There is somewhat of a paradox in all of this teaching. Sometimes, the Teacher or Guru will say 'do this' and at other times will contradict himself in saying 'don't do this'. The student or seeker gets confused and wonders what is the right thing to do. The student then asks the Guru a question for clarification and the Guru tells him/her, " don't do either and just keep quiet". That makes the student even more confused. Is this a ploy on part of the Guru to keep the student constantly confused and therefore be a disciple forever? Obviously, NOT! The true Guru has only the interest of the student in his mind. He wants the student to Understand what He is pointing to with the greatest of ease. Then why is it that there are so many contradictory messages coming from the same Guru? The reason is simple enough. Depending on the mental development of the questioner (the seeker), the Guru gives the appropriate answer which is tailored only to the needs of the questioner. Just as there infinite expressions of the same Truth, there are infinite number of pointers to the only Truth.
For one who has still got a strong belief in being an entity with a body and mind (which is true for all seekers), there will always be a question of what exactly must one do to attain Enlightenment or Self-Realization. For such a seeker, despite all assurances by the Guru that one already is what one is seeking, there are still many questions and doubts persisting. For such a seeker, it is essential to do some form of spiritual practice (sadhana) to get the mind to be able to focus one-pointedly at the core of the Teaching. The sadhana or practice can be in the form of japa (mental chanting of a mantra or the Lord's name), dhyana or meditation, bhajan (praise of the Lord in the form of a song), or pranayama (control of the breath) or study of the scriptures. This practice is essential for many a seeker to calm the mind down enough to be able to grasp the gist or essence of what is being pointed to.
When a seeker has reached the level of mental maturity or if he/she is initially so inclined even without any spiritual practice (sadhana), then the very essence of the Teaching from the Guru reaches its mark, like an arrow hits the bulls-eye. Once the pointers from the Teacher are very clear to the seeker, the seeker then pursues an investigation (vichara) or more appropriately an investigation into the source of his own self (atma vichara). By pursuing such a course of investigation, the seeker Realizes the Truth or the Self (the REAL SELF). On Realizing the Self, the seeker disappears or merges into the Self. As the seeker disappears, who is there to ask any questions and who is there to have any doubts? No seeker, no questions, no doubts, no answers needed. Just the Self, shining in its own Glory.
If such a Person (one who has Realized the Self) is then asked by a seeker "what should I do to get to where you are?", the Person will answer quite appropriately " there is nothing to be done by anyone for All is One and One is All. Who or what is there to do anything? Just Be as you ARE."
For one who is mentally prepared to receive the Final Answer to all questions and doubts, the message from the Guru will be the sword that will kill the questioner or the seeker itself. But, as long as one holds on to the imaginary entity called "me" and cherishes the survival of this entity, the Final Answer will not be acceptable. He or she will play the game of Advaita entertainment- a game of asking a million questions- what if and why this or why not that- and in the end wonder what is the Truth.
Each one of you who is reading this message knows exactly where you stand in terms of your search for the Truth. Based on your stand, you will get the answer to the question " Should I or should I not do spiritual practice (sadhana)?".
May God bless you.
Showing posts with label Self-enquiry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self-enquiry. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
"Who am I?" is Not a Mantra
Seeker: You say that I am the consciousness and not the body. Should I keep repeating "I am the consciousness" or should I keep saying to myself " Who am I"?
Advaitin: There are many paths to the essentially path-less Truth. If you have complete and earnest faith in the sayings of the Guru, then nothing else need be done other than accepting his/her sayings. With this acceptance comes automatic surrender of the ego. With the surrender of the ego, the Truth shines forth spontaneously. Do not forget that the Truth is self-shining and always present. It is only the ignorance of the ego-mind that hides or covers up the obvious Truth. Once the ego has surrendered completely and wholly to the Guru, then nothing else need be done. The Grace takes over from where the seeker has full faith in the teachings of the Guru.
However, many a seeker will not be satisfied with the above methodology. The ego being so heavily conditioned over the years, a lot of questions and doubts keep popping up in the mind. For such a seeker, self inquiry is the only way to sort out the false from the Truth. One can only know objectively the false. You can only know what you are not. The Truth is known only as an intuitive knowledge. Questioning "who am I" is not a mantra to be repeated endlessly. It is a process of elimination of the false- the elimination of what you are not! Once, all the false has been eliminated, the Truth is laid bare. It is like removing the contamination from cloudy water and immediately the reflection of your self is visible in the pure water. Once the mind has been cleared of all impurities (the false identifications and false concepts), the Truth/ Self shines in it spontaneously. Once the Knowledge is clearly apperceived, where is the need to go on investigating? Once the culprit is found, the police does not keep the investigation open, does it? You know you are a man or a woman. Do you keep repeating to yourself, " I am a man" or "I am a woman"? So, where is the question of repeating " I am the consciousness" to yourself? Such repetition is nothing but another form of mental conditioning. It defeats the whole purpose which is to destroy mental conditioning and mental concepts. Yes, an apparent process of continued self- investigation must be continued until firm conviction of the nature of the Self is established and the realization of one's True Nature is firm.
In the absence of any concepts, you ARE. Stay as you ARE.
Advaitin: There are many paths to the essentially path-less Truth. If you have complete and earnest faith in the sayings of the Guru, then nothing else need be done other than accepting his/her sayings. With this acceptance comes automatic surrender of the ego. With the surrender of the ego, the Truth shines forth spontaneously. Do not forget that the Truth is self-shining and always present. It is only the ignorance of the ego-mind that hides or covers up the obvious Truth. Once the ego has surrendered completely and wholly to the Guru, then nothing else need be done. The Grace takes over from where the seeker has full faith in the teachings of the Guru.
However, many a seeker will not be satisfied with the above methodology. The ego being so heavily conditioned over the years, a lot of questions and doubts keep popping up in the mind. For such a seeker, self inquiry is the only way to sort out the false from the Truth. One can only know objectively the false. You can only know what you are not. The Truth is known only as an intuitive knowledge. Questioning "who am I" is not a mantra to be repeated endlessly. It is a process of elimination of the false- the elimination of what you are not! Once, all the false has been eliminated, the Truth is laid bare. It is like removing the contamination from cloudy water and immediately the reflection of your self is visible in the pure water. Once the mind has been cleared of all impurities (the false identifications and false concepts), the Truth/ Self shines in it spontaneously. Once the Knowledge is clearly apperceived, where is the need to go on investigating? Once the culprit is found, the police does not keep the investigation open, does it? You know you are a man or a woman. Do you keep repeating to yourself, " I am a man" or "I am a woman"? So, where is the question of repeating " I am the consciousness" to yourself? Such repetition is nothing but another form of mental conditioning. It defeats the whole purpose which is to destroy mental conditioning and mental concepts. Yes, an apparent process of continued self- investigation must be continued until firm conviction of the nature of the Self is established and the realization of one's True Nature is firm.
In the absence of any concepts, you ARE. Stay as you ARE.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Why Self-Inquiry?
Why must I inquire into my own self? The reason is because you have taken your self to be an entity that is limited to the body and mind. An entity that is born and will die. An entity that assumes ownership of actions. An entity that believes itself to be the do-er of actions. An entity that believes it has feelings and emotions. An entity that believes that the present is not good enough and that someday or sometime in the future, it will achieve a state of peace or happiness or some state better than the present. An entity that hopes for a better day. An entity that is suffering and pining for a better mental state.
As long as there is a BELIEF in this entity, which you call 'me' or 'I' (the first person) there will no doubt be suffering. The false belief in this self centered entity is the cause of all suffering.
There are essentially two main ways in which this false belief can come crumbling down. One, is the sincere and complete faith and belief in the sayings of the Sages or the Guru. The Sages have repeatedly said over the ages that "the REAL YOU are not the body nor the mind". With sheer devotion to your Guru or the Sage, and if the mind is pure enough, just this LISTENING is enough and the false 'I' will immediately vanish. However, for the majority of seekers, due to years and years of mental conditioning and the strong belief in an entity called 'me', many questions persist which prevent him/her from executing the sheer devotion needed to accept the Guru's sayings. In such cases, where the belief in the entity 'me' is very strong, it becomes necessary to investigate, inquire, as to who is this 'me'. This investigation or inquiry by a 'me' into the nature of 'me' is called Self-inquiry (or Self-enquiry if you are British or from the Commonwealth!). With this inquiry, all one is doing is convincing oneself that there is really no-thing or no-one or no-entity called 'me'. It is all just a thought. It is the prime thought or the root thought (the 'I-thought') to which all other thoughts are attached. On proving the falseness of this prime thought (the 'I-thought' or the 'me') the other thoughts have nothing to hold on to and they gradually fall away, leaving only the PURE BEING to shine through effortlessly.
As long as there is a BELIEF in this entity, which you call 'me' or 'I' (the first person) there will no doubt be suffering. The false belief in this self centered entity is the cause of all suffering.
There are essentially two main ways in which this false belief can come crumbling down. One, is the sincere and complete faith and belief in the sayings of the Sages or the Guru. The Sages have repeatedly said over the ages that "the REAL YOU are not the body nor the mind". With sheer devotion to your Guru or the Sage, and if the mind is pure enough, just this LISTENING is enough and the false 'I' will immediately vanish. However, for the majority of seekers, due to years and years of mental conditioning and the strong belief in an entity called 'me', many questions persist which prevent him/her from executing the sheer devotion needed to accept the Guru's sayings. In such cases, where the belief in the entity 'me' is very strong, it becomes necessary to investigate, inquire, as to who is this 'me'. This investigation or inquiry by a 'me' into the nature of 'me' is called Self-inquiry (or Self-enquiry if you are British or from the Commonwealth!). With this inquiry, all one is doing is convincing oneself that there is really no-thing or no-one or no-entity called 'me'. It is all just a thought. It is the prime thought or the root thought (the 'I-thought') to which all other thoughts are attached. On proving the falseness of this prime thought (the 'I-thought' or the 'me') the other thoughts have nothing to hold on to and they gradually fall away, leaving only the PURE BEING to shine through effortlessly.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Simple Truth of It All
You want to know your True Nature and hence it is assumed you are reading this message. Is that enough? Reading this blog or any message on Advaita or Vedanta literature is certainly not enough. People spend hours reading and discussing this subject without ever LISTENING to the message therein. After listening, the next step is to follow the pointers. Yes, there is a feeling of peace and calmness on reading these messages and literature or on discussing this subject. But are you really getting anything out of it other than mental entertainment? Be honest with your own self. Is it not true that once you are immersed back in your work or other activity, the feeling of happiness or peace that was present when reading or discussing Advaita or spirituality, passes away just as quickly. You are then left longing for the same feeling once again. That is called suffering- when you are longing for something or some feeling that you do not have currently and are constantly longing for or are in search of it. What does that tell you? That no state is eternal as all states are changing. Why are you still running after some "state" which you hope to achieve at some future time and place? Why not Realize that you are THAT STATELESS STATE- your TRUE NATURE- and you are ALREADY THAT. Would that not make more sense than running around in circles chasing any transient state ( for all states are transient)?
So, what is the solution to all this suffering? It is utterly simple. Simple when one makes a sincere, honest and concerted effort and yet extremely difficult if one is not sincere and does not have the desire to do so. All it needs is for you to inquire into your own self. Inquire into who is this "I" (the ego). Where did this "I" come from? Obviously, this "I" was not there in my sleep and there was no suffering or longing in my sleep. Now that there is an "I" in my waking state, I am suffering. You have to do the work of inquiry for no one else can do it for you. Upon inquiry you must have the firm conviction, that in fact, the "I" (the ego) does not have any independent existence nor does it have any substance. It is but a thought only (the I-thought). Unless and until one does this investigation into one's own self, all other efforts are entirely futile. Just try it and see how simple this whole process is. For there is nothing new to be gained here. Only the false has to be removed to reveal the REALITY which is already there.
Once this TRUTH is realized, then by all means do whatever you like including discussions about it or writing about it (like this author!).
So, what is the solution to all this suffering? It is utterly simple. Simple when one makes a sincere, honest and concerted effort and yet extremely difficult if one is not sincere and does not have the desire to do so. All it needs is for you to inquire into your own self. Inquire into who is this "I" (the ego). Where did this "I" come from? Obviously, this "I" was not there in my sleep and there was no suffering or longing in my sleep. Now that there is an "I" in my waking state, I am suffering. You have to do the work of inquiry for no one else can do it for you. Upon inquiry you must have the firm conviction, that in fact, the "I" (the ego) does not have any independent existence nor does it have any substance. It is but a thought only (the I-thought). Unless and until one does this investigation into one's own self, all other efforts are entirely futile. Just try it and see how simple this whole process is. For there is nothing new to be gained here. Only the false has to be removed to reveal the REALITY which is already there.
Once this TRUTH is realized, then by all means do whatever you like including discussions about it or writing about it (like this author!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)