Awareness Home

"Not all spiritual paths lead to the Harmonious Oneness. Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more."

– Lao Tzu from the Hua Hu Ching

"Only the liberated one can save the world. The blind cannot guide the blind."

– Sri Ramana Maharshi

Book: The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss

Former title: The Impostor

"The ego controls all thinking."

"The ego creates arguments against the Direct Path as a preservation strategy."

most-rapid/contents.htm

(See below for more direct-path links.)

The author of these pages does not claim to have invented the awareness-watching-awareness method. Rather, after many years of searching, he intuitively discovered the method while on a visit to the Ramana Maharshi ashram in India. Before applying the method, he sought support for it in the teachings of Ramana and other realized teachers, and indeed found support for it there. Many of these supporting sources are referenced below. He then applied himself diligently to the practice, and in a little over two years time experienced the disappearance of the ego and realized his real Self. He considers this method to be the most rapid and direct means to self-realization. The writings on these pages are intended to explain this simple practice, thereby saving the aspirant many years of vain searching, the result of using less direct means.

Authentic spiritual teachers never accept monetary donations, never charge any fees, and never have a collection plate or donation box. When money changes hands, that is business, not spirituality. "Spiritual teachers" who accept money are really just business people. Beware of them.

Other Pages

Pages marked * have been superseded by chapters in the book above.

* Awareness Watching Awareness - Practice Instructions

awa-instructions.htm

* Awareness Watching Awareness - Further Clarification

awa-clarification.htm

* The Abandon Release Method

abandon-release.htm

* The Reminder Page - Read This Every Day

reminder-page.htm

Five Sages Teaching the Direct Path

The original index for many of these pages, providing an overview of Direct Path Teachings. A good starting point or "home base" for the teachings on this site, with links to the other pages.

five-sages.htm

Sri Muruganar

Annamalai Swami

Sri Sadhu Om
Sadhu Om Swamigal

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The 6 Rings

The most direct and the less direct paths

First Ring - Most Direct Means

* How I Discovered the Awareness Watching Awareness Method

awa-discovery.htm

Turning Inward - How to Look Within - How to Practice

From Garland of Guru's (Ramana Maharshi's) Sayings by Sri Muruganar

muruganar-turning-inward.htm

The World - 108 sayings - On ignoring and turning one's attention away from the world and towards Awareness watching Awareness.

Also from Garland of Guru's Sayings

muruganar-the-world.htm

Sri Ramana Maharshi's Teachings on the topics of Thinking About, Reading and Discussing Spiritual Teachings

Quotes by Sri Muruganar and by Ramana Maharshi (various sources)

ramana-think-read-discuss.htm

Choice "A" - Quotes

Encouraging descriptions of realization by Ramana, Muruganar, others. Choice A is Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss with no sorrow and no suffering. Choice B is being identified with a body subject to suffering, sorrow, disease, death, violence, fear, anger, etc.

choice-a-quotes.htm

Realization ("Sri Ramana Experience") - by Sri Muruganar

One of the most detailed, clearly communicated, profound and heart touching descriptions of the experience of Self-Realization ever written.

muruganar-realization.htm

Experiences and Comments

The end of the illusion of the ego.

experiences.htm

* Inquiry-Abidance

How to Practice Self Awareness - The Awareness Watching Awareness practice is best described as ""abidance in self-awareness"".

inquiry-abidance.htm

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Second Ring

The journals of Sri Sadhu Om have been called the most detailed and clearly expressed instructions ever written on the practice of Self-inquiry as advocated by Ramana Maharshi. The following are from his book: The Path of Sri Ramana, which is available at Michael James' website (see below).

Self-Inquiry - Sri Sadhu Om (chapter 7)

Self-inquiry is only an aid to Self-Awareness; only Self-Awareness is the True Direct Path. ... Although we formally refer to [Self-attention] as 'directed', in truth it is not of the nature of a 'doing' in the form of directing or being directed; it is of the nature of 'being' or 'existing'.

sadhu-om-self-inquiry.htm

The Technique of Self-Inquiry - Sri Sadhu Om (chapter 8)

Penetrating insight and detailed instructions on how to apply the principles of Self-inquiry.

sadhu-om-technique.htm

Sri Annamali Swami

Sri Annamali Swami was closely associated with Ramana Maharshi for many years. There are currently no writings by him linked on this page. A copy of a very small (pocket edition) book "Annamalai Swami: Final Talks," edited by David Godman, published by AHAM, can be obtained via an internet search.

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Third Ring

Who Am I? - by Ramana Maharshi

ramana-who-am-i.htm

Español:

ramana-quien-soy-yo.htm

Truth Revealed - 40 Verses on Reality - by Ramana Maharshi

"The Divine gives light to the mind and shines within it. Except by turning the mind inward and fixing it in the Divine, there is no other way to know Him through the mind."

ramana-40-verses-on-reality.htm

Español:

ramana-40-versos-sobre-la-realidad.htm

Fourth Ring

Instructions and Encouragement by Nisargadatta Maharaj

Selected comments on how to practice from I AM THAT

nisargadatta-practice.htm

Nisargadatta
Maharaj

Siddharameshwar
Maharaj

Fifth Ring

Direct Path - by Mouni Sadhu

Whoever knows of the hidden Direct Path will not waste time following lesser ways.

direct-path-mouni-sadhu.htm

Brief Biography of Ramana Maharshi

By T.M.P. Mahadevan, 1959, published by the Ramana Maharshi ashram.

ramana-biography.htm

"Sri Muruganar and Sri Sadhu Om" - by Michael James

A somewhat devotional tribute to these two "poet-saints" by the scholar/translator Michael James, but one that offers interesting background information on their working relationship with Sri Ramana, as they recorded and helped to explain his teachings.

michael-james-muruganar-sadhu-om.htm

Sixth Ring

Ceasing to Pretend One Wishes to be Liberated

A look at tricks the ego uses to preserve its imaginary self.

ceasing-to-pretend.htm

Spiritual Business - Why spiritual Truth is distorted into lies

spiritual-business.htm

Sahaja - What is Liberation according to Sri Ramana Maharshi?

Avoiding a false sense of liberation.

sahaja.htm

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THE FREEDOM RELIGION, INC

Recommended books on the Direct Path teachings.

http://thefreedomreligionpress.com

Also see the Author's Page

authors-page.htm

Other Writings

Comments on meetings with Vernon Howard

nonduality-salon-403.htm

Videos

Michael Langford's channel at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTWQ0-QxiCGt3soVsLYHO7Q/videos

Satsang with Tom Das: help with the awareness watching awareness (AWA) method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUddPk4lb2M

Groups

SRI RAMANA COMMUNITY PAGE: Links to Sri Ramana groups around the world. https://uarelove1.tripod.com/SRC.htm

Yahoo Groups (Historical)

Yahoo shut down all groups in 2020. The links remain below because with some diligence you may be able to find archives at the wayback machine or other places on the web. You may have success at Archive.Org Archive Team: Yahoo! Groups or Archive.Org Search: Yahoo Groups

Eternal Bliss
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/eternalbliss/info

First Ring Info
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FirstRing/info

The Path of Sri Ramana
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PathofSriRamana/info

Or try: How to recover your Yahoo! Groups from the Internet Archive at DataHorde.Org

Arunachala - Ashram in India

Interesting information about Arunachala, the Ashram and the people associated with it. https://uarelove1.tripod.com/TRAVELTIRU.htm

Maps and directions - This link opens a 5-page Word document file that will be downloaded to your computer or device [please exercise security precautions when downloading Doc files]: http://uarelove1.tripod.com/MAP_RAMANASRAMAM.doc

Translations

Michael James translated the material by Sri Sadhu Om linked on this page above. His translations of Who Am I? (Nan Yar?) and Forty Verses (Ulladu Narpadu) by Ramana Maharshi can be found in a copy of his book: Happiness and the Art of Being.

Happiness and the Art of Being by Michael James

Main page for the book

Free eBook, PDF, 500 pages, 2.0 megabytes

Direct link to PDF file

His website, dedicated to teachings of Ramana Maharshi

https://www.happinessofbeing.com

Guru Vachaka Kovai (Garland of Guru's sayings) by Ramana, Muruganar, Sri Sadhu Om, edited by Michael James:

PDF of 472 pages, 1.2 meg, 2013 edition, free download

Direct link to PDF: Guru Vachaka Kovai

Web page for the book for more information:

https://www.happinessofbeing.com/guru_vachaka_kovai-5

The Path of Sri Ramana (Part One) by Sri Sadhu Om, edited by Michael James