[Ramana Maharshi]
Early 20th Century spiritual Master who lived in the hills of Tiruvannamalai near Chennai, in South India. His teachings revolve around self-inquiry. He is believed to have enlightened not only humans, but also a cow and a crow.
▵ If you can do nothing like Ramana, why would I teach you something like Shambhavi Mahamudra?
The journey is not hard, you are. A rock dipped in the ocean one thousand times does not dissolve. Actually, there is no such thing as a journey if you ask me, because to make a journey you need a distance. What is the distance between you and yourself? How long would it take to make this journey? The word “journey” is used more as a device, otherwise people will just sit around, but if you say “journey” they know they have to get somewhere.
Some time ago, we were teaching a program in Los Angeles and initiating people into Shambhavi, just a twenty-one minute kriya. Typical of Los Angeles, somebody asked me, “Sadhguru, why are you teaching such long and difficult processes. Ramana Maharshi said you don’t have to do anything and it will happen.” I said, “What he said is right, but you must understand what he meant. Ramana sat down and did nothing for fourteen years. Rats came and bit into his thigh and ate up his flesh; it got worm-infested and he still did nothing. But you are made in a way where if a mosquito bites, you will call 911!”Intelligence is about crossing the limitations set by the physical.
If you can do nothing like Ramana, why would I teach you something like Shambhavi Mahamudra? If you are in such a state of doing nothing, why would I teach anything to you? For you to sit quietly for three minutes, I have to continuously keep talking, otherwise you will start scratching yourself. It is not that we have to make something out of you; that would be too hard. We just have to stop your compulsive thoughts, to “un-think” you. To make you understand this, we have to bend you, twist you, turn you upside down; we have to do many things.
The problem is you think you are something. Tell me, what are you made of? Are you made of the same material as the rest of Creation? Or are you made of different material? Is there one leaf, bird or atom in the Existence that can function without the source of Creation throbbing in it? It is everywhere, and you are also made of the same material, so why are you acting so funny and thinking you are different? Intelligence was given to you so that you will throb with the larger intelligence. The way of the existence is that it offers you the possibility of existing in various dimensions of possibilities, whether you choose the lowest or the highest of the choices offered is up to you. Intelligence is about crossing the limitations set by the physical. But you think because you have a certain level of intelligence, you can do your own thing. If you do your own thing, you will become like a rock which does not melt into anything.
As you sit here, air is constantly entering you in the form of breath and making your life happen; this you allow. When you are hungry, what is all over the world enters your plate; that you also allow. You are keeping a couple of doors open to survive, but everything else is closed. You understand, “If I do not open my nostrils, I cannot breathe, if I do not open my mouth, I cannot eat.” But if you are truly intelligent, you would extend this and understand, “If I do not open up completely, my life will not happen to its fullest possibility. The fullest dimension of life will not touch me.” This does not need any extraordinary intelligence. Everybody has enough intelligence to understand this.Becoming a salt doll means you are willing to die the way you are, so that something far bigger than yourself can happen.
Becoming a salt doll means you are willing to die the way you are, so that something far bigger than yourself can happen. The problem is you are so enamored with yourself. You are who you are only because of the opinions that you hold. It is very important that you do not make an opinion about anything. Within myself, I have never formed a single opinion about anybody. I always look at people as if I am seeing them for the first time. Always. Yes, when it comes to work and activity, we consider what they have done yesterday, as when it comes to specific activities, knowing the trends and tendencies of a person becomes relevant. When it comes to Mystical work, I will sieve through one’s karmic body of info to make judgments, but that is only for work. When I simply look at someone, I just look as if it is the first time because the worst thing you can do is have an opinion of another life. You don’t have a right to hold an opinion on any life.
If you want to dissolve, one important thing is not to have an opinion on anything. Society is training you to hold an opinion on everything; otherwise you will have no self-esteem. Your self is such hollow nonsense that it needs people to tell you, “Oh you are a beautiful person.” You are thriving on opinions, not only on other peoples’ opinions, your own opinions. You are a person only because of the opinions that you hold. If you did not hold any opinion, you would be a salt doll. If you just sit, it is not just the air that will enter you, the whole Existence will enter you. Nothing is stopping it except your own ideas about yourself. Do not hold any ideas either about yourself or anybody, just look at everything the way it is – you will merge with everything, there is no other way to be.
▵ The Journey is Not Hard, You Are (Isha)