What is Atma Vichara? This is an expression of Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi was a Sage who lived in southern India and shared the Truth of this Being with those who approached him.
I want to talk about Atma Vichara. I've been calling this here on the channel the power of True Meditation. There is nothing quite like it. The approach to the Truth of Real Meditation is Atma Vichara. Atma Vichara means self-observation. And what is this self-observation? Some translate this as self-investigation, I prefer self-observation. What is this self-observation? It's an approach of yourself having a vision of the truth of how you work.
Human beings have been wondering how to control the mind, how to overcome fear, they have been asking how to observe the mind. Why is it important? Because without a vision of the truth about who you are, just have a look at the world and notice the condition the world is in. Not only this world made up of countries, nations, cities, and neighborhoods, but also this closer world.
Family, friends at work, our relationships between husband and wife, between parents and children, our relationships with each other, all of this constitutes this world, this “our world.” Without an understanding of the truth of who we are, of how we work, there is no Love, there is no Harmony, there is no Beauty, there is no Truth, there is no Freedom, there is no Happiness in these relationships.
So, the world is exactly what we are, what we present ourselves to be, what we demonstrate to be, what we appear to be. That's what the world is. The world around us is the world within us. A Divine approach, an approach to God, an approach to the Truth requires understanding ourselves. Everything we do when looking at the world, when interpreting the world based on what we believe it to be, has placed the world and ourselves within this condition.
I want to repeat this: there is no separation between the world and us. The world is us; we are the world. If there is confusion in this “me,” in this “I,” there is confusion in this world. Thus, discovering how we work is bringing into this life – in this context of our relationships with each other that constitutes the world – Harmony, Truth, Intelligence, and Comprehension.
We cannot give the world what we do not have. We cannot receive from the world anything other than what we are. If we are confusion, it is what we are giving to the world and it is what we are receiving from the world.
In our relationships with each other we want harmony, we want happiness, we want companionship, we want love, but what we are giving to the world is what we are receiving from the world. If there is confusion in this “I,” in this “me,” in this ego, in this person I believe I am, this is what I receive from the world, because this is what I give to the world, because this is what the world is, what I am.
Thus, the approach of Atma Vichara, of self-observation, shows you what the mind is and how to go beyond this condition of mind in the “I,” of personal mind, the mind of the world, the egoic mind. So, self-observation – which is Atma Vichara – is the Truth of Real Meditation, a quiet, silent brain, a mind free from patterns, which are the common patterns of the mind of the world, the “I” mind, the egoic mind.
What patterns are these? What is the mind, do we know it? The mind is what we carry within us with the weight of envy, violence, fear, all the characteristics of that center that separates itself, of that “I” that sees itself as a separate entity.
Notice, this is not confusing at all. It is very simple to observe and see how personal we are, how egocentric we are, how much we are tied to particular opinions, particular beliefs. This separates us from the other and places our relationship with the other in conflict, in a relationship where this self-interest. This merely personal interest makes us want the other to give us something, fulfill us in some way, satisfy us in some way, give us something.
There is always this condition of selfishness and therefore of fear in this world, in “our world,” in this world of this mind. Observing this movement of the “I,” perceiving this element that separates itself from the experience of the present moment to try something, to seek something, to do something with what it observes – this always puts us in a position to react to that instant, to react to that moment.
There is a difference between an action and a reaction. The movement of the “I” within us does not know an action. Action is what occurs in that moment, without this self-centeredness, without this self-interest, without this egocentrism. We are unaware of this. Our actions, our activities are egocentric and, therefore, they are reactive actions. Let's clear this up here to show you where the whole issue lies. In fact, that's the only problem we have.
What we have been saying in these meetings – and it may sound very strange to you – is that problems are illusory, but they are illusory if the sense of an “I” is seen as an illusion. If this becomes detached from us, if this sense of an “I” disappears, there are no more problems. All problems come from this “I,” this sense of an ego-identity that is reacting to this moment. Let's make this clear for you.
The sense of “someone” present, which is the “I,” is something coming from the past. All you have about the person you believe you are, is a set of images, a set of memories and remembrances, something from the past. There is a level of information that we have that comes from the past, that comes from memory, that is something practical, something functional, we need that.
On a certain level, we do need thinking. Note, every thought is something that comes from the past, it is a remembrance, it is a memory. Your name is a memory, your home address is a memory, your wife's name, your girlfriend's name, your son's name, this is memory and this is something practical, objective, functional, we need it here and now.
The world works like that. We work in life this way, so at this level memory is necessary. But there is also a quality of memory that gives this formation to this “I,” to this ego, to this person, and it is this set of memories that is shown here and now that makes me react.
So, our actions are egocentric activities because they are born from this quality of memory. It is the dysfunctional memory, it is the memory of the “I,” it is the memory of the ego, it is the memory of this mundane mind, this so-called “human mind.” It is the result of conditioning, programming, a way of happening that is always repeating itself.
I can give you one or two examples here and you will clearly understand what kind of memory this is. You told me something yesterday and I liked what I heard, and in this contact with you now, today – that happened yesterday, but I recorded those words –, I like you because you said kind words to me. So, this liking, for example, of this person who is you, is just an image that I bring back of someone I met yesterday. That someone is an image inside me.
So, notice, this quality of meeting at this level, at the level of the egoic mind, of memory, of this past, is a meeting between images. The image I make of you, I like it. This “I” is also an image I have of who I am. So, what I have about who I am is a set of images that I have of who I am, of what I have of myself, of all the experiences I have gone through – this I has gone through, this idea of being “someone” has gone through this – and now this is here and this is the image I have of you.
So, this meeting is a meeting between people. People are nothing more than images to this “I,” and this “I” is nothing more than an image for them too. At this level, the quality of memory is egoic memory. So, our actions are born out of this type of memory: “I like you as long as you are kind to me, when you stop being kind to me I make another image of you,” “You are no longer someone I like, you are no longer someone I like, you are someone I don’t like.” “My liking,” “my not liking,” “my loving you or hating you” is a movement of memory and, therefore, is a reactive movement of the “I,” of the ego.
Understand what the ego is. What is ego? It's this movement of self-image, the image I have of you, the image you have of me. So, your name is a functional memory, it's a practical memory, it's an objective memory, but this self-image is a self-projection. I am projecting who you are, I believe I know who you are because of this image I have of you, I believe I know who I am because of this image I have of myself.
An approach to Atma Vichara, to self-observation, to the True Meditation, is to look at this movement of the mind and discard this movement of psychological memory, of the past, to deal with this moment free of this movement of thought – this movement of thought that I have called psychological time.
It is not objective memory, it is not practical memory, it is subjective memory, it is the imaginary memory of this “I.” Looking at this movement, becoming aware of this movement of the “I,” that’s the end of this movement. So, it is a contact with life in this moment free from this sense of separation of this “you and I.” We are free from the sense of duality, we are free from the sense of ego, we are free from the movement of memory reaction, so there is an action here and now.
I don't make an image of who you are, I don't record that, I don't record an image of who I am, so there is a contact free of this sense of separation, this sense of duality. So, there is no such thing as “you and I,” this is the end to this ego-identity, this is the end to this psychological memory of the ego. This is possible when there is an approach to self-observation, to observing the movement of the mind without the observer, this look without the “I,” relating without this image.
Our work here is to discover a life free from problems and, therefore, free from suffering. Such a life is a life free of the “I.” I want to repeat it to you: problems are present as long as the sense of “I” is present, problems are present within that sense of “I” which is present. Without this sense of an “I” that separates itself at that moment from this experience of living, there is only life. There is no longer that element that separates itself and, therefore, it does not create conflict, it does not create problems, it does not create difficulties.
So, our work here is to look at this movement of the “I.” This awareness of self-observation of this movement we call Atma Vichara or True Meditation. Here on the channel, we have a playlist about this Truth of True Meditation in a practical way, how to realize That in this life.
The approach to Self-Awareness is part of this, this self-discovery of the Truth of your Being, free from this movement of thought. So, it's not about controlling thought, it's about discovering the truth about this movement. This is the end of the movement of the “I,” it is the end of the movement of this psychological thought, this psychological condition of separation, of duality. It is the end of the illusion between the observer and the observed thing.
This is our work here within this channel. We also have online meetings on weekends – you can find our WhatsApp link in the video description. We have face-to-face meetings and we also have retreats. And here is the invitation for you. If this is something that makes sense to you, so, please, leave a like, subscribe to the channel and we'll see you, ok? Thanks for the meeting and see you soon!
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