For you self inquirers

[okulele]

This is some of the best Neti Neti guidance I came across. Stephen Wolinsky is a student of Advaita Vedanta and especially Nisargadata Maharaj. He presents 'a map', which is aiming to help you get out of your rut into the Absolute.

Watch this, pay attention, allow this to hit you hard!

[Preetom]

@okulele

Yeah those are good stuff. Wolinsky's videos were shared before in this forum.

[Gili Trawangan]

Thanks, will definitely check this out later! 

[Preetom]

2 minutes ago, Gili Trawangan said:

Thanks, will definitely check this out later! 

Especially watch the 1st video. That one is a bomb and clarifies most bullshits labeled under 'spiritual'

[Gili Trawangan]

5 minutes ago, Preetom said:

Especially watch the 1st video. That one is a bomb and clarifies most bullshits labeled under 'spiritual'

@Preetom Will do

[Gili Trawangan]

@Preetom I watched the first video. It kind of confused me... I take it that arriving at Being in self-inquiry is not enough. He says we even have to discard the I AM.

But how do you do that? When I arrive at the I AM there doesn't seem to be anything left to discard. After that it is most likely extinction. How does that help you realize what you are? What's the difference between that and deep sleep? It sounds like he is talking about the same as deep sleep, no world no consciousness, no I amness.

[Preetom]

4 hours ago, Gili Trawangan said:

@Preetom I watched the first video. It kind of confused me... I take it that arriving at Being in self-inquiry is not enough. He says we even have to discard the I AM.

But how do you do that? When I arrive at the I AM there doesn't seem to be anything left to discard. After that it is most likely extinction. How does that help you realize what you are? What's the difference between that and deep sleep? It sounds like he is talking about the same as deep sleep, no world no consciousness, no I amness.

1) The upside of this incessant negation is not to fall in the final set of traps. The trap of taking teaching pointers like Consciousness, Awareness, Love, I AM, God, Being etc literally. You can easily see how many people make a dogma out of these concepts and they are stuck there forever. The Reality/Absolute is far more direct than the word absolute, so much so that all these words and concepts will eventually be redundant.

2) "how do you do that?" - exactly. 'You' cant ever do anything about it. All you can do, is to stay at the Being state, utterly silent and open, waiting for the 'lion' to come and devour you. One cant discard the I AM or Being, but still this scrupulous negation attitude is needed so that one doesnt fall into the trap of thinking "i've made it" or nest into any particular state or experience.

3) In the end, No world, no consciousness, no i amness - yes exactly. But not in the way you might be assuming right now. Because all of them are only thoughts. Even deep sleep is a thought. We tend to think that nirvana would be something like a huge, dark, void space forever. But that is not necessarily so.

Ramana Maharshi said, "the world is nothing but thoughts". I didnt get what he meant until recently. Check it out for yourself. Next time you are firmly established in thoughtless being/self-inquiry, check whether you see a 'world' as you used to know it. The world literally begins with the thought "this is a world". The body literally begins with the thought "this is my body". It just happens so fast and without gaps that we tend to fail to notice it. By repeated sinking into Being, it starts getting more and more clear to us.

So when you are in Being without these thoughts, there is no world, body. But is Being a huge, dark, deep sleeplike state then? No! You dont even feel 'i am' until such a thought arises. That in fact is the absolute or your 'natural', 'effortless' state. Nirvana is simply the existinction after which 'i' along with my 'world' thoughts are gone forever.

Sounds very contradicting, woo woo and unbelievable I know. I wouldn't ever believe it and it would sound absolutely negative to me. But its not, its the greatest thing that can happen to oneself. 

So the bottomline is :

1) keep sinking into being consistently, as much as you can. 

2) you dont have to think or figure out about anything. Neither about yourself nor about things/world

3) dont cling to any particular state, experience, insight, realization etc however grand and unbelievable; only cling to your own singular being; and be alert on the attitude of  spinning fantasies to orient your whole life forever around some particular state.

4) what is meant to happen, will happen. The most common dilemma is the doubt "if i cant see the world after nirvana, how can I function in the world, connect with people?"- that impossible chasm between the ego and nirvana cant ever be rationalized or figured out. Its the greatest fear of the ego...until its not. By the time one gets it, one is done. 

The ego was never in charge 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Preetom

[Gili Trawangan]

@Preetom Many thanks for that awesome explanation, I think I got it

There are these moments during self-inquiry when it feels like 'I' am about to go, to disappear, but something holds on, another (very subtle) thought comes... will keep at it!

[Preetom]

6 minutes ago, Gili Trawangan said:

@Preetom Many thanks for that awesome explanation, I think I got it

There are these moments during self-inquiry when it feels like 'I' am about to go, to disappear, but something holds on, another (very subtle) thought comes... will keep at it!

Yes keep at it. With this only litmus test, ''anything perceivable or conceivable cannot be I"

All the best!