Five Sages Teaching the Direct Path

Discerning the Essential from the Inessential

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

– Lao Tzu from the Hua Hu Ching

Awareness watching awareness was taught by:

  • Sri Ramana Maharshi,
  • Sri Muruganar,
  • Sri Sadhu Om,
  • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj,
  • Sri Annamalai Swami.

What is the direct path to abidance as Infinite-Eternal-Being-Awareness-Bliss-Love-Peace, free of the I, suffering, sorrow, desire and the world appearance?

What is the direct spiritual path with no detours and no delays?

At the following links you can find the direct path described in different ways.

The means to Direct, Immediate, Instant abidance can be found by clicking this link:

The same Awareness Watching Awareness method in Ramana Maharshi's words (as interpreted by Sri Muruganar) can be found at these two links:

This direct means to instant, immediate Self-Abidance has been almost completely overlooked by the Ramana Maharshi tradition. Thus the collection of Ramana Maharshi quotes in the above two links will be of tremendous benefit to those one in a million people who actually would like to realize the Self in this lifetime.

THE DIRECT PATH LINKS THE FIRST RING (most direct)

Sri Muruganar was a liberated sage who spent decades in the company of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Sri Muruganar was already a highly skilled poet before he met Sri Ramana Maharshi, and therefore his ability to communicate clearly is unsurpassed. One liberated sage reporting on the teachings of another liberated sage is like two mirrors facing each other. The result is an infinite reflection. Sri Muruganar's words are a living transmission. The teachings found in the First Ring links are the most clearly communicated, condensed summary of the teachings of the Direct Path that exist today. With orbits around the sun (the Self), the orbit closest to the sun is the first ring, and here on the Direct Path Links Directory, the most Direct Teachings that exist today, communicated most clearly, in the most concise manner are called "THE FIRST RING".

First Ring Links

INSTRUCTIONS (Inquiry-Abidance): How to practice Self-inquiry according to Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Muruganar, and Sri Sadhu Om. Includes the awareness watching awareness method, which is the most direct method. This is a simple, easy to understand summary. Recommendation: Read a small portion of the teachings found at the Instructions link every day. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over every day has great value.

DISCOVERY: How I discovered the Awareness watching Awareness method. Includes many quotes by Sri Muruganar about the Awareness watching Awareness method. The teachings found in this link help to put the awareness watching awareness method in context.

Read the following quote from "The Essence of One's Own True Nature" very slowly three times:

Question: But will not this experience come to everyone?

Answer: If one becomes inward-turned instead of being externalized, this experience will come for everyone. I declare: "If their minds are directed inward, attending to the light (the Self), and do not become outward-turned, all those upon this earth are capable of seeing the Self, just as I have seen my Self."

Thus you can see the importance of Turning Inward.

The following three links: "THE WORLD", "TURNING INWARD" and "READING & DISCUSSING", are all instructions in exactly what Turning Inward means, and how to Turn Inward.

THE WORLD: 108 Sayings from "The Garland of Guru's (Sri Ramana Maharshi's) Sayings by Sri Muruganar on the subject of: Ignoring and turning one's attention away from the world and towards Awareness watching Awareness. Enjoy the living transmission these words contain. Recommendation: read a small portion of the teachings found at The World link every day. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over every day has great value.

TURNING INWARD: Quotes from "The Garland of Guru's (Sri Ramana Maharshi's) Sayings by Sri Muruganar on the following subjects: Encouragement, the Goal, the Benefits, The Awareness watching Awareness approach to Self-inquiry and Self-Abidance, Practice, Earnestness, Effort and Zeal, Ignoring and turning one's attention away from thought and towards Awareness watching Awareness, The Body. Enjoy the living transmission these words contain. Recommendation: Read a small portion of the teachings found at the Turning Inward link every day. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over every day has great value.

READING & DISCUSSING: Quotes by Sri Ramana Maharshi on the subject of reading, discussing and thinking about spiritual teachings. The purpose of the Teachings found in this link is to turn the mind away from reading, discussing and thinking and towards the Direct Practice which is awareness watching awareness while ignoring the world, thoughts, etc.

The next two links "CHOICE A" and "SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE", describe the experience of liberation. Reading the descriptions of the experience of liberation increases the desire for liberation. Increasing the desire for liberation is more important than any other factor for liberation. All problems are solved when the intense desire for liberation arises. Thus reading quotes from the next two links every day is the very first step to be taken, and is the most important step. It provides the Foundation for the First Ring teachings.

CHOICE A: Quotes that describe the experience of liberation. The purpose of these quotes is encouragement. Reading these quotes can increase the desire for liberation, and the desire for liberation is the most important factor leading to liberation. Increasing the desire for liberation is the very first step that needs to be taken. Read a small portion of the teachings found at the CHOICE A link every day. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over has great value.

SRI RAMANA EXPERIENCE: Sri Muruganar writes one of the most beautiful, heart touching, clearly communicated and detailed descriptions of the experience of Self-realization ever written. The purpose of the teachings found in this link are Encouragement. Reading about the beauty of the Love-Bliss-Freedom in the experience of Liberation can serve as a motivation and encouragement to spend more time in, and go more intensely into, the practice that leads to Liberation which is awareness watching awareness while ignoring the world, the body, thoughts, etc. Recommendation: Read a small portion of the teachings found at the Sri Ramana Experience link every day. The repetition of reading these teachings over and over every day has great value.

EXPERIENCES: This page describes experiences people have had with the teachings found in the links on the Direct Path Links Directory. The purpose of these descriptions is Encouragement.

THE SECOND RING (second most direct)

Sri Sadhu Om spent five years in the company of Sri Ramana Maharshi and decades in the company of Sri Muruganar.

Sri Sadhu Om wrote a book called "The Path of Sri Ramana Part 1" which contains the most detailed teaching on the practice of Self-inquiry, Self-attention and Self-abidance that exists today. For those people who studied the Third Ring teachings and came to the mistaken conclusion that the Direct Path is Self-inquiry in the form of asking "To whom do these thoughts arise?" and "Who am I?" etc., Sri Sadhu Om provides the bridge leading one from the Third Ring Teachings to the First Ring Teachings. The reason Sri Sadhu Om's teachings have been placed under the Second Ring is because it takes Sri Sadhu Om 100 words to say what Sri Muruganar could say in only 10 words. Sri Sadhu Om's ability to communicate is very good, but not as skilled as Sri Muruganar.

However, the fact that he is the Second Ring and not third or fourth or fifth, is a way of praising the great valuable contribution that Sri Sadhu Om has made to the understanding of the Direct Path and what it means to inquire into, attend to and abide as the Self.

The second ring teaching is the book "The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1". It is a detailed guide to the actual practice of Self-inquiry, Self-attention, Self-abidance. What Sri Sadhu Om reveals in these teachings is profound and extraordinary. Sri Sadhu Om is very creative in his ability to use examples and illustrations to answer those questions that almost no one has ever answered clearly. What Sri Sadhu Om reveals lays the foundation for an illuminated, clear understanding of the Direct Path and the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

When a person is no longer interested in doing a lot of reading or thinking about, spiritual teachings, but they are only concerned with practice instructions and encouragement to practice, then the First Ring teachings are the best choice. However, if one is still interested in learning the details of the matrix in which the teachings arise, or interested in thinking about the teachings and would like to learn intellectually what inquiry, attention, abidance, and the Direct Path of Sri Ramana Maharshi mean, then the second ring teachings are the best choice for that.

The Second Ring teachings are also a step by step guide to the practice of Self-inquiry, Self-abidance and Self-attention.

People would visit Sri Sadhu Om and ask him various questions and tell him that they were not making any progress with asking 'To whom do these thoughts arise?', etc. Sri Sadhu Om's answer to such questions became the book "The Path Of Sri Ramana, Part One". What Sri Sadhu Om reveals about the practice of Self-inquiry in that book amounts to a person who was traveling in a Bullock Cart (asking 'to whom do these thoughts arise?') being introduced to Jet Travel (Awareness watching awareness).

Second Ring Links

Self-inquiry from The Path of Sri Ramana Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om. Describes and approach to Self-inquiry that is more like Self-attention.

The Technique of Self-inquiry from The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om. The final chapter. A detailed teaching on Sri Ramana Maharshi's method of Self-inquiry.

[broken link https://groups.yahoo.com/group/PathofSriRamana/ ] The Path of Sri Ramana, Part 1 by Sri Sadhu Om [Yahoo group discontinued*] You can receive quotes in your email from this book. After clicking this link, click "join this group".

* See AWA home page on how to search the Wayback Machine for old Yahoo groups.

The Change: [ broken link: http://uarelove1.tripod.com/CHANGE.htm ] The reasons for the change from the old web pages to the new. This link also includes a step by step way for people within the Ramana Maharshi tradition who think Self-inquiry is asking "Who am I?" or asking "To whom do these thoughts arise" to see Self-inquiry in a new light, by seeing the most direct means to realize the Self taught by Ramana Maharshi: Self-Abidance.

The intricate maze of philosophy of different schools is said to clarify matters and reveal the Truth. But in fact they create confusion where no confusion need exist. Why should confusion be created and then explained away? Ah! Fortunate is the man who does not involve himself in this maze!"

- Sri Ramana from the book "Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi"

THE THIRD RING (third most direct)

If the English translation of some of these links had been different, thus producing a more clear communication, they might have been placed under the first or second ring. However, when one becomes ripe and serious, a teaching must not only be direct, but also be communicated in the clearest, most concise manner, to qualify as most direct and therefore First Ring.

Who Am I? by Sri Ramana Maharshi

Forty Verses on Reality by Sri Ramana Maharshi

THE FOURTH RING

I AM THAT: An excellent and unique collection of more than 200 quotes by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj that emphasize the importance of practice, earnestness, effort and instructions on how to practice.

THE FIFTH RING

DIRECT PATH: An article by Mouni Sadhu about Sri Ramana Maharshi's Direct Path

BIOGRAPHY: A brief biography of Sri Ramana Maharshi

WINGS: An article by Michael James about Sri Sadhu Om and Sri Muruganar and what their role is in clearly presenting the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

THE SIXTH RING

Ceasing to Pretend One Wishes to be Liberated: An article about the tricky ego.

Spiritual Business: Why spiritual Truth is distorted into lies.

Sahaja: What is Liberation according to Sri Ramana Maharshi? Includes warnings against the false sense of liberation.

The Path of Surrender

Click to read the instructions for the Abandon Release Method

THE SRI RAMANA COMMUNITY

SRI RAMANA COMMUNITY PAGE: https://uarelove1.tripod.com/SRC.htm List of Individuals and groups interested in the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Listed according to City, State and Country.

Ashram in India

Regarding the next two links, SRI RAMANASRAMAM NEIGHBORHOOD and TRAVELING TO TIRUVANNAMALAI: I do not recommend that anyone make a trip to India for any spiritually related purpose such as to visit Sri Ramanasramam or to visit Arunachala, etc. Arunachala is the Self, and the Self is within us. To look upon Arunachala as the Self is to take the Direct Path. To look upon Arunachala as a mountain in India is to take an indirect path. When people asked about making such a trip, Sri Ramana almost always advised against making such a journey. Therefore it might look like a contradiction to provide the travel information below. However, I know that many people will not follow my advice or Sri Ramana's repeated advice against making such a Journey. I can well understand the desire of those who view Sri Ramana as their Guru to make such a trip, even though Sri Ramana so often advised against it. Therefore, for those people who are going to go to Tiruvannamalai, I would like them to have the best experience possible and I wish them well. Therefore, to make the journey a good experience for them, I have provided the following map and directions of the Sri Ramanasramam Neighborhood, and the other information link. Printing up the map and directions and taking it with one to Tiruvannamalai, can dramatically improve the quality of one's experience in a trip to Tiruvannamalai, because then one instantly has the feeling of knowing where things are instead of the feeling of being lost. Also, all that energy is saved that one would have spent in trying to find places.

SRI RAMANASRAMAM NEIGHBORHOOD: [ http://uarelove1.tripod.com/MAP_RAMANASRAMAM.doc ] Map and directions. Please exercise caution when downloading Doc files.

TRAVELING TO TIRUVANNAMALAI: https://uarelove1.tripod.com/TRAVELTIRU.htm Lots of information including ashrams, accommodations and local gurus.

DIRECT PATH BOOKS at the author's publishing company. http://www.thefreedomreligionpress.com

Also see the Author's Page

HAPPINESS OF BEING https://www.happinessofbeing.com This is Michael James website. It is dedicated to exploring in depth the philosophy and practice of the spiritual teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. After clicking that link, if you look under the "BOOKS" category you will see a link called "Happiness and the Art of Being". If you click that link, you can read the book "Happiness and the Art of Being" by Michael James.

 

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Michael Langford