Cessation Of Mind

[PureExp]

Hi all !

First post here.

Union or realization of oneness happens on cessation of mental activities. This is the age old formula (by the father of yoga Patanjali himself). All very good, but what is really meant by cessation of mental activity?

Does it mean I stop using my mind? Does it mean I stop the continuous chatter (monologue) that goes on inside my head? Does it mean I should stop perceiving things, recognizing things, naming/knowing them etc? Does it mean I bring the mind to a standstill like a dead or unconscious or asleep man? Do I need to be brain dead to get the experience of oneness?

I struggled with questions like these for years, and tried a lot of stuff to get rid of this "mind" thing. The result was a big zero, very frustrating. All one can do is hold the breath for few seconds to trick the mind into not thinking or just fall asleep after falling into a trance like state.

The best I could do was to become very aware and alert of mental activities, which is as good as stopping them, because I could create a distance between my Self (consciousness that I am) and mental activities (which I am not). So it was like an objectification of mind, now its just a machine with a load of software which produces thoughts and actions. So far so good, but..... still no oneness. I was totally separate from everything that the mind showed me.

Something changed when I finally started understanding teachings and tricks of non-dualism (Advaita Vedanta), originating from Vedas and explained in brilliant commentary by Shankara etc. But, the real impact happened through teachers such as Mooji, Papaji, Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira, Nisargdatta and of course, Ramana. Experiencing oneness is a piece of cake now. It lasts for a few seconds only, but is certain enough to remove all doubts, its a direct experience, not a thought, not a concept or some philosophical idea.

How?? That's a million $ question. Isn't it? The trick is easy. I will share it for free because I got it for free. The trick is to understand the real meaning of "cessation of mind". And the real meaning is - not stopping the mind-machine or any of the acts I mentioned above. All you need to do is keep all the activities of the mind in your "field of view" of awareness, bring them into front of screen of awareness, do not keep the mental activity as a background, let it become inclusive so that you don't divide the experience into many. Normally the mind will shift from one thing to another, analyzing everything one after the other. All you need to do is bring this activity into light of awareness, let it just be. It soon becomes very faint naturally. Now its just something happening apart from you, like other events in your field of view of awareness of which you are only a neutral witness.

The real activity of the mind is "subconscious" (for a lack of better word). Meaning, it acts without you being aware of its acts. The main function of mind is to create divisions. It divides up everything - objects, qualities of objects, people, events, sensory stuff etc etc. But the first division it creates is between the Self and the experience. It separates the two, which you are not even aware of. Because you think you are experiencing yourself as separate, when in reality, its the mind that is producing that illusion.

What happens when you include mind as an object in the field of awareness? First thing you will notice is that there is only one thing left - a pure experience. There is just an experience, nothing else. Probably the mind will jump back and start dividing things up, naming them, recalling and recognizing. Its ok, it means that you have a healthy and functioning mind. But be aware that all these activities are only a part of your experience. Include them in your experience , which is only one single experience. There cannot be two experiences.

Secondly, shift your awareness to the one that is "experiencing". Its the usual Self (consciousness) which is seen as emptiness (no-thing). At this point realize that there is nothing but an experience of this experiencer experiencing...

Meaning, you have now included the Self into your one and only experience. Notice that that's all there is. There is nothing apart from this one experience in this whole existence, and there was never anything else. All those thousand things were merely dividing acts of the mind. There are still divisions, but now you can see the reason behind them. Those are artificial. The Self is not "getting" an experience from somewhere, it is being that experience, and is actually same as the experience. In other words there are no two, there cannot be.

This in essence is the shortest trick to get to the experience of oneness, unity, union or yoga, whatever people call it. It is very direct and takes no time. Writing about it is more difficult than actually experiencing it

 

 

[Bodhi123]

This was very well explained. Thank you for sharing your insights

[Dodo]

15 hours ago, PureExp said:

Hi all !

First post here.

Union or realization of oneness happens on cessation of mental activities. This is the age old formula (by the father of yoga Patanjali himself). All very good, but what is really meant by cessation of mental activity?

Does it mean I stop using my mind? Does it mean I stop the continuous chatter (monologue) that goes on inside my head? Does it mean I should stop perceiving things, recognizing things, naming/knowing them etc? Does it mean I bring the mind to a standstill like a dead or unconscious or asleep man? Do I need to be brain dead to get the experience of oneness?

I struggled with questions like these for years, and tried a lot of stuff to get rid of this "mind" thing. The result was a big zero, very frustrating. All one can do is hold the breath for few seconds to trick the mind into not thinking or just fall asleep after falling into a trance like state.

The best I could do was to become very aware and alert of mental activities, which is as good as stopping them, because I could create a distance between my Self (consciousness that I am) and mental activities (which I am not). So it was like an objectification of mind, now its just a machine with a load of software which produces thoughts and actions. So far so good, but..... still no oneness. I was totally separate from everything that the mind showed me.

Something changed when I finally started understanding teachings and tricks of non-dualism (Advaita Vedanta), originating from Vedas and explained in brilliant commentary by Shankara etc. But, the real impact happened through teachers such as Mooji, Papaji, Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira, Nisargdatta and of course, Ramana. Experiencing oneness is a piece of cake now. It lasts for a few seconds only, but is certain enough to remove all doubts, its a direct experience, not a thought, not a concept or some philosophical idea.

How?? That's a million $ question. Isn't it? The trick is easy. I will share it for free because I got it for free. The trick is to understand the real meaning of "cessation of mind". And the real meaning is - not stopping the mind-machine or any of the acts I mentioned above. All you need to do is keep all the activities of the mind in your "field of view" of awareness, bring them into front of screen of awareness, do not keep the mental activity as a background, let it become inclusive so that you don't divide the experience into many. Normally the mind will shift from one thing to another, analyzing everything one after the other. All you need to do is bring this activity into light of awareness, let it just be. It soon becomes very faint naturally. Now its just something happening apart from you, like other events in your field of view of awareness of which you are only a neutral witness.

The real activity of the mind is "subconscious" (for a lack of better word). Meaning, it acts without you being aware of its acts. The main function of mind is to create divisions. It divides up everything - objects, qualities of objects, people, events, sensory stuff etc etc. But the first division it creates is between the Self and the experience. It separates the two, which you are not even aware of. Because you think you are experiencing yourself as separate, when in reality, its the mind that is producing that illusion.

What happens when you include mind as an object in the field of awareness? First thing you will notice is that there is only one thing left - a pure experience. There is just an experience, nothing else. Probably the mind will jump back and start dividing things up, naming them, recalling and recognizing. Its ok, it means that you have a healthy and functioning mind. But be aware that all these activities are only a part of your experience. Include them in your experience , which is only one single experience. There cannot be two experiences.

Secondly, shift your awareness to the one that is "experiencing". Its the usual Self (consciousness) which is seen as emptiness (no-thing). At this point realize that there is nothing but an experience of this experiencer experiencing...

Meaning, you have now included the Self into your one and only experience. Notice that that's all there is. There is nothing apart from this one experience in this whole existence, and there was never anything else. All those thousand things were merely dividing acts of the mind. There are still divisions, but now you can see the reason behind them. Those are artificial. The Self is not "getting" an experience from somewhere, it is being that experience, and is actually same as the experience. In other words there are no two, there cannot be.

This in essence is the shortest trick to get to the experience of oneness, unity, union or yoga, whatever people call it. It is very direct and takes no time. Writing about it is more difficult than actually experiencing it

 

 

Wow dude, you start with a big bang, amazing first post. Very clear and helpful!! Thanks a lot for this.

[PureExp]

@Bodhi123 @Dodoster You are most welcome !

[PureExp]

Above post is now a blog article with more details, clarity and faqs.

Hopefully it will be of some use.

[Andres]

Going directly to the point:

All that we need to do to awake and get in contact with our divinity, is to give our full attention to the fact that we are the observers, the witness of what is happening around us.

Give no importance to what is happening. Realize that nothing would exist if you wouldn’t be there to witness it.

[Nahm]

@PureExp Great post. I love the deep stuff. Room for balance.

One sec, my 4 year old wants to type something

EWRF4T65TGGFVB ,L;KNL4Y7BH6YTGYZ8U9-IOL

@Andres first post? 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Nahm

[PureExp]

@Nahm That was deep, perhaps in an alien language

[Prabhaker]

On 1/16/2017 at 11:52 PM, PureExp said:

Cessation Of Mind

Yoga is the state of no-mind. The word ”mind” covers all – your egos, your desires, your hopes, your philosophies, your religions, your scriptures. ”Mind” covers all. Whatsoever you can think is mind. All that is known, all that can be known, all that is knowable, is within mind. Cessation of the mind means cessation of the known, cessation of the knowable. It is a jump into the unknown. When there is no mind, you are in the unknown. Yoga is a jump into the unknown. It will not be right to say ”unknown”; rather, ”unknowable”.

What is the mind? What the mind is doing there? What it is? Ordinarily we think that mind is something substantial there inside the head. Patanjali doesn’t agree – and no one who has ever known the insides of the mind will agree. Mind is not something substantial inside the head. Mind is just a function, just an activity.

You walk and I say you are walking. What is walking? If you stop, where is walking? If you sit down, where the walking has gone? Walking is nothing substantial; it is an activity. So while you are sitting, no one can ask, ”Where you have put your walking? Just now you were walking, so where the walking has gone?” You will laugh. You will say, ”Walking is not something substantial, it is just an activity. I can walk. I can again walk and I can stop. It is activity.”

Mind is also activity, but because of the word ”mind”, it appears as if something substantial is there. It is better to call it ”minding” – just like ”walking”. Mind means ”minding”, mind means thinking. It is an activity.”

When there is no mind, you are in yoga; when there is mind you are not in yoga. So you may do all the postures, but if the mind goes on functioning, if you go on thinking, you are not in yoga. Yoga is the state of no-mind. If you can be without the mind without doing any posture, you have become a perfect yogi. It has happened to many without doing any postures, and it has not happened to many who have been doing postures for many lives. Because the basic thing to be understood is: when the activity of thinking is not there, you are there; when the activity of the mind is not there, when thoughts have disappeared, they are just like clouds,when they have disappeared, your being, just like the sky, is uncovered. It is always there – only covered with the clouds, covered with thoughts.

Mind has its utilities. It is practical, it is needed, and even when you have become a meditator mind will be needed. But then it will be a servant, not a Master. It is a must in life. Even a Buddha needs it.

But Buddha himself has gone beyond, he stands above it. Whenever the mind is needed, he uses it, just as you use your legs. When you want to run you use your legs, when you want to walk you use your legs, but when you are lying down on your bed, resting, you don't use them, there is no need. But ordinarily that is not the case; the mind is using you. There is no need for the mind - you are lying on the bed, resting, and the mind goes on running, chasing unnecessary things. You are fed-up, you want it to stop. You shout, "Stop!" but it doesn't stop, it doesn't listen to you. You are not the master. It does not care a bit about you. You want to go to sleep and the mind goes on and on and on.

The mastery of the mind is the problem, not the mind itself, remember. Always remember, mind in itself is not the problem, but you have made the mind your master. Dethrone it, put it in its place. Mind has be to a servant. Claim your masterhood. But still the mind's practical use will remain. And you will be able to use it more intelligently then because you will not be under its sway, under its rule. You will be able to choose, you will be able to watch, you will be able to improve upon the mind.

It has a place, and still it has to be totally transcended.

In fact when you have totally transcended it then you will be able to use it perfectly, skillfully.

[Neo]

Can someone help me with this topic a bit further please?

Sometimes you feel like you have been *asleep* in some activity or work. Ands further, when reading on this forum and pondering my awareness, I seem much more aware. Further to that, I seem to be able to spend some time *concentrating* on being aware but it's not automatically easy and the mind want to creep off again while you are not looking. So what is it that keeps you aware, bearing in mind I've not had much of the "big shift" yet?

[PureExp]

33 minutes ago, Neo said:

So what is it that keeps you aware,

The topic here is how to experience oneness, but your question is also relevant. (For this post I'm assuming awareness=consciousness=witness).

Firstly, and foremost, you are always aware. There was never a moment when you were unaware. Awareness or consciousness is ever present. (Try to know it directly, ask those questions while introspecting, aka self-enquiry)

What comes, goes, drifts, waxes and wanes is the mind. The contents in awareness come and go. Contents are impermanent, ephemeral. Awareness is the background, the screen on which contents happen. Mind has states, it cycles through states, awareness has no states, it is changeless.

Once you realize the above, you will see that in order to abide as awareness all one needs to do is just prefer it gently, shift attention from wandering mind back to awareness. When the mind wanders, the awareness is always there to witness its wandering, it allows all states of the mind equally, it won't discriminate. But eventually the mind itself triggers a reminder to go back into awareness only mode. One needs to train the mind to trigger that reminder more frequently. You can't train awareness, you can only train the mind. An advanced yogi, or monk has simply made the reminding continuous, every second, 24x7. Some can do it even in deep sleep.

[Neo]

That's brilliant. Do you mind if I ask you a couple more questions as I think you may be able to help, but I'll make it just this message so as not to take your thread off course?

My background, I work long hours but read this forum and some snippets of books all the time. I'm a slow reader though so that book has taken all year. I have to keep putting it down each paragraph and think about it.

I also suffer tiredness so I only get about one shot a day at meditation about 11 am after a couple of coffees. Any other time I fall asleep. (I fall asleep on bus, in waiting room, anywhere).

But I've had a couple of mind expanding things occur which are really weird and 1 time I found complete bliss which was amazing. I am also getting real euphoria listening to music as a side product of all this. I also completely learn how to become completely aware in my garden which is fantastic.

Now to take this further I tried self enquiry. The type where you analyse questions, I just don't get. I'm waiting for a voice to come back to me with the answers and none does. If I'm supposed to think up an analytical answer to the question, then I have no way of confirming it's accuracy and I could be inventing answers that are simply wrong. So I switched to the other type of self enquiry (don't know where I read about this) where you ask "who am I", and "who is it that is having this thought", and similar questions. After about 15 minutes I started feeling real sick and my mouth was filling with saliva. I thought it was a glass wall I needed to go through so kept pushing it but then fatigue and boredom also crept in and after 5 or 6 pushes I was thwarted and had to stop. But before I did stop my questions turned to mumble, like not of any language. Weird hey?

I just wondered if you knew where was the best direction to go next, what with the difficulty I have meditating and my confusion over self enquiry. Any thoughts at all are really appreciated!

 

 

 

[Nahm]

Try pondering, what am I vs who am I. 

imo, you're applying thinking to everything. It almost sounds like you are working at a job a lot and applying the 'work' mindset to your practices. I like my practice time to be me time, happy place time, time when I quietly, humbly, connect. I find thinking to be prohibitive to connecting. 

[cetus]

@Nahm

29 minutes ago, Nahm said:

I like my practice time to be me time, happy place time

 Like "Happy Hour" after work.

[Nahm]

@cetus56 If you feel good when you think of happy hour, then yes, exactly like that.

[Neo]

1 hour ago, Nahm said:

It almost sounds like you are working at a job a lot and applying the 'work' mindset to your practices. I like my practice time to be me time, happy place time, time when I quietly, humbly, connect. I find thinking to be prohibitive to connecting. 

Yes, like a bull in a china shop. Yes there's an element of that. It's tempting to blame Leo due to us being in an achievement orientated forum, however I will take full responsibility... Many thanks for your help. BTW, there's a thread out there questioning if Kundalini actually exists, and I had that (and I don't know anything about it from literature). I had it that same time I felt sick and just afterwards, energy all up the spine and down.

[PureExp]

@Neo I'm also a student, but I've done almost all stupids acts that are a strict no-no for a path. So I know what not to do That's all I share usually.

The answers to self-equiry (contemplation/introspection) do not come through as a voice or a thought or an image. Those are just mind activities that can happen after the answer is already seen. So never expect the thought to appear first which may contain an answer, its exactly reverse, the thought may come as an after effect of answer. See, if you do not already know the answer, what will you think about? what will the voice say if it doesn't know what to say? So knowing comes first, the answer is in the form of an experience.

Ok what is this "experience of knowing"? For example, when you see a flower in your garden, and you are curious what color is it, and you ask that question, perhaps just intend to know the color, you will see red (say). The experience of redness is direct knowing. No voice or thought or memory or image told you that it is red. You know it directly. Later once you know the color, the mind jumps in, it forms a thought - its red, and perhaps puts it in a language form, a sentence you hear inside.

When you ask - who am I (or what am I), look for an experience, not for a thought. Perhaps who am I is too advanced for some. So start from "what am I not?" (the famous neti-neti formula). Another better version is - "Am I aware now?". Takes a fraction of second to know that. Experience it, taste it, repeat..... Later you are free to form thoughts and do logical analysis on the knowledge (the answer) you just got. Let us know how it goes. Try Leo's stuff, its short and sweet. If you can handle detailed long text, try my blog here.

The physiological reflexes you are getting are a common occurrence. Your practice is something new for the mind, it causes very deep changes in it. Since the body is tightly coupled to the mind, the reactions appear in the body. You need not cure them or avoid them, they come and go. I had the saliva problem and sleep problem too. I'd get dizzy, tired and almost felt like fainting. I slowed down, and it passed. This is nothing actually, people get a large variety of "purification symptoms", some painful and some crazy, like non-stop crying or anger or sexual arousal that lasts 24x7 . Read here more, if you are interested.

Anyway, if you find all that challenging, I suggest join a good teacher, just listen to him, sit together, do guided stuff etc. Some people find that more comforting than simply reading books/net/videos and doing it all on their own. Those who are serious about the path, take solid actions.

[Nahm]

5 hours ago, PureExp said:

@Nahm That was deep, perhaps in an alien language

 I just googled it, just to see.    It's the formula for antigravity matter. 

[Andres]

17 hours ago, Nahm said:

 

@Andres first post? 

Yes Nahm, it was my first post.

I am still trying to figure out how all this thing works.

3 hours ago, PureExp said:

 

 

@Neo 

In my opinion, the main purpose of self-inquiry is to slow down the monkey mind.

In reality, there is not an intellectual answer to ‘who or what am I’. Maybe the closes we can say about the real you is ‘pure awarness’; but again, how to describe awareness? It is something that can be experienced but not explained.

Once the mind is slow down, the real you might come to the surface, and at that moment you will know the answer…

 

 

[Prabhaker]

19 hours ago, Neo said:

I work long hours

19 hours ago, Neo said:

I also suffer tiredness

When you work for long hours, your journey towards meditation becomes very long and difficult. Don't expect noticeable quick results with this kind of life style. Change your attitude towards work, transform all work into a play. Don't let work become your only life. Play should remain your life, your center of life. Work should be as a means towards play. 

19 hours ago, Neo said:

I just wondered if you knew where was the best direction to go next, what with the difficulty I have meditating and my confusion over self enquiry.

Eating can become a sacrament and taking a bath can be meditation. Just going for a morning walk is incredibly holy! Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing it is not purely economical, then it is creative. If you have something growing out of it within you, if it gives you growth, it is spiritual, it is creative, it is divine.

 

Meditation is an attitude not an activity, so whatever you do can become meditative. The so-called meditation that people go on doing is not meditation. It is the attitude of being in the present which is the core, the central, the essential thing.

Do whatever you are doing -- walking on the street, running, taking a bath, eating, going to sleep, lying on the bed, relaxing -- and remain with the activity totally. With no past, no future, remain in the present. It will be difficult in the beginning -- very difficult and very arduous -- but by and by you will get the feel of it and then a new door will open, a new realm….. So be aware. Don't waste the present anymore. Live in the present. Live in the meditative quality of the present….

“ When you are eating, eat -- don't do anything else. When you are listening, listen -- don't do anything else. When you are walking, walk -- don't do anything else. Remain in the present moment, remain with the activity, and soon you will realize that the past has drifted away and a new space has opened within you. In that space, there are no thoughts.

20 hours ago, Neo said:

confusion over self enquiry

Ramana Maharshi’s whole system of meditation was based on only this. He used to say, “There is only one form of meditation, and that is to ask yourself, ‘Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?’’’ He would say, “Put all the energy that you possess, put your whole life’s energy at stake in asking just this one question, ‘Who am I?’ Ask this question as if your life depended on it. Let each and every cell of your body cry out for this answer. And go on asking this question, but don’t give any answers, because all the answers you give will be false. Let the answer come by itself, don’t give the answer. You are always in such a hurry to supply the answer, and all your answers born out of your hurry are false – because such answers are already present in your head even before the question has been asked.”

Ask, “Who am I?” but don’t give any answer. Use all your energy in asking the question, and don’t save any of it for answering – because your answer does not have any value. Your answer will be something which you have heard somewhere or the sayings of some sages or from your social conditioning. It will be like dust which has gathered on you from the outside: it will have no value. Ask as if you do not have any answer left to give. In your process of asking the question, all your answers should have dropped away and only the question should be left. And the day that only your question remains, your question will shoot like an arrow into your innermost self – because then there aren’t any answers on the periphery to stop it. Then, you will travel inwards.

When you have denied all the possible answers that the mind can supply and devise, when the question remains absolutely unanswerable, a miracle happens: suddenly the question also disappears. When all the answers have been rejected, the question has no props, no supports inside to stand on any more. It simply flops, it collapses, it disappears.

When the question also has disappeared, then you know. But that knowing is not an answer: it is an existential experience.