Meditative Self-Inquiry

This is a meditative self-inquiry exploring the nature of the Self. This is taken from a recent live Satsang here in Hood River, OR. It focuses on discerning the Self of pure consciousness
More to come soon!

Transcript

So I think I'll just guide a simple self-inquiry practice, Kind of in line with what we were talking about in class. It's very useful if you begin this meditation in a position that's comfortable but stable, So that you don't have to move that much, Ideally. It's fine if you do move, But if you're set up so that you don't have to, All the better. At certain places of very delicate, Quiet awareness, Even slight movements can feel disruptive to yourself, Even your own movements, Even breathing at a certain point can start to feel slightly disruptive. But before that, Let's just spend some moments here at the beginning of this meditation, Turning attention to the things that are observable, One of which is the breath, One of which is the sensations of the body, The thoughts you have in your mind, The emotions and subtle sensations that you feel, The things taking place in the environment, Cars, My voice, The temperature of the room, The walls behind you, In front of you, To each side, The floor beneath you. So allow yourself for these first few breaths, Moments, To be acquainted with interest in the things that are observable here and now. As we spoke of in class, In our observing, We notice that everything is ephemeral. Every sound comes and goes, Every sensation comes and goes, Every thought comes and goes. There isn't anything that we can observe that stays. If you can observe it, It follows this simple law, This simple pattern. It comes, It exists a while, It's gone. So just orient towards your experience with this knowledge, With this knowing that the thought comes and goes, The feeling, The emotion, The sensation, The things in the environment, That everything is coming and going. So as we orient this way, We're recognizing that there's nothing we need to hold on to, Even the best possible feelings, We don't need to hold on to. And if something arises that isn't so pleasant, We don't need to get too worried about it because it will pass. And most likely it will pass very quickly if we don't begin interfering with it. So allow yourself to sit in that stable place, The only stable place there is, Which is in awareness, In presence. Notice that whatever you can observe, Whatever you can observe, Your thought, Your emotion, Your sensation, The environment, It is always with awareness that you observe. So notice how you're aware, A thought comes, You're aware of it, The thought goes, You're aware of it, Your awareness may move throughout this meditation to thoughts, Feelings, Sensations, Spaciousness, Openness, Emptiness, Any number of things, But it is ever present. So just notice that, Notice that simple truth, That simple fact, That awareness and your capacity to pay attention, To observe, To notice, It's always here. And as you recognize this, Just simply allow yourself to settle in and relax into and abide in that simple knowing. You may feel that there's a strong draw to attend to a thought or to a feeling or a sensation, But even that strong draw will come and go. Even if you get intensely sleepy, You'll notice that too will come and go. Allow yourself to sense and feel and abide in what is closer than the things that are coming and going. With this knowledge, There's no need to make anything go away, No need to prevent anything from coming, No need to hold on to anything, No need to lament if something goes away. We just simply know it's all coming and going. Feel how with this knowledge you orient yourself differently. Your very substance, Your very presence is different as a result of this knowing. Maybe less anxious, Maybe more settled, Maybe feeling at home. You feel more yourself, Perhaps hear a taste of freedom, Of lightness, Simple joy, Even blissfulness, When you're not tied to anything, Not a single thought, Not a single emotion, Not a single sensation, Free floating. And notice how, Though this is very different from your ordinary experience of yourself, Your habitual experience of yourself, You feel more like yourself, More at home, More centered. As you connect with this feeling of being at home, Being centered, Just observe how this sense of home, This sense of centeredness, This sense of being yourself, Has nothing to do with thought, Nothing to do with emotion or sensation or anything outside you. Emotion may feel good, Sensation may feel good, These are welcome, But they're a byproduct. Notice here that you are more yourself when you're not thinking about yourself, When you're not involved in your emotional self, When you are allowing yourself to simply be this quiet backdrop of presence and awareness, Like a screen, Like a television screen, On which all of the appearances of thought, Emotion, Sensation, Environment, Come and go. We remain as the background. The background doesn't even need to interfere at all with anything that appears. Everything is just allowed to come and go. Nothing sticks, Nothing holds, Nothing troubles us. And in this simple way you recognize yourself, Not yourself as a body, Not as a thought about who you are, What you are, Not by a story to define you, But that you are that thing, You are that organ of presence, You are the organ of awareness. Rest with this knowing. Let it deepen, Let it expand, Let it invigorate you, Let it change you. So in letting everything come and go it just becomes a natural awareness in us of what doesn't come and go. Awareness doesn't come and go, Presence doesn't come and go, Myself doesn't come and go. As you feel into this, Feel how real that is, How true, How solid. In it there's intelligence, There's beauty, There's well-being, Freedom, Potency. In the last few moments here, Give your attention to what is intangible. There's a space we recognize here that isn't tangible, It's not practical, We can't touch it with our senses, We can't even necessarily talk about it or describe it. It isn't even an it, And yet there's this intimate awareness of it. We call it ourself, We call it presence. Recognize that this is more real, More true, More foundational, More basic, More deeply established in you than all of your stories, Narratives, Practices, Ideas, Philosophies, Identities, And let it prevail by dedicating your interest and attention to it. I'll ring the bell three times, And if you remember the three bells have three symbolic qualities. The first bell is for you, For your own potential, Your own intrinsic perfection, The possibility of your own love and wisdom coming to fruition. The second bell is in honor of all of the teachings and messages and masters and just even the collaborative environment that has brought this intimate knowledge through the years right into our own lap. And the third bell is for one another, The recognition that none of us, None of us does this task of waking up all by ourselves. It is a joint effort that we depend upon each other for it.

Reviews

Deep and profound, pure awareness is all that I am.
Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Looking forward to sitting with this practice again. Thank you for this gift for my morning, my day, my Self.

Home.
🌹
Namaste
🙏

Thank you. Will return to this. Am still a beginner to self inquiry, and know it will take time… but this was beautifully and masterfully held. Thank you.