The word akasa is used quite a lot and it means ether and in my opinion—Universal Citta or mind.  Many seers and prophets claim they can access and read it, such as Edgar Cayce.  Here in this chapter I will be posting Indian Thought and in particular the late Ramana Maharshi, and David Godman’s works in popularizing him.

“The mind is like akasa (ether). Just as there are the objects in the akasa, so there are thoughts in the mind. The akasa is the counterpart of the mind and objects are of thought. One cannot hope to measure the universe and study the phenomena. It is impossible. For the objects are mental creations. To measure them is similar to trying to stamp with one's foot on the head of the shadow cast by oneself. The farther one moves the farther the shadow does also. So one cannot plant one's foot on the head of the shadow.... Similarly with the ignorant practicer to study the universe. The universe is only an object created by the mind and has its being in the mind. It cannot be measured as an exterior entity. One must reach the Self in order to reach the universe.

Again people often ask how the mind is controlled. I say to them, "Show me the mind and then you will know what to do."

The fact is that the mind is only a bundle of thoughts. How can you extinguish it by the thought of doing so or by a desire? Your thoughts and desires are part and parcel of the mind. The mind is simply fattened by new thoughts rising up. Therefore it is foolish to attempt to kill the mind by means of the mind. The only way of doing it is to find its source and hold on to it. The mind will then fade away of its own accord.”

Raman Maharshi —TALKS, No. 485

 D. What is the significance of the Crucifixion?

Maharshi:
The body is the cross. Jesus, the son of man, is the ego
or the I-am-the-body idea. When the son of man is crucified
on the cross, the ego perishes, and what survives is the
Absolute Being. It is the resurrection of the Glorious Self,
of the Christ - the Son of God.

 

~~~ Maharshi's Gospel

 

 

What is body consciousness? It is the insentient body plus consciousness. Both these must lie in another consciousness which is absolute and unaffected, and ever abiding, with or without body consciousness. What does it then matter whether the body consciousness is lost or retained, provided one is holding on to the Pure Consciousness. It makes no difference in the knowledge of the Supreme.

 

~ taken from Thus Spake Ramana

This brings in the idea of ‘Heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven. The ultimate Kingdom of Heaven is becoming The Christ or Liberation. However there is a lesser Heaven, if you will, and that it about planes of existence. The highest heaven and the ultimate of all the amorphous planes is where beings who do not need to incarnate again reside. They remain here until the next dissolution of the material and subtle universe and at that time they merge with the Universal. Any being that takes birth from this level does so at their own volition, no karma forces them to. Buddhists call them Bodhisattvas, Hindus call them Avatars or Karana Janmas, and this is what Jesus was. He had fallen as Adam or Adams but regained his spirituality as Enoch and therefore was not Liberated but only one step away. However as Jesus fell as Adam he felt he had to redeem himself and give an example to human kind. Also taking on the ‘Sin’, or Karma caused by his original faltering. So Jesus or Jeshua took birth again, and paid off a lot of humanity’s karma by his suffering but he achieved final Liberation by becoming Christ, on the cross.

80.

 

You can never find the mind through mind. Pass beyond it in order to find it non-existent. Mind, ego, intellect are all different names for one single inner organ ( antahkarana). The mind is only the aggregate of thoughts. Thoughts cannot exist but for ego. So all thoughts are pervaded by ego (aham). Seek wherefrom the "I" rises and the other thoughts will dissapear.

 

 

~ taken from Thus Spake Ramana  

 

20.

The mind is nothing but the stream of thoughts, that passes over Consciousness. Of all these thoughts, the first one is the thought "I am this body". This is a false thought; but because it is taken as true, it is possible for other thoughts to arise. So the mind is just an outgrowth of the primary ignorance and it is therefore unreal.   

 

~  taken from Thus Spake Ramana  

 

So this is the kernel of Indian or Vedic thought. That there is a Transcendent God without attributes at all---------Nirguna Brahman, ( The great expanse without attributes). However there is also the concept of Immanent God or Saguna Brahman, God with attributes associated with Creation. So we have two ideas of the One God here.  Creation is posited as a kind of projected dream that has no beginning but has an ending. An ending individually and universally. Whilst still in existence Creation has pralayas or periodic dissolutions, where all is subsumed into God. This is at the material and subtle levels at different times, called Pralaya and Mahapralaya. Seemingly if one becomes Liberated or Christed, one is like a drop of water dropping into the ocean. All individuality is gone, or the illusion is that is. At this stage, as almost like dreamless sleep, all materiality doesn’t exist and didn’t happen ever.  So the concept of Nirvana in Buddhism, Moksha in Vedanta, and becoming The Christ in Christianity convey the same interpretation.  A dropping of the individual illusion and become what one already always was, The Universal, this is Liberation.

Q: What is samadhi?

 

 Sri Ramana Maharshi: The state in which the unbroken

 

 experience of existence-consciousness is attained by

 the still

 mind, alone is samadhi. That still mind which is

 adorned with

 the attainment of the limitless Supreme Self, alone

 is the reality

 of God.

 

 When the mind is in communion with the Self in

 darkness, it is

 called nidra (sleep), that is the immersion of the

 mind in

 ignorance. Immersion in a conscious or wakeful state

 is called

 samadhi. Samadhi is continuous inherence in the Self

 in a waking

 state. Nidra or sleep is also inherence in the Self

 but in an

 unconscious state. In sahaj samadhi  the communion

 is continuous.

 

 The immersion of the mind in the Self, but without

 its destruction,

 is known as Kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In this state

 one is not free

 from vasanas and so one does not therefore attain

 mukti

 (liberation). Only after the vasanas have been

 destroyed can one

 attain liberation.

 

 

 Q: When can one practice Sahaj Samadhi?

 

 A:  Even from the beginning. Even though one

 practises Kevala

 Nirvikalpa Samadhi for years together, if one has

 not rooted out the

 vasanas one will not attain liberation.

 

 Q:  Is samadhi, the eighth stage of raja yoga, the

 same as the

 samadhi you speak of?

 

 A: In yoga the term samadhi refers to some kind of

 trance and there

 are various kinds of samadhi. But the samadhi I

 speak of is

 different. It is sahaj samadhi. From here you have

 samadhan

 (steadiness) and you remain

 calm and composed even while you are active. You

 realise that you

 are moved by the deeper real Self within.  You have

 no worries, no

 anxieties, no cares, for you come to realise that

 there is nothing

 belonging to you. You know that everything is done

 by  something

 with which you are in conscious union.

 

 

 Q: If this sahaj samadhi is the most desirable

 condition, is there

 no need for nirvikalpa samadhi?

 

 A: The nirvikalpa samadhi of raja yoga may have its

 use. But in

 Jnana yoga this sahaj sthiti (natural state) or

 sahaj nishtha  

 (abidance in the natural state) itself is the

 nirvikalpa state. In

 this natural state, the mind is free from doubts. It

 has no need to

 swing between alternatives of possibilities and

 probabilities.It

 sees no vikalpas (differences) of any kind. It is

 sure of the truth

 because it feels the presence of the real. Even when

 it is active,

 it knows it is active in the reality, the Self, the

 Supreme Being.

 

 

 Q: How can one function in the world in such a

 state?

 

 A: One who accustoms himself naturally to meditation

 and enjoys the

 bliss of meditation will not lose his samadhi state

 whatever

 external work he does, whatever thoughts may come to

 him. That is

 Sahaja Nirvikalpa. Sahaj Nirvikalpa is Nasa Manas

 (total destruction

 of the mind). Those who are in the laya samadhi

 state (a trance like

 state in which the mind is temporarily in abeyance)

 will have to

 bring the mind back under control from time to time.

 If the mind is

 destroyed, as it is in sahaj samadhi, it will never

 slide down from

 their high state.

 

 

 Q: Is samadhi a blissful or ecstatic state?

 

 A: In samadhi itself there is only perfect peace.

 Ecstasy comes when

 the mind revives at the end of samadhi. In devotion

 the ecstasy

 comes first. It is manifested by tears of joy, hair

 standing on end,

 and vocal stumbling. When the ego finally dies and

 the Sahaj is won,

 these symptoms and the ecstasies cease.

 

 

 

 David Godman,

 

 BE AS YOU ARE…Date…The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Arkana, 1985, London.