4. Looking at the False “I” Thought

"First we have to notice the false 'I' and then we must relinquish it by not listening to its chatter anymore." "Every story the mind tells reinforces the concept of 'me.' Every little thought, no matter how subtle, reinforces the individual concept it has of itself." "Today when you notice the chatter in the mind, quiet the mind with the mantra. And then with the coolness (maturity) of the quieted mind, look back at what the mind was telling you while you were listening to its chatter. Look for the 'I' or 'me' in the story or thought. Discover how the tricks and tumbles of the mind . . . in whatever direction it was turning in the moment . . . ; notice how it was telling you about 'I' or 'me' separate from everything else." ~ Excerpts from the Looking at the False “I” Thought message in The Teachings of Inner Ramana. In this episode, Regina Dawn Akers teaches from this message, one that she received when hearing Sri Ramana Maharshi as her inner teacher. This is a lightly edited version of her original teaching. In this podcast episode, you'll hear a short transition at the 11:48 minute mark where the group had listened to the Beatles song "I Me Mine". You may like to pause the podcast at that point and listen to that song somewhere before continuing. Assignment for week 4: Continue with the mantra and surrender as a means of quieting the mind and detaching from thought. Try to catch yourself thinking and when you do, say the mantra and look back: Where was the ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’ in that story? Inner Ramana wants us to see this for ourselves over and over again so that we start to grow tired of it and become more motivated to continue these practices. Find out more about the Teachings of Inner Ramana here: https://awakening-together.org/about-awakening-together/other-resources/teachings-inner-ramana/ Musical ident: Helen Allmark