A guide for staying the I Am

[Mak6831]

Its so hard to be present with the suffering dudes!!! i know its an illusion but it still pretty hard!!

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by Mak6831

It is so difficult lool I dont know how to transcend my suffering. It seems like when im feeling happy its a lot easier to feel present

I do not know what suffering you are talking about, however, In order to transcend your suffering, you must transcend the cause of your suffering.

The cause of suffering is mental and emotional conditioning/programming caused by fear, trying to escape and/or ignore your fear in the eternal and infinite right here and right now, psychological/mental time (past memories and daydreaming of the future because you want to be somewhere else, instead of being right here right now), making judgements about others and yourself, thinking too much, coming to conclusions that end your learning. Thinking or judging something or someone is bad/negative.

All fear, good/positive and bad/negative and love for that matter, starts in the mind-is psychological/mental.

Mental and emotional conditioning/programming causes a person to want to escape and ignore the eternal and infinite right here and right now by living in the past and to fantasize about the future. How do I know this? I know because I have been there and done that, and when you really think about it, it is irrational.

Being in a hurry and worrying has the opposite effect of what you want/desire, You did not receive your mental and emotional conditioning/programming over night so you will not decondition/deprogram your mind over night, so chill, stop, smell the roses, be conscious of your thoughts, learn how your mind works, and be aware of this situation you are in called life and of the facts, stop thinking too much and of course, feel your inner sense of I AM present, without putting words to your inner sense feeling of I AM present.

[Mak6831]

Originally Posted by MikeS80

I do not know what suffering you are talking about, however, In order to transcend your suffering, you must transcend the cause of your suffering.

The cause of suffering is mental and emotional conditioning/programming caused by fear, trying to escape and/or ignore your fear in the eternal and infinite right here and right now, psychological/mental time (past memories and daydreaming of the future because you want to be somewhere else, instead of being right here right now), making judgements about others and yourself, thinking too much, coming to conclusions that end your learning. Thinking or judging something or someone is bad/negative.

All fear, good/positive and bad/negative and love for that matter, starts in the mind-is psychological/mental.

and how would i go about transcending my suffering?

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by Mak6831

and how would i go about transcending my suffering?

I edited my post to add to it.

Originally Posted by Mak6831

Its so hard to be present with the suffering dudes!!! i know its an illusion but it still pretty hard!!

i would not say suffering is an illusion. but we can deal with it in positive or negative ways

[Mak6831]

Originally Posted by MikeS80

I edited my post to add to it.

Thank you!

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by Mak6831

Hello, I've read a lot of stuff here that I dont seem to resonate with a lot, so i thought I would set up this thread in order to for people to share truth along our path to freedom. I have read much of I Am That, I have read some of ramana maharshi, I enjoy listening to rupert spira and mooji. can people please give me more advice to stay as 'I am', I am constantly getting distracted. I know this is my mind but i haven't been able to become established within I am
Any advice dudes?

To stay in 'I am' one needs to understand first 'I" . Who this 'I' is . Is it personal or universal . Personal 'I' does not stand against universal 'I' .

Are there any 'Others' . Who are these 'others' , Are there really any point of differences between this 'I' and 'Others' .

This kind of thinking and actions based thereon is evolutionary and eventually get you a sense of 'I am' .

It does not mean not to recognize obvious differences in manifestation , its traits ,requirements , limitations etc . You need to really understand all differences intelligently and then come up with common underlying unity and act keeping in view differences in manifestation and underlying unifying commonality . So it's certainly requires lot of intelligence , patience and persistence doing it .

[Mak6831]

Hey does anybody have any insight into the convergence of advaita teaching with the more Energy based yogic teaching. Is there a common ground between nonduality and the subtle body? this issue has plagued myself and friends for some time!

Originally Posted by Mak6831

Hey does anybody have any insight into the convergence of advaita teaching with the more Energy based yogic teaching. Is there a common ground between nonduality and the subtle body? this issue has plagued myself and friends for some time!

Yoga is a dualist tradition. What they do share is the Samkhya psychological model and many Advaitins use the Yogic system of meditation (i.e. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras) which makes sense because that does address mind though it's not a requirement. For instance I practice Buddhist meditation techniques.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Mak6831

Hey does anybody have any insight into the convergence of advaita teaching with the more Energy based yogic teaching. Is there a common ground between nonduality and the subtle body?

Yoga (as well as other systems) teaches that we have more than one body. In Yoga these bodies are called koshas or sheaths, and usually five are named:

1. Annamaya Kosha (the dense Physical Sheath)
2. Pranamaya Kosha (Vital Energy Sheath)
3. Manomaya Kosha (Mental Body, which includes the emotional nature)
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (Wisdom or Awareness Body)
5. Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss Body)

Our true nature of Being, the Self, is beyond these five koshas. The various systems of Yoga can be considered as the development of the koshas to raise our consciousness to identification with the Self. This is the progression from identification with form to identification with formlessness.

JASG mentions Patanjali. The final three stages of the eight limbs are dharana, dhyana and samadhi, which together are known as samyama:

1. Dharana - fixing the attention on the object of attention, or concentration.
2. Dhyana - meditation, or the uninterrupted flow of awareness to the object of attention.
3. Samadhi - the state of union with the object of attention.

Samadhi itself is classified in various ways - for example:

1. Savikalpa Samadhi - this is temporary samadhi, and the Yogi has to return to ordinary consciousness. Patanjali describes four states of Savikalpa Samadhi.
2. Nirvikalpa Samadhi - resting in the peace and bliss of Consciousness. This too is considered a temporary state, as the Yogi has to come out of samadhi to re-engage with everyday life.
3. Dharmamegha Samadhi - this is liberation even while in the physical body. The Yogi shines in his own glory, ever free.
4. Sahaja Samadhi - this is described by Ramana Maharshi, who said "Remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is sahaja."

The deeper yoga practices are intrinsically linked with Advaita, because the knowledge of Advaita is a state of samadhi. Remember that Ramana Maharshi spent over 20 years in deep meditation after his realisation, before he began teaching.

Peace