my article

As a conclusion to my previous two articles, Demystifying the term ‘ sphuraṇa ’ and Self-awareness: ‘I’-thought, ‘I’-feeling and ahaṁ-sphuraṇa , I would like to observe what a paradox it is that a word that means ‘clarity’ has created so much confusion. That is, in the sense in which Sri Ramana used them, the terms ஸ்புரணம் ( sphuraṇam ) and ஸ்புரிப்பு ( spurippu ) both mean only ‘shining’ or ‘clarity’, so it is paradoxical that they have been misunderstood and misinterpreted to such an extent that their clear and simple meaning has been obscured and that they have therefore created a huge amount of confusion in the minds of his followers and devotees, particularly those who rely upon English translations and interpretations of his teachings. If the meaning of these terms as they were used by Sri Ramana had been correctly understood and explained in English books, none of the mystery and confusion that now surrounds them would have arisen. When they are correctly understood, they are ...

During the past few weeks I have written many comments about ahaṁ-sphuraṇa and related subjects in reply to comments that others have written on some of my recent articles, and since Sanjay Lohia suggested in one of his recent comments that I should gather together all such comments and make them available as an article, I decided to compile and adapt them (along with one email on the same subject) as this article, which I hope will serve as a useful supplement to my previous article, Demystifying the term ‘ sphuraṇa ’ . Since this is a long article that discusses various different but related issues, I have divided it into the following ten sections: ‘I’-thought, ‘I’-feeling and ahaṁ-sphuraṇa நான் நான் ( nāṉ nāṉ ) means ‘I am I’, not ‘I-I’ The exact meaning of sphuraṇa is determined by the context in which it is used When we try to attend only to ‘I’, it shines more clearly Aham-sphurana is an experience that cannot be described adequately in words தன்னுணர்வு ( taṉ-ṉ-uṇarvu ) mean...

In two comments on one of my recent articles, Since we always experience ‘I’, we do not need to find ‘I’, but only need to experience it as it actually is , Palaniappan Chidambaram asked me some questions about ahaṁ-sphuraṇa , and I replied in a series of three comments . These questions asked by Palaniappan also started a discussion about ahaṁ-sphuraṇa in a long series of comments on another more recent article, Why do we not experience the existence of any body or world in sleep? , and I replied to some of the points raised in that discussion in several comments towards the end of it. Since in another comment Sanjay Lohia suggested that I should gather together all the comments I have recently been writing in reply to comments written by others and make them available as an article, I will compile and post here all my recent comments regarding ahaṁ-sphuraṇa (perhaps with some additional explanations to link them all together) as my next article: Self-awareness: ‘I’-thought, ‘I’...