Self Inquiry 12 - Self-Enquiry Theory

Listen to Ektaji talk about Ramana Maharshi's self-inquiry teachings. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and that consciousness is the only existing reality.

Transcript

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

I can't wait to figure out how 100% stay in that space because I lose my pain when I'm there.

You come by your own skill,

Your own practice.

You learn again and again.

You slip away again,

You'll come back.

With that firm determination that I want to get this skill of staying there,

Come what may.

You will get there.

So it has to be a continuous practice to stay there,

To stay there.

It's actually a continuous practice of not getting involved in self-talk.

Then only you can stay there.

The problem is we are too attached.

I give you a 10 minute break to just be with yourself.

You started talking to each other.

10 minutes also you cannot tolerate yourself.

How will you learn to disassociate?

You'll not learn to disassociate if you can't even 10 minutes be with yourself.

Are you seeing how hard it is to let go?

It's only letting go that you have to really learn to do.

The ego cannot stand alone.

That's what breaks you.

What does the ego look for?

Company.

Come you are also with me,

You are also with me.

This is what the ego looks for.

Only truth can stand alone.

Have the courage to stand alone,

To be alone.

All these thoughts are only ego.

Yes,

Only the awareness has the courage to stand alone.

Got it?

So recognize,

Oh this is all ego,

All ego,

All ego.

Ego only wants to tip chat.

Again and again come back to the silence.

Again and again withdraw,

Come back to the silence.

You will benefit by being in that silence,

By being in that peace.

Good.

I kept saying to myself when I work for offices and I'm a piece in seconds and I still have a good way of working on my work.

No,

You don't say be aware.

You're again giving yourself an instruction,

Be aware.

Who did this thought arise to?

No,

You don't have to find the answer.

You don't have to give the answer in words.

Who,

Who,

Who is asking?

Who did this thought arise to?

You start looking for that.

Kept repeating again and again.

It is not thought,

It is not thinking,

It is not contemplating.

It is investigating.

Investigate.

How do you investigate?

You search,

You have to look.

It's an internal search.

Do you get it?

You have to search,

You cannot tell yourself,

Be aware.

Are you going to listen?

One part of the mind is telling the other part of the mind.

Your ego comes up with you only.

Have you noticed?

It's not with other people all the time.

You are egoistic with yourself only.

Who are you to tell me?

Be aware.

Yeah,

Just a simple reminder.

Who wants to know?

Whose question is this?

Who am I?

Turn in words.

Just the question.

Who am I?

So if you are not your mind-waterer,

If you don't have that,

If you do not have that experience in the comments,

You kind of miss that.

Is that also your ego?

Yeah,

Yeah,

Of course.

Just go back again.

Who's missing?

Go back.

Who's missing that peace and calmness?

Look.

Again and again,

Go back again.

Any thought,

Any restlessness,

Any emotion,

Find a question to go back.

Are you getting the skill now?

Yeah,

Just find the question to turn in words.

Find the question to turn in words.

Actually it's a beautiful phenomenon when the thought stops.

It's so like when the thought is appearing,

It's me and my thought.

That's it.

Unnecessary thought,

Right?

It's a company.

But when that drops,

So many things become part of us.

It's a beautiful phenomenon.

Yeah,

The quieter you become,

The more beauty you will experience in it.

The more you judge it and analyse it and dirty it with your logic and your analysis.

Yeah,

You're back to your mind.

You're back in the muck and the dirt.

You're not going to find the peace.

The peace is in no mind,

In no thought.

You're just in that pure being.

Just being,

Just being,

Just being.

That's where you experience the beauty.

When I was walking,

All the thoughts were coming inside and I kept asking who am I,

Who am I and then after a minute or so I would see some like a blank white board kind of like,

I don't know,

It was like a cell from too many thoughts to nothing.

But then nothing will come as a white.

That is also your imagination.

That is also mind.

You're still in the mind.

You go back,

Go in.

It's not white.

It's not black.

It's just still.

It's just quiet.

It's the absence of mind and pictures and images and thoughts and perceptions and ideas.

It's absence of all this.

Yeah.

Just be,

Just be,

Just be.

It's a beautiful experience.

That which was always with me,

I have been missing it.

How have I been missing this?

Yeah.

And some of us are not there.

It's okay.

We'll get there whenever it's our time.

We'll get there.

Some of us are really there.

Fantastic.

Go deeper.

Dive into it.

Just swim into it.

And then don't let any negativity pull you out.

So today evening,

Don't waste it in TV or chit chat or anything.

Just be with yourself.

Quiet.

Experiment.

Can I go deeper into this?

Deeper into this beauty.

And can I figure out what is it made of?

What is it made of?

Don't look for an answer.

Don't look for words.

What is it made of?

Let it come to you.

And you.

You'll never find the answer like that.

Let it come.

It'll come.

You just be there.

Be there.

Be there.

Be there.

And the answer will come to you.

What it is made of will come to you.

What is your subconscious still the eye part of it?

Yes it is.

Just trying to make sure.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

So if you're looking at the levels of the mind,

The conscious mind,

The subconscious mind,

The unconscious mind,

It is still mind.

It is still yes.

Just still.

Yes.

Good.

Good.

It's all I.

But again,

This is theory.

Just experience.

You don't experience conscious mind,

Subconscious mind,

Unconscious mind.

This is theory.

This is what you've learnt in the past.

You've read somewhere.

But in experience,

You only experience thought that comes and distracts you from this awareness.

That is mine and every thought is a product of ego.

It's only ego speaking.

And that's why you see saints,

Sages,

They speak less than less than less than only that which is required.

Because they're not so much into the ego.

The people who talk too much.

Yeah.

They're too much into the ego.

Yeah.

So you recognize slowly,

Slowly be in awareness and awareness.

Just being there.

Yeah.

Any questions online or can I move ahead?

When I read Sri Bhagwan's works,

Ramana was also called Sri Bhagwan by his devotees.

When I read Sri Bhagwan's works,

I find that investigation is said to be the one method for realization.

He says,

Yes,

That is vichara or self-inquiry.

A better translation of vichara is investigation.

Self-investigation.

Gheni asked the question,

How is that to be done?

The questioner must admit the existence of his self.

I am is the realization.

To pursue the clue till realization is vichara or investigation.

Vichara and realization are the same.

In investigation and realization are the same.

The moment you look in,

You're already there.

There is no major step happening.

The moment you say who asked this question and you look in,

You're there.

So realization and investigation is in one step.

There are no steps inside.

Here?

Yeah,

It's one step.

Instantly there.

It is elusive.

What shall I meditate upon?

Meditation requires an object to meditate upon.

Whereas there is only the subject without the object in vichara.

Meditation differs from vichara in this way.

Very clear I don't have to explain.

Is not dhyana or meditation one of the efficient processes for realization?

Dhyana is concentration on an object.

It fulfills the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought which must also disappear before realization.

But realization is nothing new to be acquired.

It is already there but obstructed by a screen of thoughts.

All our attempts are directed to lifting the screen and then realization is revealed.

Didn't you say this?

That there is a very thin curtain.

Yeah,

See Ramana is also saying the same thing.

There's this very thin curtain between the mind,

The outside and this inwards.

That thin curtain is of thoughts.

If seekers are advised to meditate,

Many may go away satisfied with the advice but someone among them may turn around and ask,

Who am I to meditate on this object?

Such a one must be told to find the self.

That is the finality that is vichara.

Did it ever occur to you this question,

Who am I?

If it did,

Then you're in the right place.

You had progress beyond meditation at that moment.

You had realized the difference between subject and object.

That is why you wanted to find who the subject is.

Take a meditating on the breath or the mantra.

That is an object.

I want to look at the one who is meditating.

Was this interest there?

Then you're at the right place.

Yeah,

That who am I?

That question,

That interest is what got you here.

Yeah.

So very clear,

No definite difference between what is dhyana concentration.

It is concentration.

You're doing this.

Are you getting this?

Is this involved in dhyana,

Whether it is breath or a sound or a mantra or a japa or any ritual.

There is a concentration.

There is a tension about it.

It's not a real relaxation.

Even when there is sound or music,

Even on music,

There is concentration.

So till the time you're like that,

There is no awareness.

There's no going to the subject because you're so much on the object.

Yes,

When you release that tension from the object and you are in awareness,

That is the true relaxation.

You have moved from the object to the subject.

Is this very clear?

Yeah,

So he's taken one step closer than what simple meditation can do for you.

That is the meditation that we do.

So Buddha and Ramana both have the same way towards awareness.

If you're just concentration,

Concentration,

You're only on the object.

You will never get there.

You have to move towards the subject and relax there.

It's very common sensical actually.

Very straight,

Common sensical,

Logical.

Buddha was like super analytical.

So he got there very with sensible analysis from this side.

How do I get to that side?

He created the bridge.

Ramana said direct here.

The people who are here now are so scared to go here.

Yeah,

Buddha built that bridge.

That's the two different things of them.

Ramana said you jump and the distance will be gone.

Buddha said I'll build a bridge.

So Buddha built a bridge.

Ramana said just jump now.

Yes,

Free your mind.

Will vichara alone do in the absence of meditation?

Vichara or investigation?

Vichara or investigation is the process and the goal also.

I am is the goal and the final reality.

To hold to it with effort is vichara.

When spontaneous and natural,

It is realization.

If one leaves aside vichara or investigation,

The most efficacious sadhana,

There are no other adequate means whatsoever to make the mind subside.

You get it?

No?

Only by taking attention away from the mind can the mind subside.

If you are stuck on the mind and thought then how will it subside?

Music,

Instructions,

Japa,

Mantra,

Everything is mind.

Are you getting it?

Everything is mind.

Everything is that which keeps you at the mind level.

So it can never take you to the subject.

Only by dropping the object,

By dropping the mind,

You will stop feeding the mind and then the mind will subside.

Very clear and breath is even more gross than the mind.

It's even out near the body.

So you have to drop these to be able to focus on the subject.

Very clear?

Yeah,

So who am I again and again turning towards the subject is the key,

Is the formula.

If made to subside by other means,

It will remain as if subsided but will rise again.

How many of you experiencing that?

Yes,

Because you're using an external object like a mind object or a body object,

It remains subsided for a while and then comes back up.

Yeah,

That's why you've not had any personality change in you.

Have you?

Why?

Because it just subsides for a while.

Just for a while the mind becomes quiet.

They come back home and I'm the same screaming,

Shouting,

Angry person.

Big attitude,

Big ego showing off the same person.

There is no change.

Yeah,

The real change happens only when you focus on the subject again and again and again.

Not giving any food to this mind.

Where is anger,

Jealousy,

Hatred?

Here or here?

In this mind,

On this side.

Yeah,

Is this mind that has the hatred,

Jealousy,

Anger.

The more I feed it,

The more stronger this mind is going to become.

The more I take away focus from it and just be in the awareness.

I am weakening my anger,

Jealousy,

Hatred,

Ego.

All that is stuck at this mind level.

I've seen it.

Simple equation.

Again and again,

I'm here again and again.

I'm here.

I'm not feeding this anymore.

This becomes weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and loses its strength.

Because I'm so focused on being in awareness,

Being in that peace.

Yes,

Simple equation,

Very simple and logical.

The only thing is you have to make an effort again and again of dropping this negativity.

You're very attached to this negativity.

There's a lot of attraction there.

You relish in that.

Your ego enjoys the juice it gets from attention.

Have you noticed that?

I want your attention.

I want your attention.

I want your attention.

I want my own attention.

The more attention you give the ego,

The more it becomes plump and fat.

The less attention you give,

It becomes weaker and weaker and weaker.

So how to take the attention away from the mind?

Towards the awareness.

Inwards,

Inwards,

Inwards.

Very clear?

Self-enquiry is the one infallible means the only direct one to realize the unconditioned absolute being that you really are.

Why should self-enquiry alone be considered the direct means to jnana?

Because every kind of sadhana except that of atma vichara,

Which is self-investigation,

Presupposes the retention of the mind as the instrument for carrying on the sadhana.

So straightforward.

He is super intelligent.

Mind is retained in a japa.

Mind is retained when you're looking at the breath.

Mind is retained in instructions.

Mind is retained in music.

You're understanding the meaning of retained.

No,

It is there.

You're not letting it go.

It is there all the time.

Yeah,

So it presupposes the retention of the mind as the instrument for carrying on the sadhana and without the mind,

It cannot be practiced.

That is the presupposition,

The assumption that it cannot be practiced without the mind.

The ego may take different and subtler forms at the different stages of one's practice,

But it is itself never destroyed.

So big,

No?

Keep strengthening the ego with some or the other practice.

Only the ego gets strengthened.

Only the ego gets strengthened.

If the ego is going to get strengthened,

Am I ever going to be established in awareness?

Not possible.

They are both in opposite directions.

I have to look within the established in awareness.

The ego will weaken automatically.

When Janaka explained,

Now I have discovered the thief who has been running me all along.

He shall be dealt with summarily.

The king was really referring to the ego or the mind.

Ramana Maharshi always advised reading Ashtavakra Gita a lot.

Yeah,

Because it is Sakshi,

Sakshi,

Sakshi.

It is the same thing.

Yeah,

Just be a witness.

Be a witness.

Don't get involved.

Don't get involved again and again.

Turn inwards.

Be in that awareness.

Yeah,

And that's how Janaka found his realization.

Just by looking inwards.

Janaka didn't do anything else.

There was no great sadhana,

Any great practice,

Any great meditation mentioned.

Remember?

Yeah,

He just kept looking inwards.

He was established in that awareness.

Just completely aware and there,

There.

Moment to moment,

Moment to moment,

Moment to moment.

Right there.

But the thief may well be apprehended by the other sadhanas as well.

The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind through sadhanas other than Atma Vichara is just like the thief pretending to be a policeman to catch the thief.

That is himself.

Yeah,

It's all a pretension.

There's only the same guy wearing another mask trying to catch himself.

Didn't you feel that in your meditations?

Did you feel you're fooling yourself?

It's just 20 minutes self foolery and get up.

Nothing happened.

I'm still there and still the same thief pretending to be a policeman.

The same chal kapat comes out.

The same cunning mind,

The same ego out.

Yeah.

So recognize that I have been fooling myself.

This is so clear.

Nobody could have put it so blatantly.

Atma Vichara alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind really exists and enable one to realize the pure undifferentiated being of the absolute awareness or the absolute.

Having realized the absolute awareness,

Nothing remains to be known because it is perfect bliss.

It is the all.

I mean,

But some junior get 15 years ago was the answer.

You're still not seeing it.

Who is not a loving heart to see it?

Ego.

I'm seeing it how it protects it,

How it wants to cover it up,

How it wants to say I'm not listening.

You go back to the book and you start reading because you don't want to listen to it.

I noticing that.

Maybe now maybe practice to be like you can go for a walk or sit at home,

Open eyes and focus on.

Yes,

Yes,

Absolutely.

24 7.

It's a continuous meditation where I keep working on just awareness.

Weaken the ego,

Weaken the ego,

Weaken the ego.

That should be the next goal.

Weaken this ego.

See whatever feeds the ego.

Don't feed it.

Only you can work on yourself.

Nobody else can work on you.

Nobody else can help you.

And why is you playing chur police 20 minutes every day?

You're doing chur police.

Just a matter of waking up.

Just a matter of realization.

Oh,