RIVER ZAMBEZI SNTV

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CHIT-JADA

There are two fundamentally different kinds of entities: 1. Substance and 2. Conscious personality. These two entities have diametrically opposite characteristics: 1. One is sentient, the other is not 2. One is evolutive, the other is not 3. One is dichotomisable, the other is not 4. One is the very principle of life, the other is dead substance.

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SRM

I thought self-inquiry meant asking: “Who am I?”

But Sri Ramana didn’t mean we should repeat this question like a mantra.

Inquiry (vichara) is meant in the sense of scientific inquiry or investigation.

When we turn within - toward the self - we see no objectified self exists.

There is no image or sensation that corresponds to “I.”

Only awareness exists, right where “I” was supposed to be.

When we look at the snake, we see it is only a rope.

Only peace is actually there.

This point is very simple, but very hard for us to accept.

We have inclinations (vasanas) toward mental activity.

But when we simply return to the peace that we are, we are happy.

The more we return, the more we discover:

“This is my natural state.”

Eventually, we will be beyond the temptation to look for trouble.

We will see that returning to peace is always the answer.

And as peace is our genuine nature, there’s no reason to leave.

Peace is your natural state. The moment you withdraw your mind from thoughts and turn inward, you are happy and know peace.

- Ramana Maharshi

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• "There's a guy in my head, and all he wants to do is lay in bed all day long, smoke pot, and watch old movies and cartoons. My life is a series of stratagems, to avoid, and outwit that guy." - Anthony Bourdain
• We all have "that guy" somewhere in our head. It may look a bit different from person to person, but the general archetype is universal. You can never silence the voice, you simply learn to resist.
• Everything meaningful in life is on the other side of hearing that voice loud and clear and acting in spite of it. Today, and all days, I hope that you outwit "that guy" in your head.

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our brain/body is a private and interactive gateway to the universe. it can be destroyed, i suppose, but the universe isn't destroyed when the gateway is.

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