Some additional matter to be checked:

Unaware of the grandeur/splendour/magnificence of our own real nature, we keep submerging/

drowning/immersing ourselves in the unreal objects of the unreal/illusory world and as an
inevitable and absolutely justifiable consequence, get repeatedly painful and severe blows
physically, emotionally, spiritually, and also suffer betrayals by even the most trusted and loved
ones at the most unexpected of times, especially when we desperately need them to take care
of us, as we may have become incapacitated to care for ourselves. No God or religion tells us
not to seek out our true nature and abide in it as the Pure Consciousness at all times.
We also limit ourselves, due to guilt complex, inferiority complex, laziness, ignorance,
vaasanaas or impressions, which have been gathered over many lives, etc., to very ordinary
and quite often, very insignificant lives, as we are not aware of the greatness and unrivalled
beauty of our real nature, or Atma svaroopam. This is the only and the biggest .tragedy of our
lives, if we let go of this precious human life, by allowing our poorva janma samskaaraas and
our ignorance, laziness, unwillingness to seek out our real nature and allow our mind and
circumstances to dictate terms to us, instead of being the original masters of ourselves. The
Sage Vasishta says in the great book Yoga Vasishtam to Sri Rama; The streams of the mind
runs in both the inauspicious and auspicious directions. All brave and manly efforts must be
made to pull all the streams to continually flow only in the auspicious direction and there
should be no let-up for the mind to stray away from ones true nature. Every time, one finds
that the mind has strayed, it has to be dragged back and directed towards the auspicious path
of merging and dissolving in ones true nature as the pure consciousness.
Our ignorant, arrogant, deliberate and deep addiction to the illusory objects of worldly
pleasures, makes it almost impossible to lift ourselves out of the deep morass into which we
have sunk ourselves and this also renders it almost impossible to realize our true nature and
abide in our natural state.
We should not have any hypocrisy in our spiritual practices. The mind, thought, word, deed all
must unite in the auspicious direction and should be directed towards the attainment of the
goal, that is pure self-abidance or abidance in ones true nature. There should be no mental
fantasizing of worldly objects of enjoyment, even though we may have physically
abstained/refrained from such objects. Mental fantasizing is the worst spiritual sin, which no
one should commit. There is also another great threat to abidance in ones spiritual nature, that
is vicarious enjoyment of sensual pleasures, either directly by fantasizing about worldly
objects, or secretly enjoying the sensual enjoyment of others. We should never allow our
minds to stray into such evil directions. The evil propensities of the mind must be curbed in toto
and must be merged in pure consciousness by the diligent and ceaseless practice of self-

enquiry as taught by Sri Ramana Maharishi and the Upanishads. In summary, NOTHING
whatsoever should be allowed to come in the way of our attainment of the highest spiritual
goal, irrespective of whether we are bachelors, married men or sannyasis. Everyone of us can
and should achieve this goal, as this has been the absolute assurance of the great sages and
saints of India, whose disciples and devotees included not only sannyasis, but also married
people, who strove their utmost to .attain self-realization and self-abidance, without giving up
their prescribed duties, according to the shastras and religious codes.
Most of the worlds population simply lives very ordinary and insignificant lives and pass away
ignorantly and painfully, without realizing and enjoying the majesty of ones true nature, while
being alive, too deeply immersed in all petty squabbles with neighbours and relatives and one
and all in society, not contributing even the least of their efforts to the betterment of society, but
rather hampering it in every way. Very few people of the world get to realize this great basic
truth of their own true nature and enjoy the bliss of self-abidance and achieve fulfilment in life.
The others simply live in vain. He alone is the wise man, who achieves this self-knowledge/
self-realization and self-abidance and he alone is senior to all the others. He alone is worthy of
all worship and adoration.
All the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi reverberate with and restate and re-emphasize this
one key-word self-abidance.
To devotees who asked for the occult powers, Sri Ramana said: abide in your true nature.
T o devotees who sought visions of God, Sri Ramana said: abide in your true nature.
To devotees who wanted to read the thoughts of others, Sri Ramana said: abide in your true
nature.
To devotees who sought worldly happiness/power/position, Sri Ramana said: abide in your
true nature.
Sri Ramana used to tell his devotees that visions of God were mere mental conceptions and
there was no guarantee that a devotee who has had a vision of God would not fall from that
level to spiritual degradation, but if one can achieve uninterrupted self-abidance, even while
discharging all of ones duties, then there is a guarantee that that person has achieved
everything in life and has attained the fulfilment/meaning/purpose/significance of his life. He
has even emphatically said that if the Trimurtis, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came to give him
Darshan, he would request them not to bless him with their darshan, as he considered selfabidance to be superior to everything else.

This means simply that self-abidance is austerity

Self-abidance is everything
Self-abidance is the highest and best service that man can render to all including his family
members and society
Self-abidance is charity
Self-abidance is religion
Self-abidance is greatness
Self-abidance is the noblest and the best task that man can ever perform
Self-abidance is knowledge
Self-abidance is joy
Self-abidance is salvation
Self-abidance is moksha
Self-abidance is liberation
Self-abidance is mukti
Self-abidance is freedom
Self-abidance is fearlessness
Self-abidance is strength
Self-abidance is bravery
Self-abidance is power
Self-abidance is the highest and best duty of man
Self-abidance is the best service one can render to society.
Straying from self-abidance (non-self-abidance) is pain, unchastity/unfaithfulness to oneself
and to others, betrayal of oneself, disaster, worst calamity, worst tragedy, sorrow, grief, loss,
fear, weakness, cowardice, timidity, mistake, error, flaw, defect, disadvantage, blemish,
dosham, handicap, bereavement, death, bondage, rebirth, suffering, helplessness,
powerlessness, ignorance.
Why should we try to reduce thoughts to the minimum required level, allowing only function-related thoughts and that too only as long as
they are required and stopped as soon as the functions relating to those thoughts are over and done?
1) The sages and saints have repeatedly assured us that thought-free awareness is our real nature/svaroopam.
2) Reduction in thoughts makes the mind more flexible, supple, relaxed and free from worries to the extent that there is a reduction in thoughts.
3) Reduction in thoughts makes us feel fresh and much more energetic and stronger, even if the body is put to hard work.
4) Reduction in thoughts is a basic pre-condition for achieving spiritual growth, through the attainment of self-realization and abidance in the
Self.
5) Entertaining too many thoughts means our energies are wasted away in unessential thought waves and we feel drained of all our energies,
strength and vitality.

This means that one should do ones job to the best of ones ability and as soon as the job on hand is over, there should be no carry-forward of
thoughts relating to that job, like worries whether I have done the job properly in the right manner, to the best of my ability or not, whether I will
get good result for the job done, whether it will impact/affect my prsent or future etc. Every job should be done as perfectly as possible and
immediately on completion of the job, there should be no hang-over/carry-forward burden of thoughts relating to those jobs which have been
done. Sri Ramana Maharishi used to get up at 2 am and cut vegetables and grind chutneys and do a lot of work in the kitchen, though he had
many volunteers who were willing to do the whole job, just to feed the devotees who came from far-off places. Sri Ramana used to give tips on
cooking and spiritual practices to all his volunteers and forced many of them to read the Ribhu Gita, which is completely non-dualistic in nature.
He did all this without expectitng anything in return for his services and did not worry about all the cooking and cutting of vegetables, once the
jobs were done. All the sages emphasize that there should be thought-free awareness which is our real nature and thoughts should be minimal.

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