought that latches on to every object of thought. Only that it may be rising and subsiding from/to the source blindingly fast many many times, once for each thought.

[@karsten790]

Dear Melissa, If you read this, would you mind sharing the title (or the link) to the movie you referred to in the first part of this recording, please? The way you described it sounded very interesting. Many thanks in advance! A big big thank you to Michael for tirelessly clarifying this beautiful & wonderful matter. 🙏🏼

[@llusory_World]

1:23:30

[@christianandersson2217]

🙏