Sri Nanngaru Summer Visit to Arunachala

Recently Sri Nannagaru visited his Ashram at Tiruvannamalai and stayed for around 10 days. As always his darshan was sought by the many who accompanied him from Andhra Pradesh. The name Nanna Garu given to him by his devotees can be translated from the Telegu to mean “Respectable Father”. 

Sri Nannagaru was born Sri Bhupathiraju Venkata Lakshmi Narasimharaju on 23rd September 1934 at his grandparents’ house in the village of Kommara, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. He was to later settle at Jinnuru of the same District—at which place he continues to reside. 

As his father died when he was a child, he was brought up under the care of his mother and grandmother. In 1957 at the age of 23 years he had a dream of Ramana Maharshi which was to transform his life. 

Looking at Arunachala backgroud from Sri Nannagaru Ashram

Andhra Pradesh devotees waiting under Shamian

Sri Nannagaru with his Devotees

Preparing to give Discourse in Telegu to Devotees

Sri Nanngaru with Devotees at his Ashram

Below are selected teachings of Sri Nannagaru. To learn more about him, visit his website at this link here.

SELF

There is only Self and Self alone. It is Reality. It is Pure Consciousness. The world manifest is not real. Self is its substratum. It is Immortal It is Knowledge. It is Eternal Peace. It is Bliss. It is Light. It is Omnipotent, Omniscient. There are no divisions in the Self. It is Non-Dual. It is Indefinable. Water cannot wet it. Fire cannot burn it. It has no birth, no death. It shines in Our Heart. What the Jnani calls Self, a devotee calls as God. Silence alone is the best way of expounding it.

The nature of Self is Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. That is the way we aspire for happiness, love, beauty. It does not depend upon any other object. Our fondness for independence is an offshoot of it. Just as the screen is the base on which figures are projected, so also this variegated world is a projection of It. The sense of ego masquerades as the Self. Our selfish nature covers it.

To know the Self is our goal. Constant hearing of it. Remembrance of it, and establishment in it snaps our egoistic ties. The seer of the Self alone gets himself extricated from entanglements.

EGOISM

The ‘I’ thought, which emanates from the source, is egoism. Only after its emergence, the rest of the thoughts emerge. The world is seen only when one is egoistic. As long as ego subsists body is taken as real, world is taken as real. God is taken as real. When ego is erased, body, world and God vanish. As long as the idea that ‘I am the body’ persists egoism does not leave us. It alone results in restlessness. Ego has no form, but it exists catching hold of a form. It is neither male nor female, but assumes such a role. 

The entire maya or illusion is a creation of the ego. Real Self is like the vast sea, whereas ego is like a bubble. There can be the sea without a bubble, but there cannot be a bubble without the sea. Identification with the little self is the cause of grief. When one identifies with the vast waters of the sea, the tiny bubbles cease to exist and with them worldly sorrows also. The figure underneath the temple Gopuram (figure sculptured at the base of a tower) feels that it is carrying the entire structure; so also, the man of ego feels that he is helping the entire world. As long as the ego and the consequent ideas of doership continue, ignorance also continues. If one enquires wherefrom the ‘I’ thought has arisen, then his look centres round the origin and then only egoism drops out.

MIND

After the rise of the ‘I’ thought the rest of thoughts originate. Mind is a bundle of thoughts, and is also termed as ‘Jiva’. Jiva does not get extinct with the death of the body. It takes up a new body. In deep sleep we do not have thoughts, and hence, mind is also absent there. There is no body, no worlds in deep sleep. When we awake, the first thought, the ‘I’ thought arises, and the rest of the thoughts follow it. Wife and children alone do not constitute ‘samsara’. Your mind is your samsara. It does not leave you if you run away from your house, wife and children. 

Mind has no form or name, but it always adheres to a form or name. Food serves as source for the mind. The world is nothing, but the mind. Just as a spider spreads its own web and gets entangled therein, and ultimately dies, so also the mind creates samsara and one gets entangled in that samsara and gets subjected to death. The mind, which has created this world, has also the power to destroy it.

The brain is like a tape recorder and the mind is the tape. Sense organs are speakers. That which is recorded in the tape is heard through speakers; likewise the latent tendencies of the mind spread and are felt through our sense organs. A true Guru pulls out the thoughts and destroys the Mind.

Previous actions constitute latent tendencies, and remain in seed form in the heart. They spread to the brain and evolve as thoughts. If the thoughts are removed one by one, there remains nothing like a mind. If the wood is removed the fire gets extinct. Without purification of the mind, knowledge cannot be had.

Mind and prana (life force) have got their origin in the same place – the heart. If the life breath is controlled, Mind gets controlled. That is why pranayama is recommended. As long as one thinks of things external, the mind oscillates. As long as the mind is externalised, the original sin remains.

God’s Grace controls the unruly elephant called ‘mind’. Surrender confers energy to the mind by a single unified attention and a purified mind turns inwards and such a purified mind merges in its source, the heart, then that mind becomes Self itself.

That is the essence of yoga.

DESTINY

Destiny is confined only to the body and has nothing to do with the Self. Identification with the body results in grief. Men are conferred liberty not to identify with the body. By practice identification with the body can be overcome. The body drops after the exhaustion of destiny. Don't give scope for vain thoughts, useless deeds and unnecessary desires. Utilize the freedom conferred by God. Restrain vain thoughts, and abide in the Self. Then new tendencies will not be generated, and you will be extricated from all sorts of bondage. If identification with the body is not overcome, grief results; unless the latent tendencies are dropped away, the state of happiness cannot be enjoyed. For One who abides in the Self there is nothing like destiny.

RELIGION

Religion is a creation of the mind. There are several religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam etc. In fact, there are as many religions as there are minds. Creeds and religions are only creating feuds, dissensions and wars, resulting in bloodshed. Religion is acting as opium instead of making people wise. Men are becoming slaves to religion. The Self is there even prior to the birth of religions. The purpose of religion is to show the path to the realization of the Self.

If the welfare of society is not the goal of a religion, such a religion is not worth its name. One may worship his own God; but his love of religion and his love of God should not make him hate others. There is no God without the Self. In the name of religion and personal Gods, men are fighting with each other, only for their own aggrandizement. Religions create narrow domestic walls. Our concepts and precepts are standing in our way of finding the Truth. There is no God higher than Truth. Change of religion does not release one, but on the other hand a change of mind does.