Past events
Self Investigation 28.5.2023
The last Self Investigation gathering of the spring season was on Sunday, May 28, 2023, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Uudenmaankatu 33, Helsinki. The program started with a quiet moment (10 min), after which we continued our curriculum with the 5-6 stanzas of the work ‘Nan Yar?’, ‘Who am I?’, discussing their content freely. The verses tell how the ‘I’ thought is the basis of all other thoughts and without which other thoughts cannot exist. The purpose of self investigation is to find out where this “I” comes from and thus abide to its source.
Before the bhajans, we watched David Godman’s video ‘Self Enquiry’. The evening culminated in an Indian dinner! The next Self Investigation gathering will be after the summer break on August 28, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Self Investigation 1.5.2023 Zoom/YouTube live
We had our very special evening with guests Swami Sarvapriyananda and Michael James who discussed about the essence of Advaita Vedanta and the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and how to put these teachings into practice. The event was broadcasted live on Zoom/YouTube and reached hundreds of participants. The discussion brought up many interesting and deep insights about the true core of Advaita and how Sri Ramana has given a easy but also subtle practice of self investigation. In the end this is the only practice to eleminate the ego which seems to exist if not investigated.
Self Investigation 23.4.2023
The Self Investigation gathering was on April 23, 2023 at Uudenmaankatu 33, Helsinki. There were eight of us this time.
We started with a traditional moment of silence for 10 minutes, after which we continued with Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings. Next was the Fifth verse of ‘Nan Yar?, Who am I?’ It further dealt with the mind and how the I-thought underlies all other thoughts as the core thought to which all other thoughts relate. This stimulated a fruitful discussion, which brought out many different perspectives on the topic. In addition, we had Harry Tuominen as our guest, who brought his own point of view to the fore when representing the ‘A Course in Miracles’ philosophy.
We also did the awareness exercise presented by Swami Sarvapriyananda. It was a good reminder of how to have a conscious experience that consciousness is essentially our true being, regardless of whether we have sensory perceptions or whether we are awake, asleep, or in deep sleep.
After that, we sang bhajans for a few songs and at the end had a short quiet moment, after which we continued the conversation in a free form on the coffee side.
The next Self Investigation gathering is on May 28, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Self Investigation 26.3.2023
Our Self Investigation gathering was held on March the 26th, 2023 at Uudenmaankatu 33, Helsinki. There were a good dozen participants.
We started with a traditional moment of silence for 10 minutes, after which we continued with Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings. Next was the third paragraph of ‘Nan Yar?, Who am I?’ It dealt with the existence of the mind and how when the mind subsides back to its original source, the self, the world of phenomena also disappears with it. This stimulated a really fruitful discussion, which brought out many different perspectives on the topic.
As a new thing in the program, we had a consciousness exercise presented by Swami Sarvapriyananda, which we did for the first time. It was a good way to have a conscious experience of how awareness is fundamentally our true being, regardless of whether we have sensory perceptions or whether we are awake, asleep, or in deep sleep.
After that, we sang bhajans and at the end had a short moment of silence, after which we continued the conversation in a free form enjoying coffee, tea and snacks.
The next Self Investigation gathering is on April 23rd, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Self Investigation 26.2.2023
Our Self Investigation gathering was on Sunday the 26th of February 2023 at Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki. There were again a good number of participants and we continued with Sri Ramana’s teachings from the book ‘Nan Yar?‘, ‘Who am I?’ from the second verse. Before that we recalled the previous verse and watched the related video by Michael James.
The second verse involves the removal of those things which are not “I”, such as body, life force (prana), mind, intellect and will. This is how we begin self investigation by examining who or what we are not, to know what are true nature actually is.
We will continue working on the work at the next gathering on Sunday, the 26th of March, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Self Investigation 29.1.2023
The Self Investigation gathering was live on Sunday, January 29, 2023, after a long brake, on Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki. There were a gratifyingly large number of participants at our first meeting as an official association! It says that a live, physical gathering has been longed for and awaited for a couple of years instead of Zoom remote meetings.
The program started traditionally with a quiet moment at the beginning, after which we got down to the curriculum. We intend to thoroughly go through the core teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (‘Nan Yar?’, ‘Ulladu Narpadu’, ‘Updesa Undiyar’) and thus gain a deeper understanding of self investigation also as a practical exercise.
We started with the first stanza of ‘Nan Yar?’, ‘Who am I?’ It led to a great and deep conversation, during which we got to hear interesting views about what happiness is and how we could be permanently happy regardless of external circumstances or the fulfillment of current wishes.
We will continue working on the work at the next meeting, which will be on Sunday 26 February 2023 at 4 pm.
Self Investigation society 11.11.2022
We have established an association called ‘Itsetutkimus’ (Self Investigation registered society). We do not seek any kind of financial gain and we do not charge a membership fee at the moment. Participation in future gatherings is free, but if we incur expenses, e.g. in terms of space rentals and/or offers, then a voluntary offertory is of course preferable.
The purpose of the society is to continue our Self Investigation activities and gatherings a little more regularly and to add studies where we review, for example, the most important teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Nan Yar? (Who am I?), ‘Ulladu Narpadu’ (40 stanzas of reality) and ‘Upadesa Undiyar’ (Essence of Spiritual Teachings).
We have been meeting live or remotely for about six years now and we feel it is necessary to take our activities a little deeper into the actual teachings and practicing self investigation. Although self investigation, like virtually all spiritual methods, is an individual path, sharing experiences along the way is felt to be beneficial. In addition, we can learn from each other and get different perspectives on our own practices.
I will inform later about our gatherings.
Self Investigation May 28th 2022
We had the pleasure of having Swami Sarvapriyananda as our special guest, who is the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York and one of the best-known scholars and lecturers on Advaita Vedanta in the world of our time. We talked about the basic principals and teachings of Advaita Vedanta.
Self Investigation May 20th 2022
Our Self Investigation Zoom meeting was on Friday, the 20th of May 2022.
We had the pleasure of having Rupert Spira as our special guest, who is one of the best-known scholars and lecturers on non-duality in the world of our time.
Our topics included how to be aware of our ‘being’, the ‘I am’ without giving it any attributes and we also talked about the similarities or differences of dream and the waking state.
Self Investigation April 23rd 2022
Self Investigation Zoom meeting was held on Saturday, April 23, 2022.We had the pleasure and honor of having Michael James as our guest again, who has studied and practiced the teachings of Sri Ramana for nearly 50 years.
Website: Michael James
The topics this time were the three states we experience, waking, dream and deep sleep, and the core message of the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.Finally, Michael told us about the collaboration between him and Sadhu Om and what were the main Tamil works by Bhagavan they worked on and translated into English.
Self Investigation January 22nd 2022
Our Self Investigation Zoom gathering was on the 22nd of January. We had David Godman as our guest and we talked about Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Other topics included surrender and free will.
Self Investigation September 26th 2021
The Self Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, September 26th. We had David Godman as our special guest.
Homepage: https://www.davidgodman.org/
The subject was Sri Ramana Maharshi and his teachings.
Self Investigation August 29th 2021
Self Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, the 29th of August. We had Taavi Kassila as our special guest. Our topic was Advaita Vedanta.
Self Investigation May 23rd 2021
Self-Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, the 23rd of May.We had Michael James as our special guest.Our topic this time was vairagya and Bhakti.
Self Investigation April 25th 2021
Self-Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, April 25th.We went through Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s main teachings from the ‘Nan Yar?, Who am I?’ booklet.Everybody agreed that this work should be studied regularly because of it’s simple but yet very deep meaning.
Self Investigation March 28th 2021
Self-Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, March 28th.We had an open discussion evening with topics including self-investigation, surrender and Advaita Vedanta.
Self Investigation February 28th 2021
Self-Investigation Zoom gathering was held on Sunday, February 28th.We had Michael James as our guest.The topics of discussion were the pursuit of self-investigation, surrender, and the existence of free will.
Self Investigation January 28th 2021
We had our first Self-Investigation gathering on Zoom in January 24, 2021.The event was a success and David Godman also said he enjoyed the good questions and the relaxed atmosphere.
