Q: What is the reason for the spiritual experiences, which some devotees have? Are they to help us on the path, or to give us confidence? These experiences of inner light, inner sounds etc., do we need them, or do they just happen because they are natural? Why do some people get these experiences and others not?
Annamalai Swami: The experiences that come during meditation are the result of one’s previous practices. It is not necessary to have such experiences.
‘Who is the one who is having these experiences?’ Our attention should be on that only. Experiences come and go but the witness of all experiences always remains unchanged. Our attention should steadily be there. …
Remember, whatever happens to you can be perceived only through the mind. Remember also that the perceptions of the mind are not real because the perceiver himself is not real. If we always enquire ‘To whom is this experience happening?’ the false perceiver and the false experience will both subside.
Q: People who follow other paths sometimes experience samadhi states.
Will they also have the experience of sphurana? (a light-experience which can come before the samadhi experience)
Annamalai Swami: If one unceasingly follows the paths of japa or yoga, the mind will merge eventually in the sphurana. At the time of merging the experience will come.
This sphurana is the light or the radiance of the ‘I am’. When you are close to merging with the real ‘I’ you feel its emanati
ons. This real ‘I’ is the real name and form of God. The first and most accurate name of God is ‘I’. The awareness ‘I am’ is the original and primordial mantra.
Q: So the ‘I’-mantra is even prior to pranava, the sound of OM?
AS: Yes, that is what Bhagavan said on several occasions.
This consciousness, the ‘I am’, is existing and shining always, but your awareness of it is obstructed by the ego in just the same way that the shadow of the earth hides the moon during an eclipse. The shadow over the moon is only visible because of the moonlight behind it. Without this light the shadow of the eclipse could not be seen. Like this we are conscious of the body, the mind and the world even when they obstruct our clear vision only because of the light of the Self. By the light of the Self all this is seen.
Q: How did this single, unbroken ‘I’ become the many different things and people that we see in the world?
AS: It didn’t. It always remains single and unbroken. Your defective vision and your misperceptions give you the impression that the one became the many. The Self has never undergone any change or transformation except in your imagination.
When we identify ourselves with the body the mind, the one appears to become many. When one’s energy is diverted from the mind and the outside world towards the Self, the illusion of multiplicity fades away.
Go deeply into this feeling of ‘I’. Be aware of it so strongly and so intensely that no other thoughts have the energy to arise and distract you. If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself.
- Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p 298 , 299
Q.: You sometimes say that we should avoid company. That is not always possible. If one is working one has to mix with all kinds of people. One can't always avoid them.
Annamalai Swami: In such situations one should take the attitude of someone who is acting in a drama. Outwardly one should do whatever actions are necessary, but inwardly, one should be always aware of the center, the consciousness which makes itself known as the feeling 'I am'.
I say 'avoid bad company' but
ultimately bad company is just a part of the mind. There is no bad company in the Self. While you are trying to disentangle yourself from the mind it will be helpful for you to avoid bad company. Whenever that is not possible, make an extra effort to withdraw into the Self. If you can establish yourself there, the currents from other peoples minds cannot affect you. If you do have to mix with unspiritual people, don't make any judgements about them. Don't think 'This a bad person', or 'I don't like this person.' The less you identify with the mind when you are near such people, the better. ...
Be like a big tree. When the wind comes the branches and leaves are shaken but the trunk remains stationary. If you live in the mind you are always being tossed around like the branches and the twigs in a strong wind. The less you identify with the mind, the less movement there is. When you are aware of yourself as consciousness alone, with no trace of the mind being present, there is no movement at all, only unbroken peace and absolute stillness.
Q.: Swami, you often say that we should avoid bad acts.
What exactly do you mean by a 'bad act'?
AS: In a general sense, anything which causes harm to other beings is a bad act. But one could also say that any act that keeps your attention away from the Self is a bad act. Identifying with the body and mind is the primal bad act because it is the source of all other bad acts.
Q.: Sometimes I feel that it is selfish to want Self-realization .. It seems that I must pursue sadhana by myself and be indifferent to all the suffering people that I see around me. .. How can I deliberately ignore all this suffering that I see around me without feeling guilty about it?
Annamalai Swami: There is no society, there is no suffering and there is no world. (They) are all part of your dream. They have no reality except in your own mind. ...
The world is like a reflection in a mirror. The world which we see is merely a reflection of our gunas, our own state of mind. We see the reflection, forget the mirror, and imagine that we are looking at a real world which is separate from us.
You are continuously radiating a mental energy which affects everything and everyone around you. If you are in a rajasic or tamasic state you are automatically infecting the world with your unwholesome state of mind. The jnani, who is established in the reality beyond the gunas, experiences only continuous peace and bliss. He alone can help other people by radiating this peace and bliss to them. If you try to help this world with some physical activity, the good you may do may be more than wiped out by the negative mental vibrations which you inflict on this world. ...
If you see suffering around you it is just a reflection of your own inner suffering. If you want to alleviate suffering go to the root cause which is the suffering inside yourself. Immerse yourself in the Self. End the maya dream and wake up to the real world of jnana. Your ideas about the world are all wrong because you are misperceiving it. Your mind is processing what you see in such away that it makes you think that there is a suffering world outside and apart from you. .. You must eliminate the mental processes that make you misperceive it. When you reach the state of jnana there will be no misperceptions. Your vision will be completely clear. You will be aware that there is no suffering and no world. You will be aware that the Self alone exists.
- Living by the words of Bhagavan, p. 336
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