Ramana Maharshi to Frank Humphreys: One illimitable force is responsible for phenomena we see and act of seeing them; Meditate not on what you see but on That Which Sees

I came across this fascinating meditation teaching of Ramana Maharshi in the book: Self-Realization by B.V. Narasimha Swami, https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/8188225746/ . A pic of the cover page of the book I got from same amazon.in sale page is given below and it is different from the sale page picture. But the contents correspond to the same book.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

As per the book, Frank Humphreys first came to India (entering India at Bombay) in January 1911 "to join the Police Department as an Assistant Superintendent." The implication seems to be that Humphreys was British and was sent by the British government to India (India was under British rule then).

https://archive.arunachala.org/newsletters/2017/jul-aug informs us that "Francis Henry Humphreys was born in 1890 in London, of High Anglican parents. His father was a struggling physician; his mother was interested in the occult and practiced fortune-telling, table-turning, second sight and later, Spiritualism." So he was 21 years old in 1911. He served in the police force in India from 1911 to 1919 after which he seems to have returned to England. The article also states, "He died in 1975 in South Africa, as a Catholic religious, a Dominican friar. "

Frank Humphreys first visited Ramana Maharshi in November 1911 and asked him some spiritual questions. Narasimha Swami writes that Ramana Maharshi spoke only broken English but that there were others present who helped Humphreys converse with the Maharshi (implying they did translation from English to Tamil and vice-versa). Humphreys made two further visits probably around the same time (1911-1912), and later wrote about his visits and the teachings he received from Ramana Maharshi. The book reproduces some of these writings of Humphreys. It is in this part of the book that I found this very interesting meditation teaching given by Ramana Maharshi to Frank Humphreys. I have given below a pic of part of page 123 which has the related passages.

The same text is available on the Internet as well: FRANK H. HUMPHREYS, R.F.C., SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI'S FIRST WESTERN DISCIPLE, https://sped2work.tripod.com/humphreys.html . Given below is the relevant text of page 123 pic above (same content) and also the remainder of the paragraph, which in my above book copy is on page 124.

[Title in web page: Frank's Version of the Maharshi's Teaching]

The phenomena we see are curious and surprising-but the most marvellous thing of it all we do not realise and that is that one, and only one, illimitable force is responsible for:-

(a) All the phenomena we see,

(b) The act of our seeing them.

Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of life, death, and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual act of seeing them or perceiving them but only of that which sees all these things. That which is responsible for it all. This will seem nearly impossible at first, but by degrees the result will be felt. It takes years of steady, daily practice, but that is how a Master is made. Give yourself a quarter of an hour a day. Keep your eyes open, and try to keep the mind unshakenly fixed on That Which Sees. It is inside yourself. Do not expect to find that "That'' is something definite on which the mind can be fixed easily; it will not be so. Though it takes years to find that "That'', the results of this concentration will soon show themselves in four or five month's time-in all sorts of unconscious clairvoyance, in peace of mind, in power to deal with troubles, in power all round-always unconscious power. I have given you this teaching in the same words as the Masters give it to their intimate chelas [Ravi: chelas means disciples]. From now onwards let your whole thought in meditation be not on the act of seeing nor on what you see, but immovably on That Which Sees.

--- end text extract from https://sped2work.tripod.com/humphreys.html ----

I would also like to share that my meditation approach, I think, is quite in line with above teaching though the terminology is different.

Given below are relevant extracts from my post: Hope to get back to divine awareness meditation on a regular basis now; Meditation affirmation-and-helper statements that I use now, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/05/hope-to-get-back-to-divine-awareness.html , 31st May 2019.

... here are the meditation affirmation-and-helper statements that I am currently using in my pure-awareness meditation sessions, which is based on my understanding of Vedanta (Upanishads) and which understanding has been clarified and reinforced in me by my beloved & revered Gurudev Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba:

...

I am the unchanging, eternal and divine awareness-I in me.

This divine awareness-I is my truth and reality. All else is passing show.

Stay centered in this divine awareness-I.

Note: I use the term awareness-I (which is unchanging over time) to distinguish it from the mind-and-body-complex-I which is the I that we refer to in worldly life and which changes with time.

--- end extract from my blog post ---

I think the awareness-I that I refer to above is the same as 'That Which Sees' mentioned by Ramana Maharshi to Frank Humphreys (or as understood by Frank Humphreys).

[I thank B.V. Narasimha Swami and publisher of above mentioned Self-Realisation book, and sped2work.tripod.com/humphreys.html, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above pics/extract(s) from their book/website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]