PureExp

I agree with @Guivs , perhaps I shouldn't say anything more You are only assuming that there is something else "really out there". Lets assume its true. Now how will the mind know it? Obviously it needs "probes", devices, to get the information, process it, store it and interpret it. In doing so, it will end up with something that is only symbolic. Such is the nature of mind, and it is by necessity, it can't do anything else. Even if a creature has a supermind, it will just perceive stuff in terms of refined and better symbols. For a mind, whats out there is always what it can access. If you ask consciousness whats out there, it will say - nothing. There is only me alone. At most it will say - what do you want there to be? I'll conjure it up for you What is your definition of accurate picture? How should it look like according to you? Will you ever know if it is accurate enough?

What do you think enlightenment is? It all depends on your current assumptions about this word. Probably you think its just another thing to "have", a fancy mental state, a good trip. Now your ego is trying to trade things, it wants a good deal. It has turned the most fundamental step of evolution into a supermarket trip. I don't know about enlightenment at all, so don't take my word, but after knowing that I'm just pure awareness and nothing at all, nothing has changed really. All worldly pleasures and pains are same. But I've lost so many things - beliefs, depression, anger, impulse desires, so on and so forth. So all I can say is you will gain nothing at all, you will lose many thing. In the end your ego that is weighing the "pros and cons" of enlightenment will be dead , there won't be anyone there to "enjoy the enlightenment", so how does that matter?

Welcome to the world of nebulous definitions If you are expecting concrete definitions in the field of spirituality, you will be disappointed. Even the original Sanskrit words are not so sharp anymore. People tend to use same words for different things by twisting its meaning. Not only that when you glance across cultures and traditions you will find dozens of words that denote awareness (consciousness, Self, soul, atman, Shiva, Purusha, spirit, heart, what-have-you). There are more twists, e.g. the word consciousness means something totally different in psychology. Different teachers use same word to mean different things. Then you encounter funny words like frequency, vibration and energy etc (especially in new-age stuff), which share origins with precise scientific terms and cause much trouble. When I see a question posted on the net, it is 50% of the time a confusion about meanings of words. The most confused thing is mind and consciousness. People do not see the difference.

@jse That's a nice and clear explanation of why there cannot be "unconsciousness" or absence of awareness. He said, aware + ness = knowing + being. Isn't that substituting one word with another? I completely get what he is pointing at, but IMHO, it won't be possible to define awareness without inviting trouble That's like trying to define "redness" in words or concepts. Not possible, you see. You can only point at it. (Not implying that awareness is just another quale) The problem is - awareness is not even an experience, you can't even point at it without being it. There are no-two.

You are right. Even scientists do not believe it. The "solid" particles fitting in a sugar cube BS is made up by someone with a shallow knowledge of physics, I suspect. According to firmly established science (about 100 years old now), particles are just probabilities of observing an effect (e.g. mass or charge) at a particular point in space. When you plot all the probabilities, the graph looks like a spread out fuzzy cloud which extends to infinity. In others words, the particles are not there really, but an observer can make them appear by simple act of observation. The important point to note is - the observer must be a conscious observer, an instrument or computer, or camera cannot do that. In essence, physics says that matter is just consciousness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_interpretation Why do people still cling to the "matter" explanation of the reality? Ignorance. Very very deep ignorance. It doesn't take a lot of effort to see it directly, its always in front of our noses, there is only consciousness, I see nothing else. What would you call a person who can't hear to all those blaring voices of scientists, mystics, religions, philosophers ...saying there is no matter at all?

I guess you are asking about the difference between experience before and after enlightenment. If "enlightenment" means a realization that you are pure awareness, the screen made of nothingness on which every experience is projected, then there would be no difference. As Leo said, the difference is now in perspective. It is flipped ! Now, I'm not claiming that I have achieved enlightenment, perhaps the above realization is only a start, but thats how I see it at current stage personally. About time, how much time it takes to know that "you" are awareness? 2 seconds. Right? The time it takes to answer the question - Are you aware now? How much time it takes to abide as awareness without falling back to old way? A life time.... That's the paradox, you see.

@Key Elements Ok I see. Yes animals are more "pure"

@Key Elements Thanks for agreeing. But I never said that anywhere

You are doing great confusion is a better state to be in than the "I-know-it-all" state. It means you are ready to receive, you are open. I'm going to be very brief, so it may appear like nitpicking, but I'm not really critical of your fine post at all . No. Its the reverse. Brain happens in the mind. Brain is just another object, a qualia, part of the body, which is an object. An assumption. The truth is - you don't know. Be agnostic where your experience fails. IMHO, the "one" (universal consciousness which we are) is already experiencing experiences of everyone. Awareness is not an attribute of the mind. Mind is a process. Awareness is the witness that witnesses the mind/mental processes. Awareness=consciousness. Mind is not aware of anything, including itself, awareness is aware of everything. Check Rupert again. No. It cannot simulate consciousness (aka awareness in current post). What do you mean by the word "exist"? If something exists it must exist as an experience. No? You are trying to get to something which is not an experience. You see. Such things do not exist. The only thing that is not an experience is the experiencer ! So if all experience is a simulation of the mind, it is false, it is illusion, and only the experiencer is the truth. Only the experiencer exists in absolute definition of "exist". Wow ! instant enlightenment....

@Dino D IMO, if you are experiencing the uncomfortable bodily sensations, uncomfortable mental states, and sensitivity etc. your system has already started purging process. (aka purification). Only that, now you are acutely aware of these sensations, states, they appear strange. The awareness is a result of your practice. So I guess it is working. You are asking what can you do to release the mess. But I think you cannot do much, except just surrender and continue marching ahead on your path. The system, mother nature will do the rest. Purification happens, you can only let it happen. Some people resist, and it simply lengthens the period of purification, causing unneeded suffering. Do not resist, just observe. If it is painful, its ok to see a doctor or take medicines.

@Afonso It seems you are naturally gifted. You just proved that the real, pure and natural way is much more potent than artificially induced stuff. IMO, you are experiencing Mudras (google it), very common.. The visions etc. are common too (relatively speaking, ordinary people have no clue about these things). All you need to do is remain equanimous about these experiences, continue your practice, try to get established in the core, and ignore the stuff.

@Deep I agree. We in general tend to blame attackers from the rest of the world for the destruction here, but in part the ancients failed to protect themselves. Violence does not usually appreciate kindness and tolerance, these are taken as signs of weakness and inferiority by violent people. Anyhow I see it as Karmic consequence, business as usual from the point of view of mother nature. Lesson learnt, and now Indians use violence whenever needed, they have a huge military. About the vedic stuff, IMO its a mystery much greater than that of pyramids, Mayans or anything else. In future people are going to dig into it, we will see something awesome (I'm hoping )

I noticed the video duration is 11:11 There is one issue - he keeps calling ancient Indian philosophy as Hinduism. There was no Hinduism at that time, and no Hindus. That term was slapped on Indians by western attackers, so people living beyond Indus river were called Indu, which became Hindu. This was just recently. They could not understand the culture, it was too complex and beyond their grasp, they just called it a "religion" and tried to destroy it. Westerners (mostly from today's mid-east and then British) were mostly successful in destroying the culture, the rest got rotten away by extreme poverty, caste system and wars. Today's Hinduism is a grand mixture of a variety of gods, deities and rituals or festivals, very little resemblance with Yoga or Samkhya or Vedanta. Secondly, he doesn't mention Vedas, which predate all that stuff and materialism, science and maths that developed and spread to west via Greece and Persia. Vedas clearly put forward the concept of Atman and Brahman. So Kapil is not the start of spirituality, nor of the science of consciousness. The credit is usually given to seven seers, the Saptrishis, disciples of Shiva, the Aadiyogi of Himalayas. However, I don't claim to know everything, that's what I was taught in school and by the great teachers on the subject. I was not there to see it all happening so please forgive if the above is not correct.

Trying to chat with an enlightened person: Me: Hi, how are you? He: I'm nothingness and eternal. Me: So what are you doing these days? He: Practicing non-doing. Everything happens... Me: How do you do it? He: By not doing. Me: Easy job for you I guess? He: I'm not the doer, so can't say. Me: What's your plan for your coming birthday? He: I was never born. Me: Oh, btw I'm sorry to hear about your mother's death. He: There is no death. Me: Wtf? He: Look within for an answer to that. Me: Well, I'm outta here, see you later. He: Self cannot be seen, its the seer. Me: FU !$#^%#$%

@heisenburger You are forgetting something important here....those who are suffering in wars, and those animals who are getting killed, millions of them, are already "you". Are they not? So what are you afraid of? Ok that was mystic mumbo jumbo enlightened master talk about. It all depends on how you define "you". People have a different idea of self depending on their level of achievement. Lets see: you=body: it becomes dirt for sure, nothing is reborn that is body. you=ego: or the lower mind, responsible for survival of the organism. It surely gets destroyed as brain decomposes. you=mind: hmm .. we are getting fuzzy here, because mind is non-physical, perhaps something will survive, like an artistic skill or effect of a deep trauma. But its probable that most of it is wiped out, including the personality (individualness), memories, and knowledge. you=universal mind: we are in pure theoretical area here (as far as my own experience goes), but I can guess that most of it survives. It includes the impressions taken from current life, the storehouse of impressions is universal mind, aka Karmic store. According to some, it is this thing that is reborn (concept of Jiva, or soul). To stop it from playing the game of lives and death (samsara), you need to get liberated (nirvana). To be honest, it all is just theory for me (at this time, no direct experience whatsoever). you=consciousness: there is no doubt that you are the consciousness, and it cannot die, its not a thing, not physical, not non-physical. Its the witness, and it will witness the next drama on its screen. It is free, it is already in nirvana, nothing needs to be done. So you can pick a definition, and worry about death and reincarnation at that level. In the end, you will find that its useless. Some things are unknowable. Most are beyond a person's control (dead or alive). The only thing you can do is be enlightened, remain as consciousness. Rest may happen when the time is right. All the best for your next incarnation

Death is a belief, an assumption. When there is no-self, who is there to die?

Well, try it again Everyone goes through different experiences during their practice. The neti-neti is meant to show you that you are not an experience (na+iti = not that). So then what are you? Of course, the experiencer. The experiencer is the nothingness behind all experiences. It is like that here and now. The next step is to see that you are the origin of all experiences, and the dichotomy of experience and experiencer is only an illusion.

True Time is important. One day I sat down with Excel and estimated the total time I'm left with in this life for my practices (or whatever is your path). The results were shocking. Hardly any time left. I made it into an online calculator, perhaps it will shock others from their sleep But don't worry, its just amusement, life is not so static.

@Wafflemuffins Never meditated consistently on-off for 5-7 years. Perhaps the longest continuous period was 1 year. Since last year I switched to introspection (self-enquiry) or the path of knowledge. It had most profound effect for me personally. Perhaps we need both, meditation builds a good foundation for enquiry.

Question it ! What in you expects it to be non-repetitive, entertaining and fun?

@Wouter I agree, those are some good insights and direct experiences. IMO, you just witnessed two activities of the mind - the creation of a doer out of events, and creation of objects out of qualia. Doer and objects do not exist, except as ideas/concept/assumptions/illusion. You must have heard this many times. Now you know At a deeper level there is an experience of actions of body and an experience of qualia (colors, sounds, smells etc). The rest is conjured up by the mind. All the best !

If you like reading, here is a very detailed description in 5 parts ! In short, all kinds of things happen when you start unveiling consciousness out of layers and layers of ignorance. They are as unique and varied as people who are practicing, they come and go, and the bottom line is - ignore everything, go for the experiencer, not the experiences.

Almost daily live Satsangs are taking place this month from Rishikesh India by two teachers: Mooji https://www.youtube.com/user/Moojiji Roger Castillo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3nxl1CdbbysJB_KUBaLEfw

Hi all ! First post here. Union or realization of oneness happens on cessation of mental activities. This is the age old formula (by the father of yoga Patanjali himself). All very good, but what is really meant by cessation of mental activity? Does it mean I stop using my mind? Does it mean I stop the continuous chatter (monologue) that goes on inside my head? Does it mean I should stop perceiving things, recognizing things, naming/knowing them etc? Does it mean I bring the mind to a standstill like a dead or unconscious or asleep man? Do I need to be brain dead to get the experience of oneness? I struggled with questions like these for years, and tried a lot of stuff to get rid of this "mind" thing. The result was a big zero, very frustrating. All one can do is hold the breath for few seconds to trick the mind into not thinking or just fall asleep after falling into a trance like state. The best I could do was to become very aware and alert of mental activities, which is as good as stopping them, because I could create a distance between my Self (consciousness that I am) and mental activities (which I am not). So it was like an objectification of mind, now its just a machine with a load of software which produces thoughts and actions. So far so good, but..... still no oneness. I was totally separate from everything that the mind showed me. Something changed when I finally started understanding teachings and tricks of non-dualism (Advaita Vedanta), originating from Vedas and explained in brilliant commentary by Shankara etc. But, the real impact happened through teachers such as Mooji, Papaji, Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira, Nisargdatta and of course, Ramana. Experiencing oneness is a piece of cake now. It lasts for a few seconds only, but is certain enough to remove all doubts, its a direct experience, not a thought, not a concept or some philosophical idea. How?? That's a million $ question. Isn't it? The trick is easy. I will share it for free because I got it for free. The trick is to understand the real meaning of "cessation of mind". And the real meaning is - not stopping the mind-machine or any of the acts I mentioned above. All you need to do is keep all the activities of the mind in your "field of view" of awareness, bring them into front of screen of awareness, do not keep the mental activity as a background, let it become inclusive so that you don't divide the experience into many. Normally the mind will shift from one thing to another, analyzing everything one after the other. All you need to do is bring this activity into light of awareness, let it just be. It soon becomes very faint naturally. Now its just something happening apart from you, like other events in your field of view of awareness of which you are only a neutral witness. The real activity of the mind is "subconscious" (for a lack of better word). Meaning, it acts without you being aware of its acts. The main function of mind is to create divisions. It divides up everything - objects, qualities of objects, people, events, sensory stuff etc etc. But the first division it creates is between the Self and the experience. It separates the two, which you are not even aware of. Because you think you are experiencing yourself as separate, when in reality, its the mind that is producing that illusion. What happens when you include mind as an object in the field of awareness? First thing you will notice is that there is only one thing left - a pure experience. There is just an experience, nothing else. Probably the mind will jump back and start dividing things up, naming them, recalling and recognizing. Its ok, it means that you have a healthy and functioning mind. But be aware that all these activities are only a part of your experience. Include them in your experience , which is only one single experience. There cannot be two experiences. Secondly, shift your awareness to the one that is "experiencing". Its the usual Self (consciousness) which is seen as emptiness (no-thing). At this point realize that there is nothing but an experience of this experiencer experiencing... Meaning, you have now included the Self into your one and only experience. Notice that that's all there is. There is nothing apart from this one experience in this whole existence, and there was never anything else. All those thousand things were merely dividing acts of the mind. There are still divisions, but now you can see the reason behind them. Those are artificial. The Self is not "getting" an experience from somewhere, it is being that experience, and is actually same as the experience. In other words there are no two, there cannot be. This in essence is the shortest trick to get to the experience of oneness, unity, union or yoga, whatever people call it. It is very direct and takes no time. Writing about it is more difficult than actually experiencing it