I am enlightened. Sincere seekers: ask me anything

[winterknight]

5 hours ago, Prolific writer said:

Hi,

I can't decide on which practice to pursue during the 1-2 hours that I can carve out in the evening. 

During 'normal' hours (working, waiting, talking etc.) I do self-inquiry/mindfulness + some other experiments.

Could you answer these two questions? 

1) What is the relationship between energy and enlightenment? 

I have read and listened to several famous 'gurus' and there seem to be various conclusions. Enabler, distraction, energetic change as a result of enlightenment etc.

I have access to a practice that clears the mind (no thought and emotion state is easily achieved - generally less effort required than meditation, self-inquiry etc.) & manually squash energetic blockages. How much priority and time should I give it? (This practice is not traditional yoga. It directly drags a large chunk of energy). 

Energy is not a great way of thinking about things.

It only matters insofar as it affects your ability to have a quiet mind to pursue self-inquiry. A "quiet mind" is the better concept.

For example, if you haven't dealt with trauma (hopefully by psychoanalytic psychotherapy and by aligning your desires), you might not be able to concentrate on self-inquiry effectively.

Also, don't get seduced by "practices." The word "practice" can be dangerous and misleading. It's true for a little while, but very quickly you need to think beyond practice entirely. The Truth is not something which comes and goes, or which is built up like a good body or a set of skills.

Self-inquiry (and read this link to make sure you understand it correctly) is the key. You need to be engaging in self-inquiry at every waking moment. 

Self-inquiry is ultimately not a practice. Don't think of it as a practice. It is an intense looking with a seaching intent to find. It's not a repetitive, mechanical practice to get the mind to a certain state.

Quote

I am torn because based on direct experience I see both the potential power and harm. And my two favorite gurus (Sadguru and Mooji say very different things).

On every issue always listen to Mooji over Sadhguru.

Quote

2) How does enlightenment feel like?

I ask not because I am merely curious but because I want to concentrate on one practice during the 1-2 hour/daily evening time.  

Describing these sates are difficult so please just get the general gist of them.  

Practice 1: Everything is beautiful, deep love and compassion flow. My face somehow shows a smile that just comes out naturally. Every interaction is just positive without me trying or thinking about it. And this state is watched and there is deeper, calmer peace. 

Practice 2: No thought, no emotion. Very neutral. Sense of I is not there. Weird perception where everything seems like a painting on a giant 3-dimensional piece of paper because there are lines and objects but they (the trees, air, buildings) are all the same material (the paper). No event is disturbing but the me is not particularly loving or joyful and has a blank face. There is no peace. I(?) don't particularly feel peace. Strength and sense of knowing are there as a background and people seem to gravitate. 

I am planning on continuing the everyday practice of self-inquiry/mindfulness + 1hour energy practice for a couple of months then

reduce energy practice to 30mins + choose one between the two practices listed in Q2. Any input greatly appreciated! 

Neither state is right. The first state is focused around some idea of love; the second has no peace. The "state" you are looking for is not oriented around any particular emotion, but will be one of peace, clarity, and absolute effortlessness that happens not just as you're sitting but as you're walking, talking, and doing anything in the regular world.

Edited April 23, 2019 by winterknight

[Karas]

Conceptually  I think I know enlightenment or truth and enlightenment is not an experience so what am I looking for here ? I don't think we can get rid of ego so what is the point of all this seeking ?And is thinking and mind the same ?                                                                                         Does truth realization remains when the body dies ?                                                                         What is your opinion on sadhguru ? 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Karas

[Paul92]

@winterknight Why do we have a sense of self if we are not supposed to, and if that is the route of all suffering. Should it be the goal to eliminate the ego? Isn't this a shame based practice... it seems rather unnatural. Does shame cure shame? In killing the ego (a shameful act surely... to kill anything) we are killing something shameful, the ego itself.

Do we have a soul?

[Shin]

1 hour ago, winterknight said:

Neither state is right. The first state is focused around some idea of love; the second has no peace. The "state" you are looking for is not oriented around any particular emotion, but will be one of peace, clarity, and absolute effortlessness that happens not just as you're sitting but as you're walking, talking, and doing anything in the regular world.

That's the exact description of what dreams are when you're lucid in them.

When you say it's not like that, is it because when we think about it it's just thoughts and not actuality, or because it still is different ?

Edited April 23, 2019 by Shin

[winterknight]

1 hour ago, Karas said:

Conceptually  I think I know enlightenment or truth and enlightenment is not an experience so what am I looking for here ? I don't think we can get rid of ego so what is the point of all this seeking ?And is thinking and mind the same ?                                                                                         Does truth realization remains when the body dies ?                                                                         What is your opinion on sadhguru ? 

You are looking for who you really are. The point of all this seeking is ultimate truth and freedom — though words cannot describe it fully. 

Whether thinking and mind are the same depends on the context in which we talk. These are words which are used in many different ways. 

Truth realization is beyond time and death. 

I am not a fan of Sadhguru.

[winterknight]

1 hour ago, Paul92 said:

@winterknight Why do we have a sense of self if we are not supposed to, and if that is the route of all suffering. Should it be the goal to eliminate the ego? Isn't this a shame based practice... it seems rather unnatural. Does shame cure shame? In killing the ego (a shameful act surely... to kill anything) we are killing something shameful, the ego itself.

Do we have a soul?

Go and see if we do have a sense of self. You might be surprised. 

The goal is to see who you are. It is not a shame based practice. It is a practice of intense desire for truth. Forget “killing the ego.” Look for the ego first. What is it? What is the I?

Don’t worry about souls. All that will be understood if you look for the I.

[winterknight]

1 hour ago, Shin said:

That's the exact description of what dreams are when you're lucid in them.

When you say it's not like that, is it because when we think about it it's just thoughts and not actuality, or because it still is different ?

The state may be similar to lucid dreaming, but enlightenment is not a state. States come and go. That’s the difference. Still, the peaceful free state is a very useful thing to find for a seeker. Holding to that, the other states will lose power and ignorance will eventually evaporate.

[wavydude]

What is the nature of feeling hurt by someone and anger towards them ? 
What can these feeling tell you, how to  maneuver and resolve them ?

[Shin]

2 hours ago, winterknight said:

The state may be similar to lucid dreaming, but enlightenment is not a state. States come and go. That’s the difference. Still, the peaceful free state is a very useful thing to find for a seeker. Holding to that, the other states will lose power and ignorance will eventually evaporate.

It doesn't feel like a state, there is no one to judge it as a state too.

I can't put words on it, because it's not really lucid dreaming as how it is normally described.

[Joker_Theory]

Is there any benefits in opening your third eye to see with it? It is suppose to help you to see everything as it really is if it's open enough. Also, should our chakras be open for us to realize or experience our self??

Thanks

Edited April 23, 2019 by Joker_Theory

[oMarcos]

@winterknight I don't know if you already answered this but here I go. How far did your intellect had to go in order to cease the searching and died for the non dual exerience, or, what was the last level thing you had to knew intelectually that allowed you to dive into the experience. 

 

I'm asking this because I am aware that the curiosity I have towards this subject is somehow stoping or making the results way slower for me than perhaps it should be.  Even though I think I already "know" a lot, It seems that new questions are always arising, and even though they are legit, it seems aswell that my mind is tricking itself on avoiding work and results. should one just focus on the practice for a long time and just take a break on finding answers just until significant results arise, would you agree with that? I think your book might have good insights to stop this vicious circle... but once again, I think I'ts just my intellect going for his last fights for survival and wanting to buy lots of new books or to watch a bunch of videos...

Edited April 23, 2019 by oMarcos

[winterknight]

3 hours ago, wavydude said:

What is the nature of feeling hurt by someone and anger towards them ? 
What can these feeling tell you, how to  maneuver and resolve them ?

The nature of it is that it's a judgment that is made in the mind that feels an injustice has been committed.

These feelings are telling you that this is what you feel -- and that you are now in a place to choose how to deal with that feeling. You have many options. You can attempt to communicate your anger, to take it to a higher authority, to try to ignore it, to attempt to forgive it, to express it in art, to take it to a therapist.

To understand which option to choose requires that you listen very closely to your real feelings (not what you wish your feelings were), express them, test out different possible courses of action in your mind and in expression, and then see how you feel. And repeat this. 

Or: take the self-inquiry position and ask to whom this feeling occurs.

2 hours ago, Shin said:

It doesn't feel like a state, there is no one to judge it as a state too.

I can't put words on it, because it's not really lucid dreaming as how it is normally described.

The point is that lucid dreaming, whatever it is, happens only in dreams. That means it comes and goes. That automatically makes it a state. You are right that it probably touches on a higher truth too, but anything which comes and goes is not the complete truth.

36 minutes ago, Joker_Theory said:

Is there any benefits in opening your third eye to see with it? It is suppose to help you to see everything as it really is if it's open enough. Also, should our chakras be open for us to realize or experience our self??

Thanks

I wouldn't worry about third eyes or chakras if you are interested in self-realization.

9 minutes ago, oMarcos said:

@winterknight I don't know if you already answered this but here I go. How far did your intellect had to go in order to cease the searching and died for the non dual exerience, or, what was the last level thing you had to knew intelectually that allowed you to dive into the experience. 

 

I'm asking this because I am aware that the curiosity I have towards this subject is somehow stoping or making the results way slower for me than perhaps it should be.  Even though I think I already "know" a lot, It seems that new questions are always arising, and even though they are legit, it seems aswell that my mind is tricking itself on avoiding work and results. should one just focus on the practice for a long time and just take a break on finding answers just until significant results arise, would you agree with that? I think your book might have good insights to stop this vicious circle... but once again, I think I'ts just my intellect going for is last fights for survival and wanting to buy lots of books...

No, satisfy your intellect. What is important is that you are honest about what you want -- not what you wish you want or hope you want but what you actually want.

So if you want to know, follow your actual desire. Put 100% intensity into finding the intellectual answers.

[Zetxil]

@winterknight must there always be a point of tension within the vastness of what we are? In order to have an experience, there must me an experiencer. Maybe "tension" is more the center of the experience, so does there have to be a center in order for there to be experience? or can there just be experience? If we define ourselves as the center of our experiences (the sense of "I"), is death the only way someone can just experience without the sense of I? I feel like these questions are all pointing in a similar direction, but can't seem to get past them and get an answer  

[winterknight]

58 minutes ago, Zetxil said:

@winterknight must there always be a point of tension within the vastness of what we are? In order to have an experience, there must me an experiencer. Maybe "tension" is more the center of the experience, so does there have to be a center in order for there to be experience? or can there just be experience? If we define ourselves as the center of our experiences (the sense of "I"), is death the only way someone can just experience without the sense of I? I feel like these questions are all pointing in a similar direction, but can't seem to get past them and get an answer  

If there can be said to be experience, then there must be an experiencer.

But there is a way of going beyond the duality of experiencer-experience. And that way is to look deeply into the I.

[Zetxil]

4 minutes ago, winterknight said:

If there can be said to be experience, then there must be an experiencer.

But there is a way of going beyond the duality of experiencer-experience. And that way is to look deeply into the I.

@winterknight how can you look at something that isn't tangible?

[Jkris]

9 hours ago, winterknight said:

 

I am not a fan of Sadhguru.

???

[winterknight]

3 hours ago, Zetxil said:

@winterknight how can you look at something that isn't tangible?

Follow the instructions in the link I gave you... 

[wavydude]

8 hours ago, winterknight said:

The nature of it is that it's a judgment that is made in the mind that feels an injustice has been committed.

Yes I also can see that, If I do what you say the best option seems to be honest conversetion with that person to sort of better understand and unpack the situation but that doesn't seem to be happening, second best is to take revenge to make a point.

Other thing is I feel bad that I got myself in this situation in the first place.

 

 

8 hours ago, winterknight said:

Or: take the self-inquiry position and ask to whom this feeling occurs.

I've tried some self-inquiry but I'm in early stages and I think I need more quite mind thus I want resolve these feelings.

During inquiry I had thought "who is hearing this voice in my head" and I came to conclusion that there must be a "wittnes" to hear the voice and "the witness" cannot have the voice itself becouse there would be another witness to hear it so the only thing "witness" do is witnessing.

Is that the right direction ? How to push it further ?

[sidaz10]

When i do Self inquiry should i be in meditate or any special pose, or just laying down and concentrate ?

[Jkris]

This question is from my dad.

I am 80 years old following advaitha unable to reach the beyond.Being in I state is normal.Tell your suggestion.