DISA ~ SHERRIL BERRY

(this photo was taken at sunrise from Disa’s cabin window)

The Seven Steps To Awakening ~ Journal
Sri Ramana Marhashi (1-40)

1/20/13

Quote 4.   Even the knowledge sense-perceived of the world without has for its ground the self above. To search for knowledge somewhere else apart from That is but to grasp the shadow, not the substance.

Question A. What is the purpose of this quote?
Question B.  What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?

Answers…
I have been contemplating this quote for days and days… sitting with the nectar of its Truth. I feel it saying to me that everything is God, in originations, in Truth and coming from and made of That. To only see the surface and stop there is to miss the deeper substance of what is hidden within when we only perceive the surface or the without. We are only grasping the shadow… which is not Reality.

Quote 5.  Whatever notion may arise, never to let it live or grow, but to turn it that very instant, firm and stern, back to its source and merge it there, this is robust, intense detachment.

Question A. What is the purpose of this quote?
Question B.  What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?

Answers…
This is SO relevant for me now, this quote… reminding me of not allowing even for an instant the false self to grow a false thought, but to turn it immediately back inward into Truth, into God for purification. This practice requires extreme mind watching with vigilance. For the illusory world sprang up from just this… So if I really want to be Awake and SEE true Reality… I MUST be watchful and return all og my ideas about what things are and are for back to God. In this way will Reality arise instead of falsehood.

Hello Everyone,

I have been guided to and pointed in the direction of, by Regina Dawn Akers and inspired by Holy Spirit to embark on this journey of “The Seven Steps to Awakening” … a collection of quotes put together by Michael Langford from Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Vasistha & Sankara, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Muruganar & Sadhu Om.

The following words are in the introduction of the book:

You, dear reader, have a choice. Choice A is to bring the impostor self and all forms of suffering to a final end and thus enjoy the perfect Awareness-Love-Bliss of your true Self forever.

Choice B is to continue to be controlled by the impostor self; identified with a temporary physical body that is subject to hundreds of diseases while living in a world that has had more than fifteen thousand wars in the last five thousand years.

Hmmmmm…. I choose A.
Blessings Love and Light!!!

May this sharing of my journey to be free of the impostor self forever be helpful.

Hello Everyone,

I have been guided to and pointed in the direction of, by Regina Dawn Akers and inspired by Holy Spirit to embark on this journey of “The Seven Steps to Awakening” … a collection of quotes put together by Michael Langford from Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Vasistha & Sankara, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Muruganar & Sadhu Om.
Today, January 12, 2013… The dropbox link will take you to an 11:38 minute audio which I made for myself as the impostor self is clever and helps me to forget what was contemplated in the morning!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55903238/The%20Seven%20Steps%20To%20Awakening%20%7E%20Audio%20Journal3.mp3

The following words are in the introduction of the book:

You, dear reader, have a choice. Choice A is to bring the impostor self and all forms of suffering to a final end and thus enjoy the perfect Awareness-Love-Bliss of your true Self forever.

Choice B is to continue to be controlled by the impostor self; identified with a temporary physical body that is subject to hundreds of diseases while living in a world that has had more than fifteen thousand wars in the last five thousand years.

Hmmmmm…. I choose A.
Blessings Love and Light!!!

May this sharing of my journey to be free of the impostor self forever be helpful.

The Seven Steps To Awakening ~ Journal
Sri Ramana Marhashi (1-40)

1/12/13

Quote 3.   When knowledge marred by doubt and error disappears in true Awareness clear and pure, one thus established firmly in Self-Being free from falsehood, has crossed over to the further shore of the river of knowledge.

Question A. What is the purpose of this quote?

Answer:  This quote paints a beautiful picture for which I can relate. I have experienced this state for a moment.. a fraction of a second… of spontaneously being in expanded awareness, in light, and I heard a voice say “Welcome… You know now, that we know that you know, now.” And as the “space-time-room” began coming into focus I was still in this state… aware of bodies.. even my own.. animated. I was not that, body, yet connected somehow to the movement of that body called Sherril… like a marionette. In this expanded state of Awareness, there WAS communion and “conversation” … also no separation .. all Mind …no lines… all one … I was everything… all at once. That is my experience of 4/4/11.  NOTHING has been the same since. There is a knowing that when all the false desires drop… the blocks to loves awareness… that the true essence or flavor of Self is still present. Is this the of Self-Being that Ramana describes? Also I see how he suggests that when we are in a state of Self-Being that this is knowledge which is flowing from the true Self… not objective knowledge. He calls it crossed over to the further shore of the “river of knowledge.”

Question B.  What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?

Answer: To put this into practice, I see it is important to always bring the mind back to this state of expanded awareness, and continually in each arising moment to aspire to be firmly in Self-Being free from falsehood, therefore riding the river over to the further shore… where this one can abide serene. This further shore is within ones own Self. This requires practice, mind watching.. for those thoughts which are blocks to loves Awareness, so they can disappear and no longer cloud my true Being.

(The photo above I call “Who is the ‘I’ Who Saw The Reflection of Self”  was taken in Rowe, Ma at Pelham Brook… Thanksgiving 2012, hiking with my sister.)

Hello Everyone,

I have been guided to and pointed in the direction of, by Regina Dawn Akers and inspired by Holy Spirit to embark on this journey of “The Seven Steps to Awakening” … a collection of quotes put together by Michael Langford from Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Vasistha & Sankara, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Muruganar & Sadhu Om.
Today, January 11, 2013… The dropbox link will take you to an 11:07 minute audio which I made for myself as the impostor self is clever and helps me to forget what was contemplated in the morning!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55903238/The%20Seven%20Steps%20To%20Awakening%20%7E%20Audio%20Journal2.mp3

The following words are in the introduction of the book:

You, dear reader, have a choice. Choice A is to bring the impostor self and all forms of suffering to a final end and thus enjoy the perfect Awareness-Love-Bliss of your true Self forever.

Choice B is to continue to be controlled by the impostor self; identified with a temporary physical body that is subject to hundreds of diseases while living in a world that has had more than fifteen thousand wars in the last five thousand years.

Hmmmmm…. I choose A.
Blessings Love and Light!!!

May this sharing of my journey to be free of the impostor self forever be helpful.

The Seven Steps To Awakening ~ Journal
Sri Ramana Marhashi (1-40)

1/11/13

Quote 2.   Those who, learning to forget completely all objective knowledge, turn inward firmly and see clearly the truth, abide serene. Those who try to recall forgotten things, pine bewildered, fretting over false phenomena.

Question A. What is the purpose of this quote?

Answer:  This quote tells me when I firmly learn to forget all objective knowledge, which IS false phenomena; what I think I know about this or that, and go within in each moment seeing clearly truth, I shall “abide serene.” The other two words that really stand out when I am in contemplation are “pine bewildered.” This is an interesting action… pining in bewilderment…. like heartache and befuddlement all whirled up together. Not a pleasant state at all. All that fretting…
For example, yesterday at one point the thought came, “they are upset with me… they don’t like me.” That is false objective knowledge. I need to be liked. Why do I even think they don’t like me? Do I know that? Who needs to be liked? Is that true? Where is this coming from? I am already pure Love… why would this body need to be liked. What would happen if they didn’t really like me? After all, they are simply messengers returning to me my thoughts, and what are thoughts? Not the truth of who I really am. Hence Ramana Marhashi guiding me in this quote to abide serene… let go of all that recalling of forgotten things. Going inward and SEEING clearly now, Ah this is a false desire… the desire to be liked. I AM Eternal-Infinite-Awareness-Bliss-Love. Oh yes… this is who I AM. So, I remember to turn inward firmly and see clearly the truth and not the false phenomena the impostor self would generate… and now it fades away.

Question B.  What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?

Answer:  Why would I continue to fret over what is false? Also Ramana Maharshi suggests to me that we may “try to recall” actively, spend time ruminating… about… forgotten phenomena, forgotten dreams… Like when we try to remember a night dream that is fading away. We can practice just letting the dream fade.

Therefore to put this quote into practice I see it is not helpful to Awakening to keep actively looking into the past and trying to re-call what has gone by. It keeps me from the present. For example when I continue to recall or “pine bewildered” my past special love relationship, which is the most recent freshest thing in my impostor selfs bags of tricks… I stay stuck in false desire… illusion, suffering and pain… that “big pink polka-dotted elephant” wanders over in that moment to sit again on my chest. There is no difference even when those forgotten things seem really good. To continue dwelling over there…. somewhere else is distracting me from my now and true desire to BE Awake.
So when the temptation comes to go into that reminiscing in my mind.. good or bad… I see the “elephant” beginning to wander over and remember the compression. Elephants are big after all and it’s easy to become frozen when one of them is sitting on top of your chest. Much better to be present… in Awareness… in LOVE and toss the elephant a peanut, and watch it walk away.

(The photo above I call “Who is the ‘I’ Who Saw The Reflection of Self”  was taken in Rowe, Ma at Pelham Brook… Thanksgiving 2012, hiking with my sister.)

Hello Everyone,

I have been guided to and pointed in the direction of, by Regina Dawn Akers and inspired by Holy Spirit to embark on this journey of “The Seven Steps to Awakening” … a collection of quotes put together by Michael Langford from Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Vasistha & Sankara, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and Muruganar & Sadhu Om.
Beginning today, January 10, 2013… The dropbox link will take you to a 5 minute audio which I made for myself as the impostor self is clever and helps me to forget what was contemplated in the morning!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55903238/The%20Seven%20Steps%20To%20Awakening%20%7E%20Audio%20Journal1.mp3

The following words are in the introduction of the book:

You, dear reader, have a choice. Choice A is to bring the impostor self and all forms of suffering to a final end and thus enjoy the perfect Awareness-Love-Bliss of your true Self forever.

Choice B is to continue to be controlled by the impostor self; identified with a temporary physical body that is subject to hundreds of diseases while living in a world that has had more than fifteen thousand wars in the last five thousand years.

Hmmmmm…. I choose A.
Blessings Love and Light!!!

May this sharing of my journey to be free of the impostor self forever be helpful.

The Seven Steps To Awakening ~ Journal
Sri Ramana Marhashi (1-40)

1/10/13
Quote 1. Why do people call me learned? What is the mark of real learning? Learning that
all garnered knowledge of things is empty ignorance and that the true knowledge is the search for the knower.

Question A. What is the purpose of this quote?

To help me understand that knowledge is not about trying to gather all sorts of facts and intellectual files about things, but to show me that real knowledge comes from practicing always going deeper, key word is practicing…. and going deeper through practice within, searching and finding the knower.  All accumulated knowledge is empty…. ignorance. Not real. Illusion. Once I have found the knower ALL real knowledge is present. That is True Knowledge… finding the knower. People called Ramana Maharshi learned because he had found the Knower. The purpose of this quote is also to inform this one to beware of accumulating spiritual knowledge, and reading this book thinking I am learning truth and being satisfied there. That is a trick of the impostor self.

Question B. What would I have to do to put this purpose into practice?

I feel to put this purpose of this quote into practice I must follow the advice and the warnings given. By spending time in contemplation of every quote… searching each time for the knower…the Awareness of that which is known. Who is the one reading these quotes? Who is the searcher? This ‘I’ can be found by allowing the currents of the practice, like water flowing downstream, to carry me ever deeper into the meaning behind the words, into the larger body of water and then to the ocean and to the One who is Aware of the everything of All. For this to be I must not stop at the words on the page. Putting this purpose into practice is by practicing this purpose.

(The photo above I call “Who is the ‘I’ Who Saw The Reflection of Self”  was taken in Rowe, Ma at Pelham Brook… Thanksgiving 2012, hiking with my sister.)