Help With Enlightenment Work

[xXguitarsenXx]

I'm not sure where to go now, I have read about enlightenment for many hundreds of hours, and i just feel like i fill my brain with more and more concepts that i don't know is true. And then some people say that enlightenment is just about seeing reality without any beliefs or without any concepts.

I would love to have some advice from Leo or from people who are a long way on their enlightenment journey. Is enlightenment just about seeing without any beliefs or concepts? And if it is, then what would be a good practice to see through beliefs and concepts? 

My current practice is at least 20 min. meditation each day, and maybe 40-60 minutes on average. Other than that i spend alot of time contemplating my experience and do some self enquiry. But sometimes i just fell like i am to filled with concepts and that i need to start over somehow.. 

I love intellectual stuff, and i love contemplating. In Advaita Vedenta i would take the Jnana path.

What would be some good advice on where to go from here? 

[aurum]

The biggest thing I've found is just keeping your intention in mind for Truth and following that same intuition that lead you to find out about Enlightenment in the first place. There is no set path to Truth.

[Nexeternity]

@xXguitarsenXx   If it were up to me you wouldnt read anything more about enlightment or ask about it on a forum or anywhere else.  You would not use your time in any other way than meditation, life purpose, slow deliberate mindful action and being.  No friends, no hobbies, no family, no distractions, or the least amount possible without becoming neurotic about it.  Contemplate less and meditate more, focus on your awareness rather than your thoughts, your concepts.  Try pushing it to two, one hour blocks a day.   Journal after your meditations and self inquiry.

Thankfully its not up to me, and you can do what you like.  Trust yourself that you are going down the right path no matter what you end up doing.

Good luck to you!  

[cetus]

@xXguitarsenXx

2 hours ago, xXguitarsenXx said:

What would be some good advice on where to go from here? 

Let go of the illusion of self. Allow "you" to fall away.  Absolute surrender of everything.  If your not experiencing a breakthrough at this point, you may not be totally letting go of yourself and still holding on. Give yourself some time. Than when your ready, give yourself a gift by totally surrendering all self.    *Just as a note: if it starts to feel a little freaky at some point, that's it. Don't shy away from that. That's the doorway to a completely different experience. Different from anything you have ever experienced from the perspective of "you".  Leo's video "Neti-Neti Guided meditation" would work nicely here. Don't just hear the words and conceptualize what he is saying, actually experience it. He is creating a crack in the wall of illusion for you to look through. It lies beyond all the words and conceptualizing.

[jjer94]

Hi Geetar,

Great questions. You seem well acquainted with "enlightenment theory," and I'm glad that you've become conscious of the fact that you study too much. Yes, your cup is too full, and yes, it is time to empty it. To clear one thing up: enlightenment is not about seeing reality without beliefs/concepts, it's about being able to discern between reality and beliefs/concepts. Illusions will still be around, but you will see them as illusions. 

Okay, You've had enough theory. It's time to have an awakening. The following post may open you up in a lot of ways and induce an awakening. It points to the beingness of your experience. Not your absolute true nature, but very very close:

After you have an awakening (and even before), personal insights will spring up naturally from your direct experience. You will no longer need to abide in thought-storyland about which teaching is right, which teaching is wrong, what meditation to use, what to contemplate, how to resolve all the paradoxes, blah blah blah blah blah... Silly mind poop. Instead, you will learn to be your own authority in your own experience, and from that groundedness, you can figure out on your own the next best steps to take on your path. The Universe will guide you every step of the way if you let it. 

Cheers!

[Leo Gura]

This is the answer:

Sit down and do this, over and over again.

Keep your enlightenment practices very simple and consistent. With as little thinking & theorizing as possible.

The simplicity of it is what makes it so hard.

[xXguitarsenXx]

But what about these 3:

1 ¨Who am i¨ from ¨How To Become Enlightened - The Exact Step By Step Process Revealed!¨

2 guided no self meditation from ¨Enlightenment - Part 3 - Creating An Experience Of No-Self¨

3 Strong determination sitting from ¨Meditation On Steroids - How To Get The FASTEST Meditation Gains¨.

 

Would you suggest doing all of them, or should i just stick to one of them? Do you know if any of these is more direct? 

And would it be useful for me to watch all your enlightenment videos to maybe get a more correct conceptual understanding of the path? I know that i can't think my way to the truth, but would it be useful to watch all your ¨enlightenment FAQ 1¨ and ¨understanding the conceptualized self¨ and ¨a description of your existential nature¨? Or should i just only practice? 

[Matthew Lamot]

16 hours ago, xXguitarsenXx said:

I would love to have some advice from Leo or from people who are a long way on their enlightenment journey. Is enlightenment just about seeing without any beliefs or concepts? And if it is, then what would be a good practice to see through beliefs and concepts? 

My current practice is at least 20 min. meditation each day, and maybe 40-60 minutes on average. Other than that i spend alot of time contemplating my experience and do some self enquiry. But sometimes i just fell like i am to filled with concepts and that i need to start over somehow.. 

I love intellectual stuff, and i love contemplating. In Advaita Vedenta i would take the Jnana path.

Advaita says that enlightenment is the permanent destruction of the I thought through the realization of the Universal Self because of the effort of doing a practice called self-inquiry.

There is no need to see through beliefs, the only part you need to play is gently bringing your wandering I thought back to rest in it's source awareness and the Self will do the rest.

If you take one step toward God, then God takes ten steps towards you!

Meditation will not bring you Self Realization because it encourages the I thought (attention) to fixate on a worldly object therefore avoiding 180 degrees the only thing thing that has the power to permanently destroy it - The Self.

I recommend studying the teachings of Ramana Maharishi and reading his teaching Who Am I?

Which can be downloaded at the Ashram website here:

http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/who_am_I.pdf

This is also a very beautiful video of the teaching that you can watch and allow to slowly sink into your consciousness (and the music is fantastic!)

Good luck !

 

[Travis]

@xXguitarsenXx also, as you're considering everything above, take time to listen to yourself. What do YOU believe is best for you at this stage? Only you know where you're at in this process. 

Don't answer too quickly. Take 20 minutes and try to get a sense of what is the next step for you. Be radically honest with no thoughts or intellectual bullshit getting in the way of where you're being guided.

Once you have something that seems clear, follow it. If it's still not clear, do it again.

You said yourself that you have a ton of information regarding enlightenment. Be confirmed in the fact that you have enough info to be able to trust yourself with the next step. 

[Leo Gura]

On 8/9/2016 at 0:02 AM, xXguitarsenXx said:

But what about these 3:

1 ¨Who am i¨ from ¨How To Become Enlightened - The Exact Step By Step Process Revealed!¨

2 guided no self meditation from ¨Enlightenment - Part 3 - Creating An Experience Of No-Self¨

3 Strong determination sitting from ¨Meditation On Steroids - How To Get The FASTEST Meditation Gains¨.

 

Would you suggest doing all of them, or should i just stick to one of them? Do you know if any of these is more direct? 

And would it be useful for me to watch all your enlightenment videos to maybe get a more correct conceptual understanding of the path? I know that i can't think my way to the truth, but would it be useful to watch all your ¨enlightenment FAQ 1¨ and ¨understanding the conceptualized self¨ and ¨a description of your existential nature¨? Or should i just only practice? 

Different people resonant with different modes of inquiry or meditation. So you'll have to do some trial and error to find the technique you like the best.

Mixing up various techniques can create lots of confusion in the mind. But also it can give you a broader, wider understanding of the enlightenment domain. If you only go with 1 technique, you might find it isn't effective for you. Although you might also use it to breakthrough and go all the way. You won't know until you try a lot.

Yes, you should study the theory of enlightenment to some degree. You need to understand conceptually what enlightenment is and what enlightenment is not, so you don't get trapped. Watching the videos is helpful because it will reveal many traps to you and answer many questions you have about the path. Watch the videos. Watch them multiple times. But don't get lost in theory. Follow it up with lots of practice.

[Matthew Lamot]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes, you should study the theory of enlightenment to some degree. You need to understand conceptually what enlightenment is and what enlightenment is not, so you don't get trapped. Watching the videos is helpful because it will reveal many traps to you and answer many questions you have about the path. Watch the videos. Watch them multiple times. But don't get lost in theory. Follow it up with lots of practice.

This seems like a good opportunity to pick your brain, if you don't mind.

What systems do you recommend are good to study?  There is a lot of discussion about the limitations of Buddhism by some of the Vedic community, people saying that Buddhism is basically a humanistic philosophy that has been adjusted by rational minds to make it whatever people want it to be. Whereas there is only and has only been ONE Advaita Vedanta that has never changed.  There is also some discussion that Buddhism is a bastardization of a lot of the Vedanta concepts, and that Buddhism in the end don't understand the Self behind all notions of emptiness and no self.

On top of that there is some criticism of the new "Neo" Advaita, and some people are saying that the Neo Advaita only have certain teachings and there is not enough preparation of the individual to mature enough to become fully Self-Realized.  For example teaching about Karma Yoga are left out and this extraction of vital information leads people to fall back into illusion.

There is a ton of other shit and argumant about these teachings, but I won't go into it here.

I just wondered if you had any information about this stuff?

 

 

[xXguitarsenXx]

I have also thought about becomming a mayahanna monk or Zen monk. I just don't know if there systems and practice is direct enough, even though i like most teachings from buddhism. 

[xXguitarsenXx]

If they have a more direct route to enlightenment, or if they maybe have too many other things on the path that isn't so relevant for enlightenment. 

 

[xXguitarsenXx]

Yeah i have exactly the same thoughts..

On the one hand i don't need it, but on the other hand there is less distractions..