Should I just do all self-inquiry?

[AlphaAbundance]

Should I replace meditation practices (mindfulness probably not concentration) for self-inquiry? Will this improve my results? 

Since self-inquiry is a form of meditation?

[seeking_brilliance]

I can't answer this, but I would think self inquiry would cover both mindfulness and concentration 

[OctagonOctopus]

Try things out, find out what gets you the most juice, everyone has different paths, it will probably be a combination of things that will help you. Just make sure to give every practice a fair chance, even go back to ones you previous felt didn’t work. 

[Inliytened1]

4 hours ago, AlphaAbundance said:

Should I replace meditation practices (mindfulness probably not concentration) for self-inquiry? Will this improve my results? 

Since self-inquiry is a form of meditation?

Do both.  Self inquiry is crucial to awakening because it allows you to become directly conscious of your true nature.  

And that is paradigm shattering so be ready

 

[Aaron p]

I do 20 mins kryia yoga, 30 mins self enquiry. I think self inquiry is one of the best practices, it is so direct and straight forward

[FoxFoxFox]

@AlphaAbundance Self-inquiry is literally asking yourself "who am I?" Until you realize whatever you believe yourself to be are really just thoughts, upheld by the truth of your existence which is (poetically) light and love (or more crudely, awareness). 

[Inliytened1]

26 minutes ago, FoxFoxFox said:

@AlphaAbundance Self-inquiry is literally asking yourself "who am I?" Until you realize whatever you believe yourself to be are really just thoughts, upheld by the truth of your existence which is (poetically) light and love (or more crudely, awareness). 

Precisely.   Btw did you have any realizations during your mystical experience of pure Being?

[Rigel]

For me these are the same thing. I just have "I want truth" in mind when sitting to do any practice. At some point it just all merged for me. No difference between meditation and self inquiry. Just my two cents. 

[ardacigin]

Be careful making black and white decisions like 'Should I ditch this technique and try something else?'

Do both at the right time. Developing stable attention is very important prior to working with self enquiry. First master stable attention with introspective awareness, then move on to self enquiry.

You won't waste time by mastering how attention and awareness works. On the contrary, you'll save up time. Dry insights can appear as more 'direct' but its chances of actually producing lasting, deep and permanent awakening is lower for people who have not mastered mindfulness and samadhi first. 

Again, do both. At the right time. First, develop stable attention and then move on to self enquiry. Be patient. 

[FoxFoxFox]

@Inliytened1 Yeah, that there was never any ignorance to begin with. Ignorance - avidya - is purely theoretical.

[Aakash]

@FoxFoxFox but you acknowledge that it exists right? in relation to spirituality. 

You can't say your enlightened and then say there was no ignorance. That doesn't make sense. 

There is a fundamental flaw in eastern traditions pertaining truth and that is they assumed there was a human. 

Enlightenment in eastern traditions is not actually truth, its actually on a scale. 

1: 100th of the greater truth. 

nonetheless, there are some that may understand the greater truth, but this is like one in a million practitioners. I.e Buddha or sadhguru

those who talk about life and not the method/ teachings are the ones who understand

Edited August 4, 2019 by Aakash

[FoxFoxFox]

@Aakash There is no such thing as enlightenment, or enlightened people. 

We speak loosely of enlightenment on forums like this due to the nature of language. "Enlightenment" is not something that is understood by people. The Self is. Accepting that is the real battle.

And no. There are no degrees of enlightenment. You either get it or believe that you don't. Either case, the Self is unbroken. 

[Aakash]

@FoxFoxFox All this knowledge was derived from spiritual teachings, all you did was confirm them via your direct experience. You can't say the teachings are absolute, when they are themselves limited in range to understanding truth. 

it is an unbreakable bond, you truly don't know that which you don't know. 

[FoxFoxFox]

@Aakash If you really believe that, then dive into the practice instead of accumulating more and more theoretical knowledge about enlightenment and philosophizing. There is a reason people say that the actual "experience" of enlightenment is incommunicable.

What that means is that the context is essential when approaching spiritual teachings. You can't take any given spiritual teaching or concept and generalize it to apply to your own situation. Answers given to one person about a specific situation is rarely ever applicable to someone else in another situation.

It is not correct to say one  verifies spiritual knowledge through personal experience to get enlightened. None of those teachings will end up being verified. They are all incorrect, because conceptual frameworks cannot ever capture the essence. The part can't understand the whole.

Here's a hint about spiritual guidance:

It is always in the form of negation. Meaning, the answer you receive from the guru has only one function, and that is not to tell you what's correct. The function is to dispel whatever it is you believe about the Self. The guru will exhaust your mental capacity until you cannot help but give up. Then there's an opening for true understanding. This is why silence is golden. 

 

 

 

[Aakash]

@FoxFoxFox you just did the exact same thing again. Never mind ?. Like i said, I’m not enlightened so I don’t know the truth. Just theorising about it. 

[ajasatya]

@AlphaAbundance You tell me. Should you?

[FoxFoxFox]

@Aakash I am this.. i am that. It's not about that. It's about what makes all these possible. 

[Aakash]

@FoxFoxFox it’s not about that, that’s not what I’m saying. I agree. At the end of the day, it is what it is. Your right 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Aakash

[Truth Addict]

Don't ever stop meditating. Ever!

If you want the best results, meditate for 10-15 minutes first, and then inquire/contemplate for however you want.

[Ananta]

Heres my take, meditation never negates the doer, its the doer that is meditating. It's good for steadying, calming the mind but any relief found from meditation, must be repeated, since the doer continues to "not" be negated.

The mind isnt actually the issue, its "identifying with it" thats the issue and Self-inquiry "does" negate the doer and breaks the identification with the mind through assimilation of Self-knowledge.