2023-07-02 San Diego Satsang: Why is accepting one fundamental becoming many the one best option?

In a Zoom meeting with the San Diego Ramana Satsang ([e-mail]) on 2nd July 2023 Michael answers various questions about Bhagavan’s teachings.
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/why-is-accepting-one-fundamental-that-becomes-many-certainly-the-one-best-option 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/q1d280jhq5acw1e

[@stephenbradshaw9891]

A very helpful talk. Thank you, Michael.

[@lazerlloyd1]

Great group thanks to you all and of course our dearest Michael

[@catalinatata8652]

Every word precious 🙏⚘️❤️💕 Whenever I hear you, I feel so fortunate. Who's feeling fortunate?.. 🙏

[@cindyscott8470]

"I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself. And behold, then this ghost fled from me." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

[@SriRamanaTeachings]

Short Q&A videos from this channel can be watched on youtube.com/@sriramanateachingsqa

[@rviswanathan]

🙏

[@christianandersson2217]

Thank You! 🙏

[@rajpillai6471]

❤️

[@Leenyazbek]

I have spent so many years inquiring about truth and self investigation, I feel the teachings are so clear to me now, all my questions are answered, I suddenly feel I reached the end of the road and im not sure how to proceed from here, attending to myself has become a way of life, failing at that and succeeding is the norm now.. there is a profound deep joy in every passing minute of the day, a feeling of peace knowing that finally i (my ego) can sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the journey while knowing that this ego is not the driver anymore.

[@johnmcdonald260]

Good to hear that the teachings seem to be clear for you. However full clarity is only reached with self-realization. Michael said that he's still learning new things after studying the same texts for over 40 years. Now how could you have reached the end of the road? I'd say that you just have started at the beginning of the road, now it's time to surrender more and more and develop that all consuming love for self which is necessary for freedom. "A profound deep joy" is an ego-experience, that is not what vichara is aiming for. A deep feeling of peace is ego too. Both experiences are not "I am". They need to be ignored - only that is proper vichara - to be only aware of 'I am'. 🙏

[@Leenyazbek]

@@johnmcdonald260 appreciate every word 🙏 I'm thinking this would be the ultimate self surrender to drop everything one experiences including the peace and joy.. one has gotten used to dropping the negative experiences, fear , loneliness, anger.. but to drop the positive experiences is new to me :) I always felt that the peace was an indicator of being on the right track, now I'm thinking it's just another form that ego took on 🙏

[@Leenyazbek]

I mean not to drop the experience but to be aware of the experiencer every time anything is experienced so that ego will not grasp anything including joy and peace.. is this a correct way of putting it!

[@johnmcdonald260]

@@Leenyazbek Everything that comes and goes is not real, in fact it is ego (in disguise). We want peace, the peace that IS forever and doesn't come and go: "I am". We do not want to be aware of any experience, no matter if it's joy or pain. Now we cannot suppress or deny upcoming experiences but we can wonder "to whom is this experience?" what is a pointer to investigate "I am" when confronted with experiences. If our mind is one-pointed enough the pain or joy will fade away since we attend to "I am" only. That is the ideal situation, however for many that is still a goal and therefore we need to investigate "I am" as best as possible and let upcoming joy or pain fade into the background.

[@Leenyazbek]

@@johnmcdonald260 🙏🙏🙏

[@sandycarter5300]

For some, materialism is the default position regardless of how much proof is offered. This is just one more way ego maintains its hold on consciousness.

[@rasubai23]

Hi Sir.. In listening to Vedanta, I often see this example of a rope being mistaken for snake.. I want to understand, we may mistake a rope for a snake, but we dont mistake a carpet for a snake and get afraid. So is it not our ignorance or may be physical limitation. For example, if its dark or my eyesight is bad, then there is a chance for mistaking the rope for a snake.. So can we infer its just ignorance and not say that all that we see are just appearances? Kindly clarify Sir. Pranaams

[@Jack_in_Pattaya_4K]

How I can join the month online meeting

[@SriRamanaTeachings]

Hello Jack, to join these San Diego meetings you may write to Ted Henry at [e-mail] asking him to add you to his list of participants, so that you receive his Zoom invitation to each meeting. You can also find information about how to join other similar meetings at happinessofbeing.com/contact.html#zoom ​Namo Ramanaya 🙏🙏🙏

[@michaeldillon3113]

Sri Michael gives hus normal excellent interpretations of Bhagavan's words However, the gentleman from sri lanka might want to look at the work of Bernardo Kastrup PhD PhD. He gives great evifldence fir Idealism . Bernardo is less polite than Michael and simply says ' Materialism is Baliney ' .😅 🙏🕉️

[@johnmcdonald260]

To suggest to a devotee of Bhagavan to look at the work of B. Kastrup (or any other jiva for that matter) is like suggesting to a devotee to leave the shade of the tree and walk into the heat of the sun.

[@awakenotwoke7949]

Ramana was aware of himself, and his devotees. That tells me that the ego is there, correct? So saying his ego was totally annihlated seems to contradict what you said about the world being absent when ego is absent. Ramana was in samadhi in his youth and totally unaware of his body as insects and rodents bit him, but later on he became the famous guru we all know today. I would love some clarity, because striving to totally annihilate the ego seems impossible and impractical. A discontinuity of ego I can understand, but not total extinction.I believe Ramana stated that some remnant of ego remains and is necessary to function in the world. Is that true?

[@johnmcdonald260]

Sri Ramana was not aware of himself as a body or "Ramana" and he was not aware of devotees as this or that body. Sri Ramana is pure consciousness and pure consciousness is only aware of itself. Ego is only an imagination, it does not really exist with keen investigation. In order that a body functions, no ego is needed, the body will act according to its prarabdha karma. Ego rises and then identifies with that body and it has the freedom to wish and will, however that cannot influence the actions of the body. Freedom is only possible with the annihilation of the phantom ego and that is attained with full surrender. A very difficult task.

[@awakenotwoke7949]

@@johnmcdonald260 I appreciate your reply,but you have reiterated what’s been said a thousand times by a thousand people. I’m suggesting that the interpretations of Ramana’s teachings may be misleading. Perhaps it’s the wording. You obviously cannot annihilate something that doesn’t exist. The world and ego are illusions, but here we are acknowledging our differences

[@johnmcdonald260]

@@awakenotwoke7949 Yes, one cannot annihilate what does not exist. However even Sri Ramana talked about the annihilation of the ego because it seems to exist and it is for us very real. If someone stabs you you'll cry out in pain. That's ego. That pain feels quite real to you, doesn't it? The unreality of the ego needs to be investigated, without investigation it will remain real and no spiritual teaching will and can change that.

[@awakenotwoke7949]

@@johnmcdonald260 The pain we feel is due to language. What the body feels is sensation, and that sensation is prolonged as experience because of the label: pain. Sri Ramana certainly didn't escape the conditioning of naming everything. perceived. It has become habitual and autonomous in us . When you pick up a cup , the label "cup" automatically appears in your head. If I say: "I dare you not to think of a blue elephant" it cannot be done. The concept of eradicating ego is proposed to limit uneccessary suffering from thinking. I think ego can be attenuated, but its complete absence would make functioning in the world impossible. Namaste.

[@ananda224]

@@awakenotwoke7949 it maybe easier or helpful to understand the ego as a form of "knot", a binding of identification or ignorance, rather than as the active agent of seeing, hearing, doing, and so on. The actions of perceiving and doing are functions of the mind, which operates under the illuminating presence of consciousness. Self-realization does not eradicate these functions or cease their operation. Instead, it loosens and ultimately unties this knot of identification, the illusion that our essential nature is solely the body-mind complex. In the wake of self-realization, it is recognized that our true nature extends beyond the physical and mental structures; it is, in fact, the underlying, unchanging consciousness. This consciousness illuminates all experiences and phenomena, much like the sun illuminates the world. Even after realization, the body and mind continue to perceive, to act, and to engage with the world. There is just no longer an identification with it, this can feel like action without action, or effortless action.