winterknight

Yes, I've read all the books I recommend. I don't necessarily have an opinion about the Tamil translation of Ribhu Gita. I just read the Sanskrit translation and recommended it.

It’s only if you identify yourself with the body that nirvikalpa samadhi becomes a special state to be entered or exited. The truth is that like all questions about the experience of enlightenment, the answers are bound to be misleading. This is splitting hairs. What’s truest of all is complete silence.

Only the one who chooses has to decide on what basis to choose. But are you the chooser? If you are not the chooser, these questions will not arise. The question of a value reference arises only when there is a chooser. It is not possible for people to look at things with utter equanimity. Equanimity means there is no looking, no choosing.

As you’re doing that, you may want to have in the back of your mind this question: just who is it that is deepening it?

Right, because self-inquiry is not about energies or magic, it's about something very simple and immune to change.

I'm not a fan of Sadhguru. Don't know much about kriya yoga. I recommend self-inquiry and/or surrender in the context of having an intellectual big picture and doing the emotional work on yourself, via therapy and creative expression, to have a quiet mind. You should first aim to realize the Truth yourself before you become a spiritual teacher. Devote yourself to self-inquiry, reading scripture, and so on -- you can do all this while working in your stable job. Generally speaking you should listen to what you emotionally want. I often recommend entering psychoanalysis to all serious seekers for this purpose. Haven't read it. I suspect seeming miracles can happen, and have seen some of the "telepathic" type I think. But miracles have nothing to do with enlightenment. Yup. If you want you can write about it too -- and in fact you just did that too. And you can see how writing about it helps clarify it. You just experienced it.

If you don’t want to do inquiry, take the path of surrender. Give up all voluntary, deliberate mental action except the intention to surrender.

Yes! And in the end it turns out that it was all just a comic book. Who wants to know?

Pranayama can be helpful to quiet the mind but it's not necessary to enlightenment. What's necessary is to get an intellectual big picture, do the emotional work to become honest about what you want and pursue it, and do self-inquiry and/or surrender. Have not read Bihar books. No. Realization of the Self equals immediate annihilation of all karma. Or actually, karma was never there to begin with. Self never lived in the first place.

Forget who? Just kidding... You're going to be part of my origin story. How could I forget you all? Really? Well I will keep that in mind... !

You don't need to relax the entire mind. Just your voluntary, deliberate effort. Let whatever thoughts, tension, anger, fear, confusion, etc. arise. You stay in the center, let it all happen. Even "not letting it happen" -- let that happen too. Another way of putting it is this: if you aren't the chooser, realize that you aren't the chooser. So what else is there to do then? Realize that and be free!

You can't focus your attention on what you cannot know. That's just a concept. So choose the second -- focus on the I. Follow my guide.

Thanks I actually used an external mic but made a dumb mistake with it accidentally so had to revert to regular audio

Thanks

Bhakti is emphasized because it helps purify the mind, and because it suits certain temperaments. There are many paths to reach God means that there are many paths to purify the mind, which then recognizes the truth. Concentration practice quiets the mind. A quiet mind is necessary for inquiry. Different "levels" are just said to help beginners figure out that their mind is getting quieter; it has no real significance beyond that. Monks reading books as part of their daily routine also builds in values and quiets the mind. Moral values, emphasis on the founders of the religion, etc. can help that, but can also be abused. Emphasis is given on mental purification because so many seekers are unable to do the higher practices with intensity, and it's easier to systematically offer those kinds of practices. But that doesn't mean that's always right. Self-realization is not emotionally stale. It's emotionally indescribable. The self-realized are free from all emotions, but the mind is not; the self-realized do not identify with the mind, do not even believe the mind exists. If the mind exists, then it displays various emotions. Develop patience by inquiring into who it is that needs to develop patience. Inquire and be free of all this effort. Drop the inner resistance of mind by allowing it to be... and realizing that you are not that resistance.

No, don't surrender "to" that or "to" anything else. Relax the mind. That means don't voluntarily think, except involuntarily. There's no need to "accept" responsibility or "reject" responsibility. Let the illusion be as it is, or not as it is, or whatever it wants to be. Maintain only that intention not to deliberately think.

By inquiring with a ton of yoga studios till I found one that was open to it. 3 people showed up.

Thanks

I'm not sure I'd like to be like them exactly, but I'd definitely like to get my message across to many more people searching for truth.

Yes, this is a great idea and I've been trying to get on. Feel free to suggest me as a future guest -- if you put my name in, it'll say I've already been suggested, but it does count the votes... [EDIT: My real name is Akilesh Ayyar] Something drives the mind-body to it, I guess. Sure, I would still do it with a million dollars, if indeed I am doing it at all even today

It is one way of thinking about things, but like any thought it is not absolute truth. But look, if you do not have any choice, then recognize that and utterly surrender — totally relax, not moving a single mental muscle voluntarily. Let anything happen, any situation, any emotion, any thought, but recognizing that you are not the chooser — simply stay absolutely calm. That thing which IS absolutely calm no matter what choice is chosen, simply be that.

The very thought that it’s boring or that it can’t find it — who thinks that? That’s not silent. Those thoughts are what are keeping the truth away. Stay in the true silence, turning all thoughts there, indefinitely, with a curious intensity as to who is thinking those thoughts Don’t expect anything, of any kind, at any time, ever.

I appreciate all the kind words

Yes I wouldn’t worry about it