Preetom

An excellent live demonstration of self-inquiry through the negation of the 5 sheaths as taught in classical advaita vedanta.

@Gerhard This is how I access laughter Another thing I tried which is Osho's 21 days mystic rose meditation retreat(personally at home). The rule is you got 3 hours straight routine everyday for 21 days. The first 7 days are 3 hours of continuous laughter (its possible and it feels natural as well! to my surprise) The next 7 days are 3 hours of continuous crying without any judgment The last 7 days are 3 hours of pure witnessing meditation where you witness all the contents in a detached, nonjudmental manner. This retreat will open up many constricted channel within you.

I think he means that the 'illusion' changes, not the reality. Just like the content of the movie(illusion) changes, but the screen(reality) remains changeless.

Its not about what you should or should not know. I was asking if you know anything else for certain right now.

Cool. Is there anything else you know for certain?

Hope this video helps you with more clarity in that line of thinking I remember Jed Mckenna saying that it's not about destroying a non-existent ego. It's about destroying those parts which can't seem to stop clinging and identifying with ego and it's antiques

What is it that you know for certain?

How can you defend that absolute political correctness if you don't know something? Mustn't you know?

How can that be? How can something be simultaneously existent and non-existent? How are you holding up this contradictory knowledge? doublethink?

@okulele Thanks for the contribution I feel that this technique self-inquiry(being aware of being aware) needs a lot more recognition and clarity. It is the cure for the fear of death and the sense of lack and unworthiness. The kingdom of heaven is available right here right now

Good for you! But is there anything other than the real You? what is that?

Are you getting the security you crave from this attempt to be correct? How is this strategy flying so far?

@Mikael89 Are you trying to become the most politically correct non-dualist in the history of this spirituality business?

Bentinho's one of the primary teachings: Voluntarily stop yourself and drop all attachment to form for 2-5 seconds, at least 12 times a day and tune into that sense of nonlocated, formless, undeniable sense of I AM

Do concentration meditations if you feel that mind is really distracted or it feels dull and bored most of the time when doing self inquiry. Breath awareness all throughout the day helps a lot in this case. If you feel sufficiently calm and alert, self inquiry or abiding as Awareness is the highest meditation one can do. You seem to be already in a good position. The next step for you could be to not confining self inquiry in a particular sitting routine but to try continuing it throughout the day while doing other activities.

Lmao

This line of questioning reminds me of how the attempt to get political correctness with mind which can't be grasped in the first place, leads to more and more confusion and conflict and never towards the lived realization. Just like how the Hindus and Buddhists bust each other's nuts over the true self and no self arguments lol

@Rigel Being aware of being aware and self inquiry are literally the same thing. It is about turning attention on itself by skillful means like being uninterested in thoughts and objects or by a question like who is aware? This contemplative meditation leads to self realization. On the other hand, meditation in the general sense facilitates the opposite direction of attention. it's about focusing attention towards a single object like breath or a mantra. These concentrative meditations lead to more focus and mental resolve and a quiet mind which ultimately prepares one for the contemplative mediation like self inquiry. The 2 methods complement each other. Self inquiry brings the breakthrough. Concentration meditation prepares the ground for it to happen and stabilizes the realization.

It goes much deeper if you think about it. The very concept of desire assumes otherness aka a separate self. If you desire food, there has to be people making it. If you desire and love entertainment(let's say TV show), there are people making it. Even if you desire 'nature', that assumes something other than you and needs to be a certain way. Literally anything you desire needs to fulfill an infinite number of parameters to be fulfilled itself. No wonder no desire is ever truly fulfilled! The ultimate solution is not a state where your desires are completely fulfilled but to clearly see this broken system and thus transcend it naturally.

Couldn't agree more! The best teachers never had a fixed set of instructions presented as the absolute law. They almost always took the teaching in the opposite direction of the seeker's beliefs in an attempt to bring him out from his nesting place..

@Serotoninluv The only 'true' statement(if there is such a thing) is I AM. Anything more is redundant and can be traced as being another belief..

@How to be wise What if planning ahead is part of the whole package that comes with the 'Voice'?

find out if you were born in the first place...then worry about past and future lives maybe.

@Anton Rogachevski My take is 'Awareness' or The Absolute can't be verbalized or categorized. As a theory and practice, it is helpful to take Awareness as unchanging. But when direct experience comes forth, all labels has to go and does go if it's a solid awakening. The concept and the label of 'Awareness' itself goes as well.

@winterknight Reading Sri Shankara's Vivekchudamani or many Advaita Vedanta texts, one primary instruction that comes over and over again which is ''constantly abide as the Self". This instruction seems to be simultaneously the path and destination. Vedantic texts generally don't give any exotic siddhic meditation, breath patterns or a set of morality or any objective life purpose for the seeker. The only instruction is to remain as the Self and not be bothered by anything else. How do you interpret this instruction? How should this instruction be followed by a seeker?