Any Further Tips On Self Realisation Practice

[Huz]

Hi there,

I am currently doing self-realisation for about 30 minutes a day. I have watched Leo's videos on this topic. But I find I difficult to see if I am doing the practice right and would like to have an insight on how other people are doing it. I am really confused where this practice should lead beacuse i am doing the same thing every time, which is to ask myself "who am I at the present moment". I just end up with the same reasoning from my voice and nothing else. Any advice on how the practice should progress in your awareness. What signs should you be looking out for?

thanks x

Edited February 9, 2016 by Huz88

[Ayla]

@Huz88 ,

Search on youtube for Mooji 

 

[Walter B]

 

Search "eastern spirituality" for broad coverage. Add things like this to your contemplation. There is no self to answer to "who am I?". Maybe who was I and who will I be next would help you. Contemplate all the things you have and people you know who think or remind you of who you have been. Realize that differentiating past, present, and future is important! So, who are you right now? What did that make you think of and/or what emotion did that stir? Write it down. Do this for a while say a week per the instructions given in Leo's video on understanding emotions. You'll likely realize where they seem to come from in the process. Then maybe you can figure out some answers to your questions.

[Sargon]

Mooji is also one of my favs. Papji is also excellent; I really like his stuff. I believe he is the disciple of Ramana Maharshi, the founder of the Self-Inquiry technique.  You can find him on YouTube and on Mooji's site. Papaji keeps saying: "Be quiet", i.e., be still. This can be particularly hard to do, especially from a "monkey mind" perspective. When you realize you've had a thought or you've felt something or heard something, ask: "who or what is it that had or is having this thought, feeling or experience?" The idea is to look for that which is aware that a thought has occurred. The goal is to come to a point of emptiness, i.e., there is nothing left that is perceiving, only being.

The key is to keep questioning who it is that says x, y, or z or feels x, y, or z. If nothing comes, ask yourself whether you are "x" or "y". Again, try to be that which is seeing the thought, of course, this is counter intuitive because if you try, then something is doing the trying. You must simply be, which loops back to Papaji's "Just be quiet". 

Anyway, not sure if this made any sense. I hope it helps. 

By the way, another guru I like is Sadguru. I really enjoyed his Inner Engineering course. That was the first real solid spark I had. But the Self Inquiry stuff has really helped boost my practice.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Huz88 said:

i am doing the same thing every time, which is to ask myself "who am I at the present moment". I just end up with the same reasoning from my voice and nothing else.

Perhaps the following considerations can be helpful in changing your perspective on this matter:

Find out - who is asking this question? and why?

Also - Is the questioner also seen?

Where does awareness come into this?

A hint on true identity - if one is ready (qualified) for it - from James Swartz book "The Essence of Enlightenment - Vedanta, The Science of Consciousness:

Quote

I am limitless awareness appearing as a human being

Also, one could meditate on "who am I" from another similar perspective as explained by spiritual teacher Burt Harding in his book "Hiding in Plain Sight".  This quote is in reference to the self as "HUMAN BEING":

Quote

There is a knowing, beyond question, that all decisions are being conducted by the BEING you already are.  You are BEING playing the human role.  It is resting in that whatever is happening is what needs to happen.  You don't interfere because you see there is no me to interfere anyway.
Awakening is seeing of the one that seeks.  And, in that seeing, there is also a cessation of the seeker, ...

joy

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by walt

[bobbyward]

self inquiry is about quieting the mind. when you ask the question who am i, and look with awareness, the mind is temporarily still, and this stillness is the answer you are looking for, the goal is to stay there as long as possible as often as possible. you know your making progress if thoughts show up less through out the day. 

30mins a day is nothing, you need to do it all day. you can do your formal practice for 30mins a day or whatever, but you need to knock down thoughts through out the day. 

[Myke]

@walt is pointing at it perfectly. Remember that when you sit, the goal is not to awaken the mind, but to awaken from mind.

[Huz]

Ok thank you guys so much for the advice and help you have given me. It has defiantly given me a greater insight into my practice and let me spot some things I am doing wrong.

I see it now as the do nothing technique with the application of applying the questions that question who you are. 

So when I notice the voice responding to the question I ask to discover my true nature (weather it agrees with the fact that I am a emptiness or the fact I am a person) I just have to see it as the manipulation of the egoic self.

Also would like to thank @Leo Gura for this amazing site. I have learned so much from this forum already. He has truly turned my life around. I am so grateful for him xx

Edited February 10, 2016 by Huz88
Bad writing

[Walter B]

22 hours ago, Ayla said:

 

Search on youtube for Mooji 

 

What do you make of Mooji?  I'd really like to spend time visiting with him.  How do you feel when you listen to his Satsang sessions?  Have you noticed that all of the Seer's seem to be talking to a very small crowd?  What does this mean to you?

More particularly even, the fact that all the Seer's seem to be "seeing" a relatively small crowd of minds.  I'm not making claims, I'd just like to see your thoughts on this.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Elemental
rhetoric

[Huz]

Is Leo's video "enlightenment-part 3-creating an experience of no-self" a good exercise for this realisation. It's the video where he takes you through a guided meditation which gives an example of the experience 

[Ayla]

1 hour ago, Elemental said:

What do you make of Mooji?  I'd really like to spend time visiting with him.  How do you feel when you listen to his Satsang sessions?  Have you noticed that all of the Seer's seem to be talking to a very small crowd?  What does this mean to you?

More particularly even, the fact that all the Seer's seem to be "seeing" a relatively small crowd of minds.  I'm not making claims, I'd just like to see your thoughts on this.

I consider Mooji my Guru. 

I think you only watched his "tea Satsangs". 

 

 

[Walter B]

3 hours ago, Huz88 said:

Is Leo's video "enlightenment-part 3-creating an experience of no-self" a good exercise for this realisation. It's the video where he takes you through a guided meditation which gives an example of the experience 

It is really nice for practicing the ability to "listen".  Something to come back to when you get caught up in the world. 

[Walter B]

2 hours ago, Ayla said:

I consider Mooji my Guru. 

I think you only watched his "tea Satsangs". 

 

 

I like him very much.  I remember when I first found him.  However, it is hard to follow one guru when they all speak of things you also understand.  Their methods, framing, and timing are all different and quite useful for breaking plateaus that may happen.  But I only speak for myself.  I view all this as a progressive process of sorts, as in the past, I've thought I knew and since realized that I did for a moment, but these things get buried so easily in our interactions with the world.  But not to interact with the world alienates oneself and those that you know and care for.  Some people fit well into their "box" and are perfectly content there.