Quote:
Originally Posted by iamthat
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
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It's an interesting relationship and not only to Patanjali's techniques. Before I came across Advaita and specifically Jnana Yoga my practice consisted of Vipassana calm abiding, which more or less is mindfulness of breath, and do nothing meditation and practiced mostly for the secular benefits.
Do nothing is an excellent technique for allowing the self-evident nature of consciousness to reveal Itself by stilling mind in a way that facilitates going beyond the observer trap. Advaita helped me put it into a context I probably would never have arrived at if left to my own devices.
Going further I'd say that one technique has the capacity, if practiced diligently, to deposit one in that "space" where even the "I" thought is but an object of awareness and no longer central to one's identity. At least for me and as far as I can determine it was the practice that resulted in that "shift" in identification and when I came across Advaita it was one of those very rare "Wow!" moments, a keen, unmistakable and profound insight.