eputkonen

@Raptorsin7 Suffering is mentally made up anguish based upon a "me"...no "me", no suffering. So if you suffer and inquire "who is suffering"...the answer "me" or "I do" is there...and then further inquiry into the source of the I-thought leads to silence where there is no "me". But prior to the I-thought. Another avenue (although less direct) is to inquire into the suffering itself and understand it. Our actions and reactions arise due to our understanding (or misunderstanding as the case may be). So if we look and see (what was unseen)...then understanding changes and the actions/reactions change.

@Raptorsin7 ... I have never thought of self inquiry as looking for an arbitrary notion of the self. What you mentioned is closer to how I understand Ramana Maharshi talked about self-enquiry. Who is bored? or Who is suffering? Answer - I do. What is the origin of this "I"? or Where does this I-thought come from? or What is the source of the "I"? Basically, following the "path" to prior to the "I".

"Is enlightenment just another experience?" No. Experiences come and go...enlightenment is not really that. Enlightenment is a revelation...a sudden, intuitive understanding. The illusion of "me" is shattered and just no longer can be believed. (as opposed to an experience of "no me" that comes and goes...but the "me" is still believed and so there is still suffering, problems, boredom, fear, etc. and likely now the desire to get the experience back.) "How can someone be sure that when he FEEL ONE WITH THE WHOLE that this is really there?" Feeling one with all is a passing spiritual experience and not enlightenment. It is, in fact, a well known mystical experience.

That is a psychedelic thing. An enlightened being sees things just like most people do (who are not on drugs)...however, the perception is understood differently.

Great! Something to watch tomorrow.

Good luck with the flight...like I said, I would like to see that.

Being, Silence, etc. There are many pointers. But I would say not "IAM", because there is no "I" in it...instead you would ask "what is the source of this "I"? So 'feeling of AM' would be a better pointer. Prior to the I-thought.

Life is a game...there are no winners or losers, but you can not make up the rules. Unless you can decide you can jump from a building and fly...and do fly. I would like to see that. No, the games can be played...but their rules are already set. The game rules do not include feeling negative about "failures". There is no such thing as failure...only a misstep during learning. Mastery happens with lots of missteps and falls...like when you learned to walk or ride a bike. No reason to feel bad about it or beat yourself up over falling or the misstep. They are necessary to learn and master. This is not changing the rules of the game...but our own internal reactions to how we play the game.

Extend it slightly... Who is thinking? - I am. What is the source of this "I"? Who is focusing? - I am. What is the source of this "I"? Go to the source...and abide at the source. Ramana Maharshi said one of the main purposes of self enquiry is to quiet the mind...so if you found you are thinking a lot and have to re-focus often...then you were simply by-passing thought and refocusing on feeling...but that may not have been self inquiry. Self inquiry is not simply repeately asking 'who am I" or 'who is thinking'. Self inquiry is to go to the source of these thoughts.

I recently made a video about this...please check it out: https://youtu.be/y8lOCItMQB0 Nonduality does not exclude past lives and reincarnation, but often spiritual seekers build and reinforce the illusion of "me" through past lives. Ultimately, there is no "me"...the Self is all there is.

The story is pretty well recounted in Wikipedia...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj His guru told him, "You are not what you take yourself to be...". Siddharameshwar initiated him into the Inchegiri Sampradaya, giving him meditation-instruction and a mantra, which he immediately began to recite. Siddharameshwar gave Nisargadatta instructions for self-enquiry which he followed verbatim, as he himself recounted later: "My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am'. It may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked!" Following his guru's instructions to concentrate on the feeling "I Am", he used all his spare time looking at himself in silence, and remained in that state for the coming years, practicing meditation and singing devotional bhajans: "My Guru told me: "...Go back to that state of pure being, where the ‘I am’ is still in its purity before it got contaminated with ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that.’ Your burden is of false self-identifications—abandon them all." My guru told me, "Trust me, I tell you: you are Divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your suffering is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your will alone is done." I did believe him and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were his words. I did not condition my mind by thinking, "I am God, I am wonderful, I am beyond." I simply followed his instruction, which was to focus the mind on pure being, "I am," and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with nothing but the "I am" in my mind and soon the peace and joy and deep all-embracing love became my normal state. In it all disappeared—myself, my guru, the life I lived, the world around me. Only peace remained, and unfathomable silence. (I Am That, Dialogue 51, April 16, 1971).

@Truth Addict - Hey there! ??

@zeroISinfinity , I would disagree somewhat. We can not practice to become what we already are. We can only realize what we already are. If we have realized what we already are, there is nothing left to practice...we're it. Practicing for full recognition/becoming Isness is only for the ego...which means the ego has not yet been totally seen through and realizing what we really are hasn't happened yet. We are already Isness/Being...but not enlightened yet unless this is deeply realized (and therefore no longer suffer - like fear, guilt, boredom, attachment, etc.). If we are practicing to become or realize Isness/Being, enlightenment has not happened yet. If we are practicing to integrate or stabilize some "realization" that we are Isness/Being, Isness/Being has not yet been realized and so enlightenment has not happened yet. We already are Isness/Being...whether this is realized or not. That realization is enlightenment.

Look at the purpose and motive of being generous. Being generous can also strengthen the ego..."look at all I have done!" There is no way to be selfless if there is the question "does it raise my consciousness?" Just pay no mind to the personal "me"...the self. As much as you are able...let go of yourself. Whether in giving or not giving...don't make reference to yourself. Whether in giving or not giving...it was not done for "you" (i.e. the ego). If you really want to weaken the ego...really look at and investigate this "me"...the ego. See it for what it really is.

@Surfingthewave , yes, seeking is always about elsewhere and in the future. The answers are here and now...there is no where else to look. For years, my advice has been - cease doing...just be still and silent. And seeking is a doing.

That "you" this is asking or thinking...is the ego. The "you" that wonders if it is the ego or true self...is the ego.

@Ponder Enlightenment means seeing through the illusion of better or worse. No day is superior, inferior, or equal. Non-judgment of each day.

@Anirban657 That is trying to get the eye to see itself. Just be aware-ness.

Sometimes. Non-identification with ego and sahaj samadhi does not stop hunger, sleepiness/tireness, etc. These are natural things the body wants. The body sometimes wants sex. It is rare to think about sex though and as of late been fairly celibate. Sex or lack thereof is not a problem either way...so I don't worry about it.

Essentially, not seeing what is as it is. Often, we may believe and/or think we have seen and know, but we happen to be wrong. We have not seen what is as it is. We are ignorance of what is.

@FoxFoxFox - yes...a cessation of identification.

It is possible for suffering to cease to arise. The Buddha said awakening/enlightenment is the cessation of dukkha (often translated as suffering). Obviously, if there is a pre-enlightenment with suffering arising and a post-enlightenment in which suffering ceases to arise...then that revelation/realization of the truth (i.e. dispelling ignorance) has to occur in a point in time for each body/mind and it would be incorrect to say "it's always here". The truth may always be here...but that seeing what is as it is (seeing the truth) is not always here. I know suffering can cease to arise...not a chosen belief...it is my experience.

There is no evil...only ignorance. Ignorance is not knowing the truth.