Preetom

IMO Instead of going to a brutal, freezing mountain it is a better strategy to go and live in a small hut in some suburb or rural area(possibly in some other country where living cost is low). And living a simple, secluded, contemplative life for months(as long as it takes) and self inquiring one's ass off until realization happens

@Aakash The ego-mind is already half screwed so far by the spiritual pursuit. There is no going back. Replacing some beliefs at this point will be like putting a bandage on a half collapsed building. Only 2 options remains. 1) staying as this half-screwed ego mind(Good luck with that!). 2) proceed and get fully screwed and be done with it.

@noselfnofun Absolutely not. This question arises due to not clearly understanding the intellectual theory of what enlightement and happiness really are and are not. You can be absolutely, infinitely happy ONLY when you discover your own self as happiness in direct experience and accept and own that realization all the way. And what is enlightenment? It is the direct discovery and being what you really are. Happiness is not something you can get or loose. Happiness is another name of you. No other 'thing' in God's green earth is happiness expect for you- that which you refer as 'I' in it's pristine, adjunctless condition. Yeah you can have countless number of transient, pleasurable experiences of the body-mind in many degrees, in many places and times including in earth, heaven, hell and other realms. But happiness, nah...dont confuse that with happiness. Those pleasures are only temporary highs when your story about those mirages gets their validation. Happiness is not something you can ever have or own. It is something which you must become in order to experience it- which is already the case. The purpose of all of spirituality is to clear all the delusions obstructing what is already the case. I'll leave a video you can check out if you want. Very eye opening stuff No self-no fun- yeah right...your screen name is a cosmic joke itself

Watch out for the long distance curse from the eyes of the enlightened master!

@Aakash BTW i'll leave a reminder. As you've seen through the mechanism and hollowness of beliefs to a degree, your so called normal and materialistic beliefs wont be able to motivate you either. At least not for long. They may be able manipulate you for a while if you try so hard to keep on staying blind to your own insights, but not for long. Let's see how it goes.

holy hell.. Are you married to David "the enlightened master" Hammond?

@Aakash At least start to notice that the so called external world and reality reflects the beliefs we hold

If you are meant to wake up, you will wake up no matter how much folly overthrow you. Questioning spiritual belief may seem like you are kicking out spirituality from your life. But it is actually a step further in waking up. Take care PS: if it was easy, everyone would be woke af

@Aakash Happy waking up

@Mu_ Thank you. I wish you all the best. Take care.

@Mu_ Suppose the question "who are you?" appears on a paper and you are supposed to write an answer to it. There is no criteria, judgment or context to this question. You are supposed to write whatever spontaneously comes as first response in a sensible manner. A genuine, true response of what you really feel as true for yourself spontaneously. It's not meant as a trick question that needs to be figured out through clever arguments and justifications.

When will good boy graduate to good man to good oldman to good deadman?

@Mu_ I would appreciate it if you could answer this question as honestly as you can. Who are you? What do you take yourself to be?

No wonder Vedanta was called Arrankya back in the days, meaning a business done in deep forests(by sages). It had no place in mainstream society. Go preach these quotes to the 'world'. The 'world' will never accept this doctrine even as a possibility(unless some serious shit breaks loose and it is compelled).

Please just stop. I can't eat my sweets if you make me laugh.

What is good boy's experience of time?

@Aakash The bottomline is this: If you are truly fulfilled, you wouldn't even bother with all this stuff and only remain as you are. If you are not fulfilled, that which is not fulfilled, will inevitably make its move to relieve its suffering. So sooner or later you are back to seeking/inquiry once again. True fulfillment is something you can never fake. Non dual logic wont satiate the layers of vague suffering. Personal growth or call it whatever, the movement wont stop until it is fulfilled.

@GabrielWallace Could you clarify what is the exact type of meditation she does 4-5 hours a day? Is it a particular meditation or a batch of techniques one after another. But when all is said and done, her intuition about being trapped in the body is spot on. Its a hideous cancer that acts as the root of pretty much all other afflictions and dissatisfaction in life. ''I am the body"- this is preciously the idea and the corresponding feelings associated with it that almost 99% people constantly keep themselves distracted and busy. The moment they become a little present, the first thing hit them in the face is the nagging and constricted feeling of being a trapped, separate, limited self. And it usually takes years of plowing through this dissatisfaction while staying more and more aware until finally some abiding peace results from consciousness work. If the medications are promoting her consciousness of being, I'd rather encourage it. And about the issue of taking poop, I think it is related to a combination of limiting beliefs and the corresponding primal bodily feeling associated with squatting/taking shit. It is very similar to the feeling of being a ground oriented reptile.

@winterknight How can a Jnani(like you) relate to an ajnani(an ignorant fool like me)? Isn't it as if a human being is trying to relate to an ant and trying to teach it how to be a human? But how can a human know the conscious experience of an ant in the first place? So is the teaching of a Jnani to all ajnanis a kind of pure imagination from the Jnani's part?

Rest. It doesn't matter if you are hearing loudly or quietly. Doesn't matter if you are hearing from near or far. Who is the hearer of these thoughts? Thanks for your answer. The last line is vital. Because if one doesn't open up to the possibility that he might not be what he has always taken himself to be(or any knowledge for that matter), there is no self inquiry to begin with. So one definitely needs intellectual understanding and conviction to have some openness to the unknown and something non-verbal to begin with

@winterknight I have another question. What is a healthy and most helpful attitude for a seeker regarding the concept 'God'? What if the seeker is not so inclined to the word or concept of God in the first place? Btw thanks 3Foxes for answering as well.

@winterknight When Ramana Maharshi advices something like "Be the Self. Or remain firmly as Self", what are the possible ways a seeker can interpret this instruction?

It doesn't bother me. But I can't name what it does to me

Oh God why do I cringe so much every time I read that? Kudos to you sir! You have the extraordinary ability of creating a churning in my gut...phew

I'll definitely start reading TSRM then. Thanks I agree with you on this one. He is heavily concerned with the Tamil translations in his writings(and lectures), he goes on translating stuff frequently which I personally found distracting and redundant. And about being independent jnani, he never claims to be one. He always credits Maharshi for whatever knowledge he has gathered and whatever he has done in this non-duality business. This is a common theme with almost all the direct students of Maharshi. They only acknowledge one Guru and that's Maharshi himself. Michael James basically sees himself as an interpreter of the essence of Maharshi's teachings in English Language. I'd suggest you read the first 8.5 pages of the introduction of his book ''Happiness and the art of being''. It's a giant book, the introduction itself being over 50 pages long. But just read the 1st 7-8 pages. I found it explaining almost all the core concepts of non duality and the practice as well in a precise manner. And also would be happy to hear your review on the short read. I'm linking the book. http://www.happinessofbeing.com/Happiness_and_the_Art_of_Being.pdf