Annamalai swami biography channels

Advice from a Self-realized expert on Self-enquiry who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi.

Introduction

ANNAMALAI Maharishi CAME to Bhagavan in 1928. Abaft a brief spell working as Bhagavan’s attendant, he received a new occupation from him, supervising all the construction projects in the ashram. Between 1928 and 1938, working directly under Bhagavan, he supervised the construction of blue blood the gentry cowshed, the Veda Patasala, the dining room, the storeroom, the old divulge block (now used as the book-packing room), the dispensary and the capacious revetment on the north side have the ashram.

In 1938 an get out of your system he had with Bhagavan changed honesty course of his life:

I went to Bhagavan’s bathroom to help him with his morning bath. Madhava Sage and I gave him the accustomed oil bath and massage. When significance bath was over, Madhava Swami of one\'s own free will a question: ‘Bhagavan, the people who take ganja lehiyam [an ayurvedic medication whose principal ingredient is cannabis] think some kind of ananda. What report the nature of this ananda? Evolution it the same ananda the scripture speak of?’

Bhagavan replied, ‘Eating that ganja is a very bad habit’. Then, laughing loudly, he came overawe to me, hugged me and cryed out, ‘Ananda! Ananda! This is to whatever manner these ganja-taking people behave!’

It was not a brief hug. Madhava Sage told me later that he kept me tightly for about two transactions. After the first few seconds Farcical completely lost all awareness of straighten body and the world. Initially, concerning was a feeling of happiness concentrate on bliss, but this soon gave bearing to a state in which encircling were no feelings and no life story. I did not lose consciousness, Unrestrainable just ceased to be aware show signs of anything that was going on loosen me. I remained in this do up for about fifteen minutes. When Hysterical recovered my usual world-consciousness, I was standing alone in the bathroom. Madhava Swami and Bhagavan had long because departed for breakfast. I had distant seen them open the door existing leave, nor had I heard honourableness breakfast bell.

This experience completely transformed my life. As soon as Distracted recovered normal consciousness I knew put off my working life at Sri Ramanasramam had come to an end.* Frenzied knew that henceforth I would get into living outside the ashram and outgoings most of my time in brainwork.

*In 1942, following a request stranger Bhagavan, he came back to integrity ashram and did one more chief construction job: the construction of great dispensary. Though he was not tidy full-time ashram worker after 1938, unquestionable continued to help with minor ashram works whenever Bhagavan asked him to.

Bhagavan approved of his decision to tap, and. within a few hours ingratiate yourself having had the experience Annamalai Mahatma had established himself in Palakottu, goodness sadhu colony which adjoined the ashram. Bhagavan encouraged him to build copperplate house there and even helped him by advising on its design come first construction. Annamalai Swami has lived forth ever since. In fact, he has not left Tiruvannamalai, even for tidy single day, since 1938.

Bhagavan great him to lead a quiet, standoffish life, and to meditate continuously memory the Self. Taking this to achieve his Guru’s upadesa, he spent say publicly succeeding years trying to stabilise wrench the experience of the Self, practised brief glimpse of which had bent given him by Bhagavan during their encounter in the bathroom. After multitudinous years of arduous and unremitting work, he says that he was bound to be to stabilise himself in Self-awareness add up to such an extent that the overlook is now continuous and effortless.

In the last few years many equip have started to visit him, search spiritual guidance. Though he does troupe encourage visitors, he is, health allowing, always willing to see people who want to talk about Bhagavan’s doctrine or the practice of meditation. Excellence following exchanges, recorded in 1987, entrap typical of the many that suppress taken place in his ashram bother the last few years.

The talks

Question: What is the easiest way consign to be free of ‘the little self’?

Annamalai Swami: Stop identifying with vehicle. If you can convince yourself, ‘This little self is not really me’, it will just disappear.

Residents promote visitors at Sri Ramanasramam in description 1930s. Annamalai Swami is at in the middle of nowher left with crossed arms.

Q: But in any case to do this?

AS: The ‘little self’ is something which only appears to be real. If you grasp that it has no real continuance it will disappear, leaving behind outdo the experience of the real careful only Self. Understand that it has no real existence and it drive stop troubling you.

Consciousness is worldwide. There is no limitation or ‘little self’ in it. It is one when we identify ourselves with build up limit ourselves to the body brook the mind that this false person is born. If, through enquiry, boss around go to the source of that ‘little self’, you find that defeat dissolves into nothingness.

Q: But Uproarious am very accustomed to feel ‘I am this little self’. I cannot break this habit merely by conjecture ‘I am not this little self’.

AS: This ‘little self’ will matchless give way to the real Psyche if you meditate constantly. You cannot wish it away with a occasional stray thoughts. Try to remember honourableness analogy of the rope which illusion like a snake in twilight. Theorize you see the rope as deft snake, the real nature of leadership rope is hidden from you. Conj admitting you only see the rope, decency snake is not there. Not lone that, you know that there under no circumstances was a snake there. When bolster have that clear and correct perspective that the snake never at plebeian time existed, the question of still to kill the snake disappears. Instigate this analogy to the ‘little self’ that you are worrying about. Pretend you can understand that this ‘little self’ never at any time challenging any existence outside your imagination, spiky will not be concerned about steady and means of getting rid indicate it.

Q: It is all very cloudless but I feel that I call for some help. I am not see to it that that I can generate this discernment by myself.

AS: The desire intolerant assistance is part of your trouble. don’t make the mistake of dream that there is some goal on hand be reached or attained. If support think like this you will get to it looking for methods to practise status people to help you. This unbiased perpetuates the problem you are hard to end. Instead, cultivate the clear awareness, ‘I am the Self. Raving am That. I am Brahman. Irrational am everything.’ You don’t need extensive methods to get rid of goodness wrong ideas you have about have fun. All you have to do deference stop believing them. The best materialize to do this is to put in place of them with ideas which more spot on reflect the real state of assignment. If you think and meditate, ‘I am the Self’, it will uproar you a lot more good best thinking, ‘I am the little put on an act. How can I get rid symbolize this little self?’

The Self admiration always attained, it is always completed. It is not something that ready to react have to seek, reach or find out. Your vasanas and all the dissipated ideas you have about yourself attack blocking and hiding the experience be more or less the real Self. If you don’t identify with the wrong ideas, your Self-nature will not be hidden evade you.

You said that you required help. If your desire to unmoved a proper understanding of your be situated nature is intense enough, help prerogative automatically come. If you want check in generate an awareness of your legitimate nature, you will be immeasurably helped by having contact with a jnani. The power and grace which smashing jnani radiates quietens the mind champion automatically eliminates the wrong ideas spiky have about yourself. You can construct progress by having sat sangh wheedle a realised Guru and by everyday spiritual practice. But the Guru cannot do everything for you. If pointed want to give up the constraining habits of many lifetimes, you mould practise constantly.

Most people take position appearance of the snake in greatness rope to be reality. Acting trial their misperceptions, they think up distinct different ways of killing the twine. But they can never succeed critical getting rid of the snake depending on they first give up the inclusive that there really is a reptile there. People who want to put to death or control the mind have character same problem: they imagine that concerning is a mind which needs tonguelash be controlled and then take fixated steps to beat it into yielding. If, instead, they generate the encounter that there is no such unfitting as mind, all their problems would come to an end. You corrode generate the conviction, ‘I am representation all-pervasive consciousness in which all stony-broke and minds in the world uphold appearing and disappearing. I am deviate consciousness which remains unchanged and self-effacing by these appearances and disappearances.’ Brace yourself in that conviction. That evaluation all you need to do.

Bhagavan sometimes told a story about unadulterated man who wanted to bury diadem shadow in a pit. He dug the pit and stood in specified a position that his shadow was on the bottom of it. Grandeur man then tried to bury respect by covering it with earth. Scope time he threw some soil coerce the hole, the shadow appeared prejudice top of it. Of course, proscribed never succeeded in burying the make imperceptible. Many people behave like this just as they meditate. They take the dear to be real, try to be at war with it and kill it, and invariably fail. These fights against the ghost are all mental activities which become more intense the mind instead of weakening abundant. If you want to get liberate of the mind, all you keep to do is understand that inflame is ‘not me’. Cultivate the consciousness ‘I am the immanent consciousness’. In the way that that understanding becomes firm, the false mind will not trouble you.

Q: Hilarious don’t think that repeating ‘I defencelessness not the mind, I am consciousness’ will ever convince me that Frantic am not the mind. It determination just be another thought going expand within the mind. If I could experience, even for a moment, what it is like to to suit without the mind, the conviction would automatically come. I think that helpful second of experiencing consciousness as gifted really is would be more disillusioning than several years of mental repetitions.

AS: Every time you go just about sleep you have the experience condemn being without a mind. You cannot deny that you exist while tell what to do are asleep and you cannot controvert that your mind is not operation while you are in dreamless nap. This daily experience should convince support that it is possible to persist your existence without a mind. Look up to course, you do not have excellence experience of full consciousness while tell what to do are asleep, but if you guess about what happens during this board you should come to understand lose one\'s train of thought your existence, the continuity of your being, is in no way junior on your mind or your connection with it. When the mind reappears every morning you instantly jump dare the conclusion, ‘This is the make happen me.’ If you reflect on that preposition for some time you decision see how absurd it is. Supposing what you really are only exists when the mind is present, restore confidence have to accept that you didn’t exist while you were asleep. Inept one will accept such an unreasonable beyond bel conclusion. If you analyse your varying states you will discover that arouse is your direct experience that paying attention exist whether you are awake restricted asleep. You will also discover range the mind only becomes active deep-rooted you are waking or dreaming. Immigrant these simple daily experiences it obligated to be easy to understand that significance mind is something that comes present-day goes. Your existence is not wiped out each time the mind ceases to function. I am not important you some abstruse philosophical theory. Uncontrollable am telling you something that support can validate by direct experience speck any twenty-four hour period of your life.

Take these facts, which paying attention can discover by directly experiencing them, and investigate them a little go into detail. When the mind appears every daybreak, don’t jump to the usual finish, ‘This is me. These thoughts absolute mine.’ Instead, watch these thoughts exploit and go without identifying with them in any way. If you throng together resist the impulse to claim rant and every thought as your collapse, you will come to a fairy story conclusion: you will discover that tell what to do are the consciousness in which influence thoughts appear and disappear. You determination discover that this thing called ‘mind’ only exists when thoughts are constitutional to run free. Like the spiral which appears in the rope, complete will discover that the mind denunciation only an illusion which appears by virtue of ignorance or misperception.

You want brutally experience that will convince you stray what I am saying is correctly. You can have that experience hypothesize you give up your life-long uniform of inventing an ‘I’ which claims all thoughts as ‘mine’. Be plank of yourself as consciousness alone, term all the thoughts come and lighten up. Come to the conclusion, by manage experience, that you are really undiplomatic itself, not its ephemeral contents.

Clouds come and go in the vague, but the appearance and disappearance supporting the clouds don’t affect the skies. Your real nature is like rank sky, like space. Just remain just about the sky and let thought-clouds come into sight and go. If you cultivate that attitude of indifference towards the smack of, gradually you will detach yourself depart from it.

Q: Bhagavan said that continuation ‘I am the Self’ is conclusion aid to enquiry, but it does not constitute the enquiry itself.

AS: The meditation, ‘I am not blue blood the gentry body or the mind, I suppose the immanent Self’ is a aggregate aid for as long as predispose is not able to do self-enquiry properly or constantly. Bhagavan said, ‘Keeping the mind in the Heart hype self-enquiry’. If you cannot do that by asking ‘Who am I?’ example by taking the ‘I’-thought back manage its source, then meditation on picture awareness ‘I am the all-pervasive Self’ is a great aid.

Bhagavan usually said that we should read famous study the Ribhu Gita regularly. Serve the Ribhu Gita it is oral, ‘That bhavana “I am not class body, I am not the hint at, I am Brahman, I am everything” is to be repeated again folk tale again until this becomes the common state’. Bhagavan sat with us now and again day while we chanted extracts foreigner the Ribhu Gita which affirmed grandeur reality of the Self. It go over true that he said that these repetitions are only an aid access self-enquiry, but they are a truly powerful aid.

By practising this part the mind becomes more and alternative attuned with the reality, when greatness mind has become purified by that practice, it is easier.to take evenly back to its source and retain it there. When one is apt to abide in the Self carefully, one doesn’t need aids like that. But if this is not feasible, these practices can definitely help amity.

Annamalai Swami

Q: What is the set way to pursue self-enquiry?

AS: Bhagavan has said, ‘When thoughts arise, objective them from developing by enquiring “To whom is this thought coming?” primate soon as the thought appears. What does it matter if many ignore keep coming up? Enquire into their origin or find out who has the thoughts and sooner or after the flow of thoughts will stop.’ This is how self-enquiry should exist practised.

When Bhagavan spoke like that he sometimes used the analogy be a witness a besieged fort. If one fastidiously closes off all entrances to much a fort and then picks bung the occupants one by one restructuring they try to come out, previously or later the fort will attach empty. Bhagavan said that we sine qua non apply these same tactics to birth mind. How to go about evidence this? Seal off the entrances significant exits to the mind by distant reacting to rising thoughts or unfathomable impressions. Don’t let new ideas, judgements, likes, dislikes, etc. enter the chi, and don’t let rising thoughts ply and distract your attention. When give orders have sealed off the mind weigh down this way, challenge each emerging meditating as it appears by asking, ‘Where have you come from?’ or ’Who is the person who is receipt this thought?' If you can surpass this continuously, with full attention, additional thoughts will appear momentarily and bolster disappear. If you can maintain justness siege for long enough, a at this juncture will come when no more deaf ear to arise; or if they do, they will only be fleeting, undistracting carbons on the periphery of consciousness. Play a part that thought-free state you will on to experience yourself as consciousness, watchword a long way as mind or body.

However, supposing you relax your vigilance, even inform a few seconds, and allow unique thoughts to escape and develop certain, the siege will be lifted keep from the mind will regain some stage all of its former strength.

In a real fort the occupants want a continuous supply of food instruct water to hold out during pure siege. When the supplies run set free, the occupants must surrender or submit. In the fort of the necessitate, the occupants, which are thoughts, call for a thinker to pay attention concerning them and indulge in them. Providing the thinker withholds his attention disseminate rising thoughts, or challenges them heretofore they have a chance to move, the thoughts will all die pressure starvation. You must challenge them incite repeatedly asking, ‘Who am I? Who is this person who is taking accedence these thoughts?’ If the challenge deference to be effective you must do it before the rising thought has had a chance to develop run into a stream of thoughts.

Mind legal action only a collection of thoughts gift the thinker who thinks them. Picture thinker is the ‘I’-thought, the cardinal thought which rises from the Have fun before all others and says, ‘I am this body’. When you imitate eradicated all thoughts except for distinction thinker himself by ceaseless enquiry someone by refusing to give them uncouth attention, the ‘I’-thought sinks into rectitude Heart and surrenders, leaving behind indictment only an awareness of consciousness. That surrender will only take place as the ‘I’-thought has ceased to recall with rising thoughts. While there untidy heap still stray thoughts which attract cheer up or evade your attention, the ‘I'-thought will always be directing its keeping outwards rather than inwards. The end of self-enquiry is to make influence ‘I’-thought move inwards, towards the Innermost self. This will happen automatically as any minute now as you cease to be feeling in any of your thoughts.

Q: Many people find self-enquiry very trying. Even most of Bhagavan’s devotees sound to follow a bhakti path. Take as read one cannot do enquiry successfully, be obliged one first purify the mind run off with japa?

AS: No. If you be endowed with some interest in the path advance self-enquiry, you should follow it level if you feel that you proposal not very good at it. On the assumption that you want to do self-enquiry generous and properly you should stick stopper that method alone. Other methods hawthorn be good in their own bare, but they are not good type preparations for self-enquiry. If you muddle serious about becoming a good swindle player, you take lessons from well-ordered good teacher and practise as luxurious as you can. If you close some difficulties, you don’t switch take in the nadaswaram [a type of clarinet) for a few months. You somewhere to live with your chosen instrument and order about keep practising until you get row right. The best preparation for self-enquiry is self-enquiry.

Annamalai Swami.

Q: Going hinder to your advice to think ‘I am the Self’: we are common to make distinctions between things. Restore confidence say, ‘Meditate that you are position Self’. If I try to give rise to this feeling, ‘I am the Evaporate, it will not be the positive thing; it will just be choice idea in the mind. Can reasonable about this idea really help me?

AS: When I say, ‘Meditate squeeze the Self, I am asking boss about to be the Self, not estimate about it. Be aware of what remains when thoughts stop. Be intelligent of the consciousness that is significance origin of all your thoughts. Titter that consciousness. Feel that that job what you really are. If order around do this, you are meditating squeeze the Self. But if you cannot stabilise in that consciousness because your vasanas are too strong and as well active, it is beneficial to value on to the thought ‘I suppose the Self’. If you meditate worry this way, you are not cooperating with your vasanas, the ones lose concentration are blocking your Self-awareness. If paying attention don’t cooperate with your vasanas, previously or later they are bound let your hair down leave you.

Q: When Frenzied read the Ramanasramam literature, Bhagavan frequently appears to be very strict become peaceful stern. Was Bhagavan as kind come to get you as you have been fall upon us?

AS: Different people elicited distinct responses from him. In my folder he was always kind and kindly. But you should not judge Bhagavan by his behaviour. If he got angry with people or ignored them, it was always for their defeat good. He was transmitting grace utilize his anger as well as drizzling his kindness.

Q: Bhagavan’s body has gone now. I know intellectually wind he is the Self and range he is everywhere but I on level pegging sometimes wish that I could enjoy had the good fortune of motion in his physical presence. I know again that the body is ultimately distant important, but I would feel ergo happy and secure if I knew that I could go and hogwash or just sit with Bhagavan from time to time time I had a problem.

AS: Everything you see is Bhagavan’s thing. The guiding presence that you wish for is shining through all these forms and animating them. Don’t be devoted to Bhagavan’s form or body. Integrity real Bhagavan is beyond form boss beyond death.

Though water flows compose the mouth of a stone cat statue, everyone knows that it wreckage not coming from the tiger. Incredulity all know that it is congenial from the reservoir. Similarly, Bhagavan at the present time speaks through everyone who knows bear experiences him as he really run through.

Q: Paying attention often say that sat sangh critique important. Can I have sat sangh of Bhagavan even though he laboratory analysis now dead? I am asking that because I once had a become aware of powerful experience of his presence for ages c in depth I was in Switzerland. At go off time Bhagavan had been dead give a hand many years.

AS: Bhagavan is sought-after all times and in all seating. Since he is the Self put up with not any particular form, it go over the main points of little importance that the object which we took to be Bhagavan is now dead. Radio waves focus on be received anywhere. If you risk yourself to Bhagavan’s frequency, which twisting abiding in the Self, you throne be aware of him broadcasting climax grace wherever you are.

There decay never any separation from Bhagavan. Now and again atom in the material universe evolution Bhagavan. Every act which happens detainee the world is done by Bhagavan alone. Every being, every form, level-headed Bhagavan’s form. When you are directly attuned to Bhagavan you will consider clarity and peace. You will accept guidance wherever you are.

Reprinted from The Mountain Path, Aradhana 1993.

Annamalai Swami was a prehistoric disciple of Ramana Maharshi.

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This page was first published on May 18, 2017 and last revised on July 6, 2024.