Science of Knowledge & Wisdom

The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi .  Edited by David Godman; Arthur Osborne, Kavyakantha,  G.Muni, Kurt Friedrichs, Mouni Sadhu Sri Ramana Maharshi's insistence that awareness of the "I" thought was a pre-requisite for Self-realisation led him to the conclusion that all spiritual practices which did not incorporate this feature were indirect and inefficient:  What is Meditation? Meditation can be properly performed only when the mind is cleansed of all thoughts. Almost every student knows of this condition, but few can really achieve it.  Those who belong to different mystical societies often believe that meditation consists in the effort of directing the mind into certain channels according to pre-conceived ideas. The results of such exercises - they cannot be called meditation - are generally poor, even though they may be practised over a period of years, and they do not lead to the effective purification of the mind  from thought...

From The Mahabharata,  Aswamedha Parva, Section XVII Vasudeva said: Touching the feet of that sage (Brahmana), Kasyapa asked him some questions that were exceedingly difficult to answer. That foremost of all righteous persons then discoursed on those duties that were referred to. Kasyapa said: How does one become emancipated after passing through a repeated round of painful births?  How does Jiva (embodied soul), freed from the body, attain to what is different from it (viz., Brahman or Supreme Reality)?  Where do the acts exist of one that is devoid of body?  Urged by Kasyapa, the emancipated sage answered those questions one after another.  The Brahmana said:  Whatever acts, good or bad, Jiva does in a former body, have certainly to be enjoyed or endured by him. By such enjoyment and endurance former acts are exhausted, and other acts, again, accumulate, till Jiva has succeeded in acquiring a knowledge of the duties included in...