Methods and Techniques for Inducing Non-dual Awakening

[Maisy]

I think doing in itself is not good or bad. I think it's the doer that can be good or bad! What the doer is determines what the doing is. Not all doing is created equal. If someone is detached from their ego and in a state of selflessness and unconditional love and acceptance, their doing will be harmonious. If someone is strongly identified with their ego and selfish and self centered, their doing will not be harmonious.

It's a complicated thing because ego can be conditioned to be a good person or a bad person. So even totally identifying with ego is not necessarily bad. Many of the famous persons who are said to have found enlightenment had a bad ego. When you have a bad ego that is creating suffering in you and you become aware of it as distinct from you, it gives you the motivation and understanding to drop it, to stop listening to it, to find another state to be in. So then even a bad ego serves a higher purpose towards consciousness evolving into higher awareness.

Liberation is just a natural response to a consciousness suffering due to identifying with a big self centered ego.

[Unseeking Seeker]

Hello Tashi! Welcome to SF ~ great first post.

As iamthat has observed, the truth is unfolded differently for each aspirant, perhaps owing to the variance in thought constructs or latent beliefs nurtured and resident in the subconscious.

Neo Advaita suggests a quick fix for rapid if not instant recognition. I wouldn’t know if it works and then there is the question of grounding, of assimilation of the knowing, whilst resident here in mind-body.

Looking at ‘methods’ of awakening, taking all paths as valid in their own right, the essence of each practice seems to be simply dissolving identity into God (universal) consciousness. Now, this assertion may seem controversial, so let us investigate:

Meditation is simply first employing concentration, say focusing on any object or mantra or breath or whatever to make attention single pointed and then releasing that object as well, whilst remaining poised and attentive in stillness, alert and yet unexpectant as well as unresistant. So, identity is vaporised. Formless presence comes to the forefront and then direct experience and wisdom influx follows.

In the path of Bhakti, it is no different. Here, we have a deity as the object of worship and then merge with it, become one with it. Surrender.

Likewise, contemplation such as Ramana’s inquiry ‘who am I’ by negation of transience, affirming ‘not this, not this’ is aimed at reaching exhaustion so that thought flow ceases and we abide in thought rested silence. We get out of our own way, so to speak.

Kundalini awakening too is the same. We first imagine the kundalini as something separate from ourself but be that as it may, our attention is automatically fixated in the movement of energy within our body, generating bliss. It is the path offered by the universe to compel us to go wherever the kundalini wishes to flow. Ceasing to resist, we become one with it. In time, the revelations offered in the experience too are not assigned ‘ownership’ belonging to an identity or separate self.

Then let’s take the void experience. Here too, bereft of our sensory tools, we are in the inky black consciousness which is alive and after our disconcertment is extinguished, our restful presence which yet exists communes with universal consciousness as of residual tendencies or samskaras.

The paradox about an entity (us) seeking enlightenment is more or less the same as attempting to lift a chair while sitting on it.

Let me stop here, bad habit this, of rambling on.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Neo Advaita suggests a quick fix for rapid if not instant recognition. ...

Which is probably why it is so popular. It suggests that no effort is required and realisation can happen to anyone at any time. But I do wonder how many people have genuinely awakened through listening to such Neo-Advaita teachers, as opposed to intellectually understanding the words and thinking they have got it.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Meditation is simply first employing concentration, ...

And various Neo-Advaita teachers dismiss meditation, claiming that it is an ego-driven practice done in the hope of some future attainment thus missing the present moment. But this seems a very limited idea of meditation.

Because meditation is not necessarily about an "I" seeking something. Meditation can simply be the opportunity to park the body on a cushion and rest in Being.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Likewise, contemplation such as Ramana’s inquiry ‘who am I’ ...

Arthur Osborne (who spent some years with Ramana Maharshi until Ramana's death) gives a slightly different approach to Self-enquiry. He says it is not a process requiring the analytical mind. Self-enquiry takes place in the heart, not the head. According to Arthur Osborne, simply ask the question "Who am I?" and then rest in the small space of stillness in the chest area and remain in that awareness. Ramana Maharshi called this the Heart, the seat of the Self.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Then let’s take the void experience. ...

Ah yes, the void experience, that vast formless dark emptiness where there is no thought, just Being. I have only experienced this twice, both times in deep meditation. But those two occasions have been the highlights of my life and spiritual practice, creating lasting expanded shifts in consciousness. Which is why I value sitting in meditation. But we still have to ground and embody these states.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Let me stop here, bad habit this, of rambling on.

Keep rambling on.

Peace

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ iamthat ~ yes of course.

Much water has flowed under the bridge meanwhile. The spiritual heart, yes. I feel it as a toroidal force in the centre of the chest. Santosh Sachdeva has a much more detailed description to offer.

Ultimately path any, heart is the centre, perhaps because that is where desires arise and where they are satisfied. In my case, there was a spontaneous kundalini activation and after polarity balance there was a bliss explosion in the heart illumining the central vein or Sushumna. It is a permanent state of being.

There’s more, much more but back to the topic at hand, what I was attempting to get to was that path any, identity dissolution or let’s say surrender in thought rested silence holds the key. Head melds with heart in resonance with love. After that, what is and always was, is revealed in a manner unmistakable, whereupon doubts are erased.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Tashi108

In late 2015, I came across a method called The Two-Part Formula for Awakening*. ... I've already heard about Liberation Unleashed*, as well as the Just One Look** method, which seems similar (at least in terms of goal) though I haven't had time yet to investigate properly.

Going back to Tashi's original post, further information on The Two-Part Formula for Awakening can be found at:

https://www.amritamandala.com/2pf

The first part seems to be a variation of Self-enquiry - searching within for the "I" and discovering that there is only open awareness. The second part involves actually creating a sense of "me" and seeing how that feels. By alternating between parts 1 and 2, eventually "...you keep comparing the two modes until the sense of me-ness permanently wears out."

I looked at the Awake books by the teacher of this method, Amrita Baba, but much of them seemed to be transcripts of dialogues which I find quite tedious.

I was curious about Liberation Unleashed so I went searching. This led me to the books by Ilona Ciunaite which led me to a book Buddha on a Bull by Elena Nezhinsky which I couldn't resist buying. A short book (about 150 pages) but fun, describing her search through Gurdjieff, Zen, Vipassana, Adyashanti, etc, and then describing her own awakening and the end of her search. The second part offers practical guidance.

The Just One Look method is described in a book of the same name by John and Carla Sherman. Again, very brief (53 pages) and is described as a variation of Self-enquiry. I will leave that for another day.

As for Tashi's main question: "Anyway, my question here is whether anyone else has had similar experiences using a specific method for awakening. If so, which method did you use? How long did it take? What changes did it bring along?"

This would take too long to answer and I have written enough for one day!

Peace

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by iamthat

Going back to Tashi's original post, further information on The Two-Part Formula for Awakening can be found at:

https://www.amritamandala.com/2pf

...I have written enough for one day!

No you haven't. :)

[Ewwerrin]

Originally Posted by Tashi108

Hi all,
I have a question...
Tashi

Sounds good, what method did you use?

Last one I remember, I devoted my entire day to release any and all "trying" for that whole day as my sole and primary intention, and it gave me a similar experience you mentioned. I want that feeling back!

What did you do to achieve it?

[Ewwerrin]

Originally Posted by movingalways

Hi Tashi, w...
... inspire me to go deeper into the silence of 'just' being.

How can I go into the silence of just being? I wanna stabilize that aswell!
Any meditation techniques you can recommend please?
Thanks

[Ewwerrin]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

No you haven't. :)

Thanks for posting that link in quote.

And oh man! I knew bodily comfort is necessery. It's been blocking my meditation practices for so long now. I wish I could just literally open up my body and step out of it. I wanna feel that open free spacious awareness again. I so hope I can find a way to get there again!

Without trying to spend days trying to find bodily comfort ofcourse. Even Abraham Hicks meditation process suggests that bodily comfort is very important to get into the withdrawn from physical awareness state and enter the alignment with greater non-physical consciousness.

I wish there was a way to really succesfully achieve bodily comfort more easily. My body feels stress and strain all around. No matter how relaxed I lay down.

[Ewwerrin]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

@ iamthat ~ yes of...
... thought rested silence holds the key....
.... doubts are erased.

How do you achieve a silenced mind?