An oldie but certainly a goodie! :biggrin:

This is the first real meditation instruction I followed. Prior to that I was basically putting myself into a mild hypnotic trance.

https://www.vipassanaforum.net/meditation/Shamatha.pdf

"Notes: Do not try to suppress them yet do not follow them. Let them arise and fall like waves coming up on the beach and flowing back into the sea. Artificially forcing quiet on your mind is another form of fabrication."

Excellent. :smile:

I don't force them away - I just inwardly roll my eyes at them like a fly buzzing.
Useless things when meditating.

I like Vipassana/Calm Abiding (or any mindfulness technique) for concentrating and stilling mind. Noting and gently letting go of all the forms that might arise.

I like open meditation (resting in awareness/choiceless awareness/do-nothing meditation) because it reveals the place where the observer in the above technique is also but a form that can be noted and gently let go. :wink:

That's inaccurate. Poorly worded. It's more like the "work is no work' technique of Karma Yoga and this occurred to me because I have been mixing in more of that practice into my routine. It's not 'noting' and definitely not 'letting go'. It's witnessing the observer. The shift in consciousness/identity and viscerally, not conceptually.

It also occurs to me how these practices are mutually reinforcing. You are the Witness through knowledge (Jnana), meditation (Raja) and action (Karma). I'm still trying to determine a way to get devotion (Bhakti) into the mix, but that seems to be my weakest suit. I suppose I can "fake it until I make it" but that's just never been my style. It just doesn't feel right.

Let's talk about this. :tongue: Because I play a therapist online*.

-What would it mean to you to be devoted?
-What is your idea of devotion?
-What do you imagine yourself being devoted to?
-What do you think devotion feels like?

You can think on these things for yourself only, write out your thoughts or get back to me/us -
cuz your process will help others. :thumbsup:


* Been in therapy, 90% of my friends are therapists ...helped two friends study for their State Licensing Exams
for Clinical Social Work - diff states different decades.
Lived for 24 yrs total in 2 relationships WITH therapists, lol!!! :biggrin:
Hahahaha, it's like a curse.

Well! Pretty darned brave of you to dare look into the innards of my mind. LOL!

Here goes, but I did issue the above trigger warning. :biggrin:

What I mean by 'It just doesn't feel right" was in reference to "fake it until I make it" and is more about formal devotional practices surrounding a personal God. I've never been big on that, even though I went through 12 years of Catholic school. I'm just not big on that kind of ritualistic worship.

I have been mixing in a devotional aspect of Karma Yoga. That is being conscious all my actions interacting in and with the world are interactions with manifestations of Brahman and I do so in service to That, not purely my own self-interest. Of course since I'm (mind-body) also a manifestation it's kind of circular in an odd way so this is done within the constraints of ethics, morals and compassion, meaning it's not total and absolute selflessness. Another aspect of how I frame it is this mind-body is a vehicle for Brahman to experience Itself as are other mind-bodies. So I am serving that purpose of Maya, but this is devotion to the abstract and unknowable but in one way of thinking it's serving the very purpose of existence because it's done so consciously.

When I was in the intense wow phase this was palpable. I was reveling in the experience of myself, if that makes sense. I was giddy. It's a synergistic and vicarious relationship. LOL!

I've also practiced loving-kindness and compassion meditation, but never regularly and not for some time. I suppose I could pick that practice back up or maybe even better add in a meditation on a personal God. For the latter that would be Jesus because I can easily have a recognizable "face" in my mind's eye, it's in my background and I do believe Jesus the man was a non-dualist at heart. Pretty good fit!

It's interesting. There's a ying and yang aspect to all this. That is Jnana is mind-based and Bhakti is heart-based. Raja is introverted and Karma is extroverted, and even within Karma Yoga there are techniques that are Jnana-based and Bhakti-based. So my approach is to have them all in the mix, but some practices will get more weight than others due to personality.

Re: -What would it mean to you to be devoted?
-What is your idea of devotion?
-What do you imagine yourself being devoted to?
-What do you think devotion feels like?

These are the highlights from what you wrote...pertaining to the questions

I will look at this with coffee in the morning. :icon_cool:
Had to pare it down first.
But, ---Do you think of God as abstract and unknowable ---just wondering?
You didn't say that, but am asking. If God is real to you --'a personal God'...how would you be devoted to a human - spouse, mom or, say, a job?
Just something to think on. Ha, or comment on at 4 am.
Also, would you agree devotion is giving attention to something; a form of love?

Anyhoo, I'll be back. We ran out of time....that's a therapy joke.:tongue:

Words, words, words, it's all words. LOL!

Brahman, Source, Unity, Oneness, Unified Field, Ultimate Reality - The ultimate abstraction.
God, Allah, Jehova, etc... - A personal God. A manifestation of the above for the mind to wrap around.

How would I be devoted? Attention, a form of love? How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways... https://poets.org/poem/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43

That in fact might be the answer and why I'm thinking for me, and since I'm a very informal kind of guy, Karma Yoga might be the way. A worship of life and existence itself.

I love it. :smile:
I think I'm going to take this to a PM. I love that poem.
Back atcha in a bit. Basically, just wanna talk to you like the books: "Devotion for Dummies" or ''Devotion Made Easy" ! :D