Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-73

[Guest guest]

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-73

 

The method which Bhagavan always recommended in the first place,

which he spoke of as the most simple and direct and put first in all

his teachings was Self-enquiry. It follows, therefore, that such of

his devotees that (could) practice it should. Some people have got

a false idea that Self-enquiry is a coldly intellectual method.

There is no such thing. Intellectual understanding may be helpful

up to a point on one's quest, but it cannot be the quest. "I am not

this body; I am not these thoughts" may be a useful preliminary to

the enquiry, but it cannot be the enquiry. The enquiry is not a

mental investigation such as a psychologist might indulge in. It is

not a probing into the faculties, urges, memories or tendencies of

one's conscious or subconscious mind but a quest of the pure I-am-

ness that lies behind all these. It consists in turning the mind

inwards to the sense of being, the feeling of "I-am". The purpose of

enquiry is to make one aware of being at will and for longer and

longer periods. In enquiry there is only the subject. You are not

looking for anything new, anything outside yourself, but simply

concentrating on being, on your self, on the pure "I-am" in you. It

is not thinking but suspending thought while retaining

consciousness. The only way is persistence. Constant alertness.

Not to get carried away by thoughts. To see them aloofly like

clouds passing over a clear sky and ask, "What is this thought? Who

did it come to? To me, but who am I?" And so you bring your mind

back to enquiry.

 

Source: Various reliable publications of / on Sri Ramana Maharshi's

teachings.

[Guest guest]

So, it is focus on the 'feeling' of existence or being. As opposed to

an intellectual understanding that I exist.

 

Could I summarise as above?

sundar

 

RamanaMaharshi, "saikali6362" <saikali6362

wrote:

>

Some people have got a false idea that Self-enquiry is a coldly

intellectual method. There is no such thing.

>

 

It consists in turning the mind inwards to the sense of being, the

feeling of "I-am".

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, it is maintaining awareness of the sense of being. Please consider the following:

Self-enquiry has nothing to do with being aware of the contents of the mind. It's a very specific method that aims to find out where the individual sense of 'I' arises. Self-enquiry is an active investigation, not a passive witnessing.

 

For example, you may be thinking about what you had for

breakfast, or you may be looking at a tree in the garden. In self-enquiry, you don't simply maintain an awareness of these thoughts, you put your attention on the thinker who has the thought, the perceiver who has the perception. There is an 'I' who thinks, an 'I' who perceives, and this 'I' is also a thought. Bhagavan's advice was to focus on this inner sense of 'I' in order to find out what it really is. In self-enquiry you are trying to find out where this 'I' feeling arises, to go back to that place and stay there. It is not simply watching, it's a kind of active scrutiny in which one is

trying to find out how the sense of being an individual person comes into being.

You can investigate the nature of this 'I' by formally asking

yourself, 'Who am I?' or 'Where does this ''I'' come from?'

Alternatively, you can try to maintain a continuous awareness of this inner feeling of 'I'. Either approach would count as self-enquiry. You should not suggest answers to the question, such as 'I am consciousness' because any answer you give yourself is conceptual rather than experiential. The only correct answer is a direct experience of the Self.

From an interview with David Godman

Saikali

sundar22ca <sundar22ca > wrote:

So, it is focus on the 'feeling' of existence or being. As opposed to

an intellectual understanding that I exist.

 

Could I summarise as above?

sundar

 

RamanaMaharshi, "saikali6362" <saikali6362

wrote:

>

Some people have got a false idea that Self-enquiry is a coldly

intellectual method. There is no such thing.

>

 

It consists in turning the mind inwards to the sense of being, the

feeling of "I-am".

>

 

 

 

 

 

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