Pouya

@OmniYoga I think it can be a distraction for experiencing it but its better to have a vage idea whats on the other side to just run around thinking you have the Truth when you don't

I see true masters are very humble amd modest. Why is that? Like, someone might be a zen master or a guru or even a normal person with a deep understanding of being, but they live normally with others and don't even talk about how awake they are? What if you totally wake up but you can't talk about it with anyone else?

I used to struggle a lot with the idea of "being aware" or just "being". Now with the help of great imagination, I can shut down the thought process and leave my "world made of thoughts". I've learned this unintentionally through mindfulness gradually and I haven't taken any pcychedelic in my life. What I do is imagine a world vividly and with details and just fool around in it for a little bit. For example imagine a different possibility for your life or your future. Then I use mindfulness to completely snapp out of this thought world and become Actual. (Leo's video help me A LOT here.) Then I look around with clear vision and become aware of the big picture around me with its details. I feel like this everytime I go outside. The buildings, the sky, people and cars and specially the amazingly beautiful trees. Then I carefully listen to all the sounds around me, no matter how they sound. That gradual humming sound of silence is a true thought killer. Then I go to the bodily feelings, the feeling of pressure under my feet and my clothes and maybe the wind touching my face. This process of looking mindfully and externally works like a total shut down for my thought process. And when all the thoughts become transparent and soft, the I thought becomes soft as well. In this state, I can look at things that are so normal and ordinary, but be amazed at how it looks, sounds, feels. Like I can pick a cup and look at how beautiful the reflections are or how amazing it sounds when I hit it slowly with a pen. For me, being aware makes this ordinary reality look very animated. It's like a animation, or a video game, or even a mix of sensations and colors with sounds. I hope to go deeper on my contemplation/inquiry using more of this vivid state. What does being aware mean to you?

I see so many people try kriya yoga and claim it's so powerful and useful. I know about chakras (actually they led me to start meditating) but it's been a long time that I avoid spiritual concepts like chakras and astral realms. Because I think them as just ideas and can't take them seriously. And also I don't like chanting mantras. I do all this because it makes me feel like getting into another ideology.I mean my current ideologies are hard enough to deal with Is there any reason to start kriya yoga instead of or with contemplation and inquiry? What is it that it's very powerful?

@Aakash Thanks

@Nahm Damn just listened to them. Amazing

@Aakash There is no choice to close the thoughts. Mindfulness becomes habitual so it happens on its own most of the times.

I don't know you are a fan of metal, but Forest and Aerials from System of a Down are my favorite songs that are related to enlightenment.

@Aakash I have no idea what consciousness is. What I realized was that there are infinite processes to reach something which is not a process. Also I tend to assume Awareness=Consciousness (in what they are reffering)

For example I am contemplating Resistance. I already know what it is as an idea or a premade answer in my mind. Then I write down: it is the opposite of acceptence. Ego resists because it helps it to survive. Resistance is caused by not letting go, which includes not letting go of the joy and suffering. I resist the passing of joy and the comming of suffering. At the same time, I don't resist the ordinary grey stuff. I don't resist the things that are between joy and suffering. Grey stuff. Obviously these are just ideas that i knew before contemplating. Here is where I do my ultimate trick: Why the hell am I wasting time on contemplating. The goal of contemplation is deconstruction of beliefs and ideas and reaching not knowing, and see the things as they truly are. But how can I do that when I already assume I know the answer and I can't even see them as beliefs? Because the ideas that I wrote about resistance make sense for me and I can see them in first hand experience examples.

@Truth Addict how can one contemplate on something that is just itself. I mean i have felt resistance in my life so defining it is not useful when I can know what it is actually when I feel it. I'm trying to start with contemplation before going into self inquiry. If im not going to answer, then what am I supposed to do in contemplation?

@noselfnofun damn sadhguru :,)

@GafaRassaDaba wow thats a very wild ego what type of meditation are you doing? Maybe try a new technique? Mindfulness/Vipassana/Kriya/Self Inquiry/ Others? Maybe try just contemplation. For me it feels like a process of removing bullshit from my mind

@Paul92 The most influential concept that helped me A LOT in my journey was Actuality. Drop the idea of illusion and the dream world. Are ideas the truth?

@Paul92 It's all ok paul. I've gone 3 months without any spirituality to recover and come back with a greater prespective and wiser approach. Just recover and comeback stronger. Remember cooking a frog slowly is easier than throwing it into the boiling water

For context; I'm 17. Next year is my last highschool year and I'll be taking an exam for university application. I live in Iran, and here, we have a exam that consists of 9 different subjects depending on your major. For this, I need to study very hard everyday untill the exam, practice a lot of multiple choice questions and review the information of 3 years of highschool to be successful in this exam, in order to get into a decent university for medical major. Here is the problem, I played video games since 7 and I've had a pretty healthy gaming until I got into a online game called Rainbow Six Siege. I loved this game a lot, that it changed everything about gaming for me. I've never played more than 8 hours a day and usually my gaming time would be around 2-5 hours a day. Some might call this unhealthy and some might call it normal, but personally I think I am deeply addicted to video games, specially this particular game. I've been trying to quit for almost 2 years, and more than 12 unseccessful attempts, from 4 days to 3 months of not playing. In my experience, I tend to relate to gaming very very personally and have emotional attachment. I can go 2 3 months without gaming but with a lot of temptations and homeostasis. I think my problem comes from my environment. My father is not a strict one but he always wants me to stop gaming because no matter I study well or not, or how much I have played, he doesnt like me doing it. He encourages me to study a lot (like I study less that 10 hours a week but I need to study 40 hours a week, cause that exam is god damn hard) With all the pressure, I get guilty and depressed for gaming and when I don't play videogames, I feel very very bored and defenceless. Maybe I used it as a very efficient way to escape studying because its more fun and enjoyable. I like studying tho but video games overcome that. Last 1 month, I've observed myself carefully about how I game or quit gaming. I've realized that no matter what I play, how I play, it is full of unsatisfactoriness. I realized I never enjoyed gaming, but I always desired it. What I enjoyed was playing with people who loved me and I loved them too. That gave gaming, specially RB6, a deeper aspect that hooked me even more. Without friends video games are worthless for me, but I still have lust for it. I do have friend circles in school and out of school, I like being with people, but gaming is like i can be someone I am not. This turned into a toxic cycle of me quitting, wanting to go back, going back and having fun, feeling guilty, quitting, repeat. For. 12. Times. Moderation doesnt work. Scheduling doesnt work. Limiting doesnt work. Now I've trying to sell the account so I never come back again but I'm feeling regret. (Ey, self deception at work ) I guess I just have to accept not playing video games for the rest of my life and work on the resistance to not playing. What do you think? I just wanted share my story and maybe find a solution.

Of my all time favorites; fight club Similarly shows how cults recruit and use people for ideologies with a lot more in a movie.

@Sahil Pandit unfortunately I use a laptop with some equipments. You know, with the condition that I have, I must be all studying. My other hobbies are watching greats movies and playing piano.

@Moreira the moment I quit video games, Youtube comes in with great force for me but i don't think this is a genetic problem but a habitual problem in the brain.

Actually when i tried to keep track of what i think for few days, i saw repetitive thought chains for distraction from studying/inquiring. I'll keep my attention on them more. yeah. I need some more Just Do It mentality.

Urmia, Iran

@okulele Wow, interesrting. I would try Maybe because the self is deactivated while in deep sleep?

@How to be wise i think the Quran as a metaphor book. It's still nice tho but people take it literally.

I wanted to watch this documentary for a while and I watched it yesterday. I thought it's going to be a turquoise stage (spiral dynamics) documentary but it was just green stage with some spiritual/existential beliefs. Honestly I was disappointed Maybe I'll never watch a documentary in hope of non-duality. Better to sit down and inquire.

It's a trap almost everyone can fall into, specially me. Who do I prevent it? Being mindful of assumptions? Always questioning?