Nonduality | Ramana Maharshi | True Self

Too Many Problems? Try Turning Inward

The problems in our life and world are there to encourage us to return to our True Self.

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Pure Awareness

Nonduality (Advaita Vedanta) suggests the problems we encounter in the world are there to get us to look inward to realize our True Self (self-realization) *. Our True Self is pure awareness (or pure consciousness), without a subject (an “I” or “me”) that is being aware. In pure awareness, there is no thing that is aware of itself. And it is not “awareness being aware of itself”, as some like to say, because that phrase implies a subject.

Everything that we can know arises in pure awareness. But none of it is awareness (our True Self). Everything we know is entirely outside of who we truly are. “Everything” includes our body, our mind, and our ego sense of self, as well as worlds beyond our body/mind/ego-self.

As all these things arise and are experienced in awareness, their sole purpose spiritually is to get us to stop looking outward and to look inward — to reconnect with our True Self. Connecting to our True Self puts the world in proper perspective for our outer ego-self. As a result, we have a greater appreciation for our life and experiences.

Unfortunately, humanity has forgotten its True Self. That is because our ego-self relies on the outside world to create its identity. It attaches itself to external phenomena to create a story of “me”. In doing so, it veils our True Self.

There are many ways to look inward, including prayer, various forms of yoga, philosophical inquiry and debates and, of course, meditation. The challenge is that those, too, can add to our ego-self story, which is the opposite of being our True Self.

* This article was inspired by Michael James’ explanations (on YouTube) of the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950).

“Self-realization” has different definitions, many of which do not align with how I am using it here. For more on those definitions, see my article: ‘Awakening’ vs ‘Self-Realization’ vs ‘Enlightenment’.

• For more on our stories, see:

Karma & Energy

Modern radical nondualism (also known as Neo-Advaita) often describes the reality we experience as simply the contraction and expansion of energy. I have developed that line of thinking in a couple of ways. In the article below, I describe how we (as a mind, body, and ego) can be seen as a contracted (or concentrated) “ball of karmic energy”. How we look and behave, what we know and believe, and what we like and dislike all come into existence as that karmic energy is released. Our body, mind, and ego-self are nothing more or less than that.

From a physics perspective, we can think of karma as concentrated energy. The mind and body we identify with is one way the energy of the chaotic “big bang” concentrates at a certain location as it bounces around in time and space.

Physics suggests that everything that concentrates, including our physical universe overall, will eventually dissipate through entropy, which is how energy moves from a state of order to disorder. The life we experience is the release of the contracted energy of our mind and body in the particular space and time we perceive.

Galaxies, stars, planets, countries, and animals are other ways the big bang energy concentrates energy in space and releases it over time.

Destiny

It is our destiny to live out our karma. For example, most (radical nondualists say all) of the thoughts that arise in our awareness appear without effort or initiative on our part. We react to those thoughts, trying to stop some and expand others. But even our reactions are largely (radical nondualists say entirely) predetermined by the inclinations and preferences that are embedded in our mind and body.

“What is destined to happen will happen, what is not destined to happen will not arise.” — Ramana Maharshi (translated to English by Willam James)

Nondualists who are even more radical than Ramana Maharshi go even further to say nothing that happens in the energetic field of our experience has any rhyme, reason, or purpose. It is all simply what is happening. Our ego-self tries to assign purpose (such as calling it karma and destiny), but there really is none. And that alone is both amazing and unfathomable.

Ramana Maharshi suggests that the one thing we have control over is the decision to turn inward (although many radical nondualists say we do not even have control over that). To resolve the suffering and disappointment of our karmic experiences, we need to turn our mind away from the outer world and investigate our True Self — who we really are beyond all objects of experience.

We are not our body, mind, or ego identity. Those are all objects we observe. And they are all impermanent and ever changing. We are the unchanging pure awareness that lies beyond all that can be observed. While some call that God, many nondualists say we (as an ego-self) can never really know what that is.

The philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that the 3 things we can never know is God (a common source), the Soul (the ultimate self), and our World (its origin and nature). He says these are human creations used to make sense of our experience.

• I am not a philosopher like Kant, but here is my take on the unknowable nature of human existence…

Meditation

Our thoughts are part of the outer world — outside of our True Self. That is why many versions of meditation seek to quiet our minds. The goal is to transcend our thoughts and identity (ego), to be only pure awareness.

Pure awareness is similar to deep sleep. “I” (as an ego identity) am never aware of being in deep sleep because “I” (as an ego) am not there. There is only awareness, which is the True Self. But as soon as a thought arises, like “this is it”, there is no longer pure awareness.

Ramana Maharshi said we can reach that state of pure awareness by “investigating” who we are. This is not by thinking “who am I?”, but by watching and observing (without thinking). He suggested that if our ego-self turns in on itself, it (the ego) will disappear, revealing our True Self.

“Neti, neti” meditation (“not this, not that”) is another technique with the same goal, as are some forms of mantra meditation, like Transcendental / Vedic Meditation. Yoga asanas are a preparation for meditation, and usually end with the “Corpse Pose” (shavasana), which is also intended to transcend our body/mind/ego (though it is seldom taught that way).

• For more on meditation, see…

200%

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi taught the goal of meditation was to live a “200% Life” — meaning 100% in the outer ego-self world and 100% in our inner True Self.

According to Maharishi, by realizing our inner self, the actions taken by our outer self (the unfolding of our karma) are more in line with the unfolding of the karma of the universe. We are most efficient when our karma is aligned with the natural energy of the universe. That is how we best realize our “dharma”, or purpose in life.

Maharishi’s perspective appeals to our outer ego-self, because it gives our ego agency (free will to do something).

Maharishi was from the Advaita Vedanta/nondualism tradition of Hinduism, but he was not radical by any means. More radical nondualists say the practices and beliefs he taught strengthen the outer-ego-self and do not lead to self-realization of our True Self. For them, nothing we (as an ego-self) do can bring about self-realization — it simply happens randomly, like everything else in the universe.

Even Ramana Maharshi once told Paramahansa Yogananda, who wrote Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship, that there is no teaching that will ever bring the ego-self to self-realization of the True Self.

Raman only spoke that level of ultimate “radical truth” to those who were ready to understand it. For others, he recommended self-inquiry (investigating “who am I?”), especially if they have given up on all other spiritual practices.

Michael James, the foremost translator of Ramana Maharshi’s writing, insists that “who am I?” investigation/practice will bring discovery or self-realization of our True Self. But that is not clear to me, based on what Ramana told Yogananda. At a minimum, though, it offers an understanding to our ego-self about our True Self and our true reality.

A related New Age spiritual saying, which the ego-self seems to like a lot, is:

“Enlightenment is an accident. But our practices can make us more accident prone.” — source unknown

Easing the Mind

For the outer ego-self, which is the “I” we think we are, conceptually knowing we are more than the body/mind/ego can help ease our world experience. Even if we do not fully drop our ego-self and realize our True Self, looking inward grows an awareness that there is more to us than our outer ego-self experiences. In that way, the unraveling of our karmic energy knot can be smoother, with less resistance.

That is the lesson of looking inward.

• Perhaps our reactions to dramas that arise in our awareness are more subdued.
• Perhaps we rely less on our outer-ego emotions and more on our inner self’s intuitions.
• Perhaps we flow with what arises, rather than placing blame and excuses on a universe that is simply releasing energy from the big bang of creation.

In Advaita Vedanta, actions (karma releasing/unfolding) by someone who is not self-realized will cause more karma, which could be good, bad, or neutral. That is because the ego-self is grasping and holding onto its actions, which it actually has no control over (as discussed in the Destiny section above). In that way, more karma is accumulated, leading to one life incarnation after another (the cycle of reincarnation).

But actions taken by someone who is self-realized is simply the unfolding of karma. The self-realized being is not attached to any of their actions. Buddhists call it “action without intention or desire”. We can think of such actions as being fully aligned with the intentions (or energy) of the universe. When there is no new accumulation of karma, the cycle of reincarnation comes to an end.

Nothing Changes, and Everything Changes

Until self-realization arises, we see many problems in our world. No matter what we do, we can never completely overcome those problems. They will continue to arise to encourage us to turn inward. (For some, that may take a lot of incarnations.)

After self-realization, the problems are still there. Nothing changes in self-realization. The energy/karma we are, as a body/mind/ego, does not change. We still have the same inclinations and preferences we were born with. We still support the same political views, for example, but perhaps we have more sympathy for opposite views. We have the same health issues, but perhaps we suffer less in response to our challenges and pains.

“Every situation is God Sent. With this supreme wisdom of life any situation can be used to our advantage and regarded as a blessing of Mother Nature.” — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

In that way, our True Self adds another, deeper layer of consciousness to who/what we think we are. And while nothing changes, everything changes (or maybe not).

“Before awakening, chop wood, carry water. After awakening, chop wood, carry water.” — Zen saying

Related

For more on Nonduality (Advaita), see this collection of articles:

• Note that the articles in that collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles, go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.

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