108 sayings from Sri Muruganar Swamy

On this page are 108 sayings from Sri Muruganar's
“The Garland of Guru’s (Sri Ramana Maharshi’s) Sayings”
on the topic of:

Ignoring and turning one’s attention away from the world
and towards Awareness watching Awareness

• The ego knows that if one turns inward, the ego will be found to be a myth.
• Therefore, the ego keeps one’s attention focused on the world as a deliberate ego preservation strategy.
• In the Awareness Watching Awareness method, one turns one’s attention away from the world, and towards Awareness watching Awareness.

Sayings on the World

638.	If, instead of looking outward at objects, you observe that looking, all things now shine as I, the seer. Perception of objects is mere illusion.
647.	If you refrain from looking at this, that, or any other object, then by that overpowering look into Absolute Being, you become yourself the boundless space of pure Awareness, which alone is real Being.
1194.	When one refrains from looking out and noting outward objects, and instead abides within the Heart in Self-Awareness, the ego disappears. The pure silence that then shines forth is the goal of Knowledge.
1202.	Those in whose Heart, pure silence shines, and the perennial, blissful nectar of Self-Awareness overflows, will never look at or get lost in this world, and its false, trivial, maddening pleasures.
1096.	Those whose five senses no longer turn towards the world, which once seemed real, those who have learned to live without their mind being moved by the illusive universe of forms, they need perform no penance.
749.	The universe out there appears when scanned. When not scanned, the universe disappears. Turning away from this, search keenly for the Self-Awareness within the Heart, and think no more of birth.
1006.	Non-dual infinite Awareness, where the error of seeing, hearing, and knowing various objects has been destroyed, this is the purest bliss supreme.
1017.	The “I” is false; “this world is false”; the seeing of “this world” by “I” is false. The primal ignorance of illusion is also false. The sole reality is the bright, marvelous inner space, Being-Awareness.
1224.	Unless there is a final end of so called “knowledge” of things out there, one cannot gain release from bondage to the sense-created world. This “knowledge” being destroyed by firm abidance in the Self-Awareness, what remains is the supreme bliss of liberation.
630.	Having felt the sun’s fierce heat, the wise one stays in the shade, and those who know the fire raging in the world, will never leave the Heart and turn again towards the world.
186.	Poor seer who suffers endlessly, because you still perceive the object, not the subject, please look inward, not without, and taste the bliss of non-duality.
876.	Until the snake illusion goes, its ground, the real rope, will not be recognized. Until the world of false phenomena disappears, the Self-Awareness, its ground, will not shine clear.
877.	Only when the world illusion goes, does the blissful light of Self-Awareness arrive. Life lived in this bright, blissful light, is our true natural life. Other ways of life are full of trouble and fear.
905.	Is there a greater foolishness, than the aching foolishness, of supposing that the Self, the I of pure Awareness, which does not see this changing world at all, is subject to some change.
708.	Until in the seer’s awareness objects disappear, until firm and clear, one knows the truth of Self-awareness, what use is it to mouth in vain the words “I am God, I am God”?
293.	Know that these countless things are pictures in a dream, and none is real, apart from the beholder. Shun this phantom world of names and forms, and dwell in the pure, blissful being of Awareness.
971.	When the intellect, withdrawn from questing after outer objects, returns to its own natural home, the Heart, our Being-Awareness-Bliss, restored to us, abides forever.
337.	Awareness which survives, when all illusions, the mirage-like world, he who beholds it and the sight his eyes drink in, are destroyed without a vestige, this Awareness, this and nothing else, is Knowledge.
430.	Those who have not searched and found the truth of their own natural Being, will perish, deluded by alien forms. Live as one sole Being-Awareness. Everything, except for this, is false appearance, the realm of illusion.
549.	When the full identity is reached, the Self-Awareness is all, and there is no “other”, the various common perceptions, in the absence of self-inquiry and Self-Abidance, are all seen as mere mistakes.
611.	Seeing this mind-projected world is sheer delusion, then taking it as real, and swerving from the sublime truth of one’s own Being as pure Awareness, one but proves oneself insane.
25.	Alienated and deluded from your true being as Awareness, do not pursue appearances, deeming them as real. They are false, since they must disappear. Your own being as Awareness is real, and cannot cease to be.
643.	The Self, the sole Reality, the light of pure Awareness, shines clear as “I, I” in the heart. This dear, dear Being, directly known, alone is true, not the things perceived by the eye and the other senses.
829.	Even the strongest willed aspirant, does not know how long his life will last. Hence, when you feel the body and the world turn sour, renounce them all at once.
833.	Seeing how transient the world is, Lord Buddha gave up wealth and kingship. When one has seen how false and fleeting that which is perceived by the senses is, how can one still be worldly minded?
834.	Courageous ones, who know no fear, renounce the world, and find the world to be worthless, and so gain true wisdom. Others are foolish folk, blinded by falsehood.
835.	Renouncing this phenomenal world, which seems to, but does not, exist, we gain (the great Ones say) the Self, the shining, unseen, Awareness.
836.	After we have renounced whatever can be renounced, That which abides, and cannot be renounced, is True Being shining in the Heart, the fount, the flood of Bliss.
825.	The tamarind fruit grows unattached to its dry shell. Even so, the wise renounce at heart, and quite forget the wondrous charms of this false world, which only ruins those who trust it.
51.	Only those who have utterly renounced the world and all attachment, and rejoicing in Self-luminous Awareness, have minds pure and free from illusion’s power only they know the sense in which “The World is Real”.
673.	Destroying through discrimination, the basic error that I am the body, an object, and rejecting it, and the world as mere false mirages, the surviving Awareness that shines alone as Being, That I am.
1223.	Firm, steady abidance in the serene peace gained by the quest for Self, the Awareness, the sole ground supporting all appearances, and the consequent relinquishment of all objects as unreal, this alone is liberation.
34.	The bewildered mind, which mistakes the body for oneself, conceives the transient world of names and forms, makes it seem real and lovable, and promptly entraps one in the strong, illusive bondage of desire.
60.	With mind turned inward, drown the world in the great void and dispel illusion. Beholding then the void as void, destroy the void, by drowning it in the deep ocean of Self-Awareness.
71.	How piteous is the spectacle of people wandering aimless in the world’s ways, and ignoring the discipline that leads to permanent freedom.
128.	Those who forget the harm the false world does, and cling to it as real and comfortable, mistake a floating bear for a boat, only to be crushed and drowned in the sea of births.
130.	When will the fool, who thinks the body and the world are permanent, and clings to them, find peace? Only when this foolishness leaves him, and like a limpet, he clings to that Self-Awareness within. From then on, he shall never know pain.
245.	The world’s many and various bright objects, give pleasure, only to bring grievous evil. Unlike these, inner purity alone has true beauty. Hence, the wise regard and marvel at the sage, the living embodiment of truth, as God made manifest, here on this earth.
288.	Grasping aright the ineffable grace of the supreme Teacher, being unentangled in the illusory world that stands in front, abidance in mere Being, is true bliss.
368.	What is That, forgetting which, we have fallen under the powerful spell of this false world? Unless we know That, the Real, there is no chance for the death, and disappearance, of our pain.
536.	O worldly folk, who long for, and run after, an endless series of temporary things, it is true wisdom, to seek and know, That one thing, on knowing which, all other things will cease to be.
538.	Knowing aright the nature of the Self-Awareness, and abandoning the non-self as void and unreal, is true wisdom. All other knowledge is ignorance, and not wisdom.
550.	Like a dream, this “waking” world is but a mind conceived appearance in mind space. Hence, greatness lies, in firmly ending indicative knowledge, and the foolishness of fondness for outer objects.
785.	O heart of mine, instead of being confused by this conceptual world, enter within, and seek the source. Then in the realm of pure Awareness, you experience sheer non-duality, where the one Self-Awareness, shines as all things.
1027.	Having found that Self-relish is the highest bliss, the wise abide as Self-Awareness alone. But those who do not know that the sole, certain, supreme bliss is in Self-Awareness alone, they stay forever worldly minded.
1028.	Those who cannot see that Bliss is their own Self-nature roam bewildered like the musk deer in the forest. Those who have know the Self-Awareness, instead of wandering in the world, abide in their own natural state.
1094.	The only goal worth seeking is the supreme bliss of Self-Awareness. Constant remembering and abiding as That, within the Heart, amounts to completeness of life.
1095.	Such a life of Grace alone, is life lived in full, real Being. This worldly life of false phenomena, full of fear, is sinking deeper in illusion, not authentic living.
1154.	The sage abiding in Self-Being, asleep and yet awake, immersed in the still, deep, immutable ocean of supreme bliss, will never lapse back into this ruinous world and suffer.
188.	Do not perish running out in search of wonders, and dancing there with pleasure. Better with the light of grace to look, look within, and find certitude in being and abiding as your true Self-Awareness.
1023.	When the villainous mind, instead of being bewildered by objects appearing there without, looks inward, questing “Who am I?”, and rests firmly in its ground, the Self-Awareness, this is our true, authentic Being.
429.	While in truth you are that Awareness, you do not abide as such, but suffer, since you only recognize this worldly life alone, which rises from yourself, this sole Awareness. How shall I describe this foolishness?
127.	Those who desire, like, and live, the trivial life the ego knows, reject, as if it were unreal, the natural life of infinite bliss within their own hearts, ever present for their enjoyment.
131.	Those who enjoy the ego’s life of false phenomena, perish and die. The state of grace, supreme Awareness, the life lived in Self-Being, this alone is the bliss worth seeking.
185.	How to make the mind, which now looks painfully, at forms and features without, turn inward? By asking who is this “I”, this mind, which sees this trivial world, and thus directing it towards the Self-Awareness.
454.	In the false, frenzied ego life, created by the mind, constricted to some thought, who can enjoy the clear, bright, bliss of pure Awareness, free from thought?
911.	Within, without, and through and through all objects, the ethereal sky is present and yet is bound or affected by none. And unless one knows one’s Self as the pure transcendent Self-Awareness, one cannot but get caught in the world’s illusive bonds.
1089.	You desire life. But you do not know how to live. Thinking that sinking in this deep, void, vain, illusive waking-dream is “life”, you proudly claim you “live”. Pierce this illusion, go, grasp the Truth, eternal life.
1103.	It is foolishness to waste one’s life running in all directions, searching different goals. Learn to practice firm abidance in Self-Awareness, the eternal and auspicious silence, which alone can still the ego’s restlessness.
1117.	Those whose minds are merged and lost in one non-dual fullness, will never be bewildered by this false, phenomenal life. In that blessed, supreme state of Being pure Awareness, That exists alone without an “I” or “this”.
1118.	The sage whose knot of doer-ship has snapped, finds no more “duties” to discharge. In his Awareness there is no other and no objects, hence no doubt and no delusion.
1067.	As the pearl fisher, with single thought, weighted with a stone, dives deep into the sea and grasps the pearl most precious, and rejoices, dive into the Heart with stern non-attachment, gain the Self-treasure, and so end all suffering and sorrow.
291.	For those who seek eternal life, the assurance stands: the five senses retracted like a tortoise, the mind turned homeward to the Self-Awareness, and there abiding, is pure bliss.
327.	Steadfast clinging to the wisdom learnt, the mind restrained and withdrawn from the field of the false senses, living within, in the clear light of Truth, such practice is the only true teaching.
77.	What does one gain, you well may ask, by giving up the “immense wealth” of worldly pleasure, and seeking only “mere” Awareness? The benefit of true Awareness is the unbroken prevalence of peace within the heart, the bliss of one’s own natural being.
331.	Since every vice springs from the false pleasures of swerving from the Self-Awareness, the completion of virtue, is the perfect peace of pure Awareness, following the end of the ego, which is fed by such false pleasures.
502.	The apt speech of one firmly established in the Heart, prevents the bewildered and confused devotee’s mind, from wastefully running in the desert of the senses, and points the way inward, to permanent liberation.
581.	Knowledge is multiple and various, say those who know objects, but not freedom from, the dire delusion of differences. When the five senses, driven outward by desire, are pulled back, then, true, full Awareness comes, and there is no “other” to be known.
584.	The only Being is Awareness, and Bliss is nothing but Awareness. Pleasure from elsewhere is mere delusion. Apart from the Self of Being-Awareness, how can real joy come from objects merely fancied?
586.	Not knowing the bliss of Self-Awareness, people highly rate sex and other similar pleasures. Living thus, they yearn for these, even when they die.
587.	Forgetting the pure bliss eternal, welling up in the heart for our enjoyment, foolish people yearn for honey driblets, squeezed from objects, worse than broken rice.
589.	Sense pleasures, sought and found by blind, unguarded fools, are fit only for contempt by those who long to taste the rich, ripe fruit of immeasurable sweet, supreme Bliss.
605.	Those who with minds far from mature, yearn for and wallow in sense pleasures, why would they seek, why would they join, the company of saints whose conquest of the senses is complete and final?
678.	Absence of mental craving for sense enjoyment is true fasting. Abidance in the Self is true worship, hence, those with pure, clear wisdom, cherish as most precious, this fasting and this worship.
686.	Instead of plugging holes, and keeping Awareness still within, to break the lock, and spill it through the senses, is despicable, like demolishing the bank and draining out the tank, to devastate the land.
764.	Seeing that desires, bring in their wake, increasing sorrow, noble ones, renouncing all desires, begin direct self-inquiry and attain the infinite bliss, of the Self-Awareness within.
784.	Until you taste the bliss at the Heart’s core, the five senses will never subside. Till these distracting senses utterly die, you will not gain true Being’s bliss.
916.	It is true wisdom to restrain the mind from flowing out into any of the five senses, the home of every sorrow and pain, and to contain and keep it still, like a once roaring ocean, now lying calm and tranquil.
960.	Those who, unlured by the false senses, abide in the heart lotus in waking sleep, enjoy the bliss of true Awareness, which is liberation. Others but slumber, lost forever, in the illusive world’s dense darkness.
1026.	Being is by its nature supreme bliss. It is the treacherous mind’s fond, eager search all day for pleasure in alien objects that insures the loss of our inherent bliss.
1120.	Those who live within the Heart, the life of pure Awareness, find no happiness in the trivial pleasures of the senses. Is not that still, silent state of Being, the one boundless and unbroken supreme bliss of absolute Self-Awareness?
237.	Some fortunate, through former deeds, naturally disdain pleasures, of this world and the next. To these alone, does true Awareness come with ease.
134.	Those who, learning to forget completely all objective knowledge, turn inward firmly, and see clearly the truth, abide serene. Those who try to recall forgotten things, pine bewildered, fretting over false phenomena.
645.	The import of the teaching “Know the Self” is only giving up the illusive knowledge of the non-self. For bright like the true Sun, shines Being-Awareness as “I am, I am”, in everyone.
343.	Those who, diving deep within, have found the Self-Awareness, have nothing else to know. And why? Because they have gone beyond all forms, and are Awareness without form.
415.	To recognize through reason, the Supreme, and in the heart, renounce the relative, to act without a sense of “I” and “mine”, is the sage’s way of life divine.
420.	The knowledge that ignores the Self-Awareness, the knower, and holds as true the field perceived, is but illusive foolishness. No matter how much one has learned, true knowledge is the merging of all indicative knowledge in Awareness of the Self.
422.	All other kinds of knowledge are base, trivial. The only true and perfect knowledge, is the stillness of pure Awareness. The many differences perceived in the Self, whose nature is Awareness, are wrong attributions, and not real.
423.	What sort of knowledge, is this wretched bodily-mental knowledge, of objects? Would those who long for pure Awareness, hanker after this? To know pure Awareness is true wisdom. All other knowledge, is mere foolishness.
427.	What is lifeless and unreal, needs for support pure Being-Awareness. The mind deluded and impure, forgets its oneness with the Self-Being-Awareness, and then looks for some other object of Awareness.
436.	Incomparable liberation, is the truth of clear, shining Self-Awareness, when, all differences destroyed by concentration, knowledge being but Awareness, becomes merged in the Self, which is Awareness.
455.	For those who have enjoyed the supreme bliss of profound sleep, devoid of every object, it is foolishness not to cherish pure Awareness, and to long for some other object, pretending it could give dependable relief from suffering.
537.	For those who see with keen insight the subtle Truth, what is there to gain from knowledge of gross material things? What the imperishable inner sense perceives, surpasses by far, the sight seen by the physical eye.
998.	Only those who have experienced this union with Self-Awareness, can know its bliss. How else is one to know it? And those who have the experience, know nothing but That, lost in stillness. Like honey bees drunk with honey.
1076.	To search amid bewilderment, some other truth than the supreme Truth, the Truth of Self-Awareness, is the foolish barber’s vexed exploring of each and every hair, instead of swiftly sweeping out the rubbish on the floor.
1201.	When the mad craving for false, trivial objects is no more, and the ego is absorbed in its source and lost, the life of true Self-Awareness, that now shines forth, is supreme bliss.
372.	Good hearts, that yearn for dear contentment, to swim across this poverty of heart, it is good to gain serenity of mind, instead of gathering piles of tangible things.
187.	O heart of mine, it is not wise to stay out. It is safe to stay within. Conceal yourself from illusion, which plans to draw you out and to destroy you. Stay within.
192.	For the man of Truth, seeking experience of the supreme state, the heroic action needed, is to draw in, the outward darting mind, and fix it firmly in the Heart.
193.	If the mind turned outward and distracted, starts observing its own being, alienation ends, and the vestige ego, merges in the light of true Awareness, shining in the heart.
1225.	The foe desire, is the sole cause of our laughable bondage to birth and death. Know and use the means to end desire. Pure Being, free from all desire, this alone is liberation.
783.	O mind, you wander far in search of bliss, not knowing your natural state of freedom. You will regain your home of infinite bliss, only if you go back the way you came.
908.	Of all the many qualities desirable, in an earnest seeker of imperishable liberation, none is more essential than love for the bliss of solitude.
435.	True natural Awareness, which does not go after alien objects, is the Heart. Since actionless Awareness shines as real Being, its joy consists in concentration on itself.
389.	The method of Self-inquiry is: to turn the outward going mind, back to its source, the Heart, the Self-Awareness, and fix it forever there, preventing the rising of the empty “I”.
190.	You pilgrims, who without discovering what is within, proceed from place to place, forever hovering like a bird, the Self supreme is but Awareness, Absolutely still, centered in the Heart.
786.	If in an earnest seeker it is a fault to slip from the high summit of pure non-dual Self-experience, would it be right for him to interfere in other’s affairs?
802.	Only he who has attained immortal life, can save the world. For the ignorant one to help another, is but the blind leading the blind. http://albigen.com/uarelove/muruganar_the_world.aspx http://albigen.com/uarelove/five_sages.aspx