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Jnana Yoga/Self-Inquiry - Advaita (Non-Duality)

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Christi

United Kingdom
3838 Posts

Posted - Feb 22 2021 : 5:20:09 PM

quote:
As a serious seeker it is frustrating to be told your world view is a myth, an illusion. To access "reality", e.g. nonduality is not an easy task. AYP seems the best path I've found that points in that direction, yet the patience required while waiting for the guide to show me the way out of the cave (that illusive silent witness)seems almost heroic.

Hi Interpaul and all,

The cultivation of inner silence can seem like it is the most heroic enterprise in the world and it possibly is. After all, we are conditioned from birth to cultivate an incredible number of things, other than inner silence, and which all push inner silence away. Unless of course we are very lucky, and have someone in our life who teaches us inner silence as a child. So we have a certain amount of conditioning to overcome. The irony is, that when inner silence does come, it appears to be the easiest and most simple thing in the world. In fact nothing could be more simple, or easy. But we cannot create inner silence with the mind, we can only set up the conditions within which it will arise.

The same thing is true when it comes to non-duality. We cannot create it with the mind, no matter what anyone may say. But we can create the conditions within which it arises. And creating the conditions means practice. Then we create the conditions to be able to receive grace.

Interestingly it is grace that gives rise to bhakti, which causes us to take up the spiritual path in the first place. So, grace leads to bhakti, which leads to spiritual practice, purification of the mind, samadhi, more grace, non-duality, the ending of suffering, diving love and so on.

As for all those Advaita teachers out there, are they helpful or not? They might be, for someone who is ripe. That means someone who has made themselves ripe through their spiritual practices and who has already cultivated enough abiding inner silence to be able to benefit from what they are saying. For the vast majority of people, it will not be helpful and could be harmful. And even for many who are ripe, it may not be necessary. Non-duality is everywhere when we are able to perceive it. It is in the mountain and the stars and the forest. In another person's eyes. It is when you see everything and everyone as God.

So, this is why in AYP, the advice is to practice and cultivate inner silence before even considering the path of Jnana. There is even the option to practice, and to never consider advaita at all. It will lead to the same end result, as abiding inner silence will naturally lead to liberation.

Christi

interpaul

USA
227 Posts

Posted - Feb 22 2021 : 11:05:50 PM

Thank you all for your additional comments.

Christi, I definitely can relate to grace leading to bhakti leading to spiritual practices ... I do understand the path of Jnana requires being "ripe" and is not something one can approach with the intellect. My bhakti is stronger than my patience. The benefits I've experienced and the growing trust in this path keeps me motivated to keep plugging away despite my expressed frustration. I imagine I must sound a bit like the kids in the back seat asking "are we there yet?"

SeySorciere

Seychelles
1289 Posts

Posted - Feb 22 2021 : 11:23:13 PM

I think the original purpose of thoughts was to enable choice. Choice infers preference /free will and it is through choosing that we create /sustain this world .
Something went wrong along the way?

Sey

Christi

United Kingdom
3838 Posts

Posted - Feb 23 2021 : 06:33:02 AM

quote:

I think the original purpose of thoughts was to enable choice. Choice infers preference /free will and it is through choosing that we create /sustain this world .
Something went wrong along the way?

Hi Sey,

They say that in yoga, we do not get the answers to our questions, but we learn how to let go of the questions. This is especially true when it comes to self-inquiry practice. If questions are simply leading to more questions, then this is a sign that the self-inquiry is non-relational (not happening within silence). When it is relational, and therefore helpful, we find that the questions are dissolving without more questions arising. Otherwise it is simply thoughts leading to more thoughts, which can be never-ending.

The answers to all of your questions lie beyond the mind, which means beyond the questions and the questioner. And the answers cannot be described in words. But they can be known, because knowing exists before thoughts arise.

You may find these lessons useful:

Lesson 333 - Dissolving the Witness in Unity

Lesson 325 - Relational and Non-Relational Self-Inquiry

Lesson 350 - Practices for Moving Beyond the Witness Stage

and this lesson addition:

Addition 350.1 - The Witness in Relation to Self-Inquiry

Christi

Christi

United Kingdom
3838 Posts

Posted - Feb 23 2021 : 11:57:43 AM

Hi Interpaul,

quote:
The benefits I've experienced and the growing trust in this path keeps me motivated to keep plugging away despite my expressed frustration. I imagine I must sound a bit like the kids in the back seat asking "are we there yet?"

kumar ul islam

United Kingdom
767 Posts

Posted - Feb 23 2021 : 1:01:36 PM

thinking of thoughts as they pass by
wisps of conditions like friend or foe
or just a forgettable instances like now
just so like now or was it then or before
or even after the first or last
a purpose decreed by a reason or reason
just so because it makes sense to our humanity

the moon is there to tell us its winter
the sun at its height its mid summer eve
just a thought you see just so
to make sense of the something or the nothing
the void is just a contrast to know its full
just so you see its only a thought

now for the purpose the outcome the end
the consequence of thinking whilst doing
or doing whilst thinking a catalyst for change
even the amoeba acts by its nature in its thought
i must i must i must i will i will i will

SeySorciere

Seychelles
1289 Posts

Posted - Feb 27 2021 : 11:44:26 AM

Yesterday I saw a water hyacinth with four petals of the same light purple color and a fifth petal with a design and color of a peacock tail. I spend hours marveling at it and wondering how it got to be that way.

Everybody takes everything so seriously