The Swami Sarvapriyananda Thread

Our Real Nature: https://youtu.be/w-Efnm1O_WI

Maya: https://youtu.be/A7lfTznSlEw

Non-dualism - Being & Manifestation: https://youtu.be/QEDoVCX-sDA

Seeing God in Everything: https://youtu.be/RzpIEK6flfQ

Realization: https://youtu.be/igbdpTsmBaY

The Real and the Apparent: https://youtu.be/4qwkhIjU-lM

Freedom: https://youtu.be/CmdWEZucePo

Microcosm and Macrocosm: https://youtu.be/DRp7ZUjahaQ

https://youtu.be/l3vddQwxA48

Swami Sarvapriyananda speaks on non-dual meditation as part of a retreat in Garrison, New York. This is Part 1 of the discourse.

Take a stand as Awareness.

What brings so much clarity to this for me is the practice of resting in awareness (choiceless awareness, just sitting, do nothing meditation). It's a powerful and intimate familiarization with Awareness. A prerequisite and facilitation technique for this realization.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

https://youtu.be/l3vddQwxA48

Swami Sarvapriyananda speaks on non-dual meditation as part of a retreat in Garrison, New York. This is Part 1 of the discourse.

Take a stand as Awareness.

What brings so much clarity to this for me is the practice of resting in awareness (choiceless awareness, just sitting, do nothing meditation). It's a powerful and intimate familiarization with Awareness. A prerequisite and facilitation technique for this realization.

Interestingly enough, your mention of "choiceless awareness" resonates well.

There was a statement that I once heard that resonated totally along similar lines: The path of perfect freedom is paradoxically CHOICELESS.

When one's attention transcends to that which lies beyond thought, one somehow intuitively "knows without thinking" what is in the best interests of all. One's actions become CHOICELESS.

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

Interestingly enough, your mention of "choiceless awareness" resonates well.

There was a statement that I once heard that resonated totally along similar lines: The path of perfect freedom is paradoxically CHOICELESS.

When one's attention transcends to that which lies beyond thought, one somehow intuitively "knows without thinking" what is in the best interests of all. One's actions become CHOICELESS.

https://universaltheosophy.com/sacre...ena-upanishad/

The disciple said: I do not think I know It well, nor do I think I do not know It. He among us who knows the meaning of “Neither do I not know, nor do I know”—knows Brahman.

This is where that technique led me and it's just so darn hard (Impossible!!!) to conceptualize via intellect or express via language. I can only describe it as being "known" and for anyone lacking that experience it's a wholly unsatisfactory description.

As I understand this is the exact "space" Vedantic Self-inquiry will lead one, where even the "I Am" thought is irrelevant, just another transient appearance. An appropriation by Ahamkara. It clearly exposes the superimposition for what it actually is, in other words seeing things as they really are.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

https://universaltheosophy.com/sacre...ena-upanishad/

The disciple said: I do not think I know It well, nor do I think I do not know It. He among us who knows the meaning of “Neither do I not know, nor do I know”—knows Brahman.

This is where that technique led me and it's just so darn hard (Impossible!!!) to conceptualize via intellect or express via language. I can only describe it as being "known" and for anyone lacking that experience it's a wholly unsatisfactory description.

As I understand this is the exact "space" Vedantic Self-inquiry will lead one, where even the "I Am" thought is irrelevant, just another transient appearance. An appropriation by Ahamkara. It clearly exposes the superimposition for what it actually is, in other words seeing things as they really are.

That is one of my favorite Upanishad responses: "Neither do I know nor do I not know".

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

That is one of my favorite Upanishad responses: "Neither do I know nor do I not know".

Yep, all it means is for one to not come to make conclusions/assumptions, as the conclusions/assumptions one makes is more likely to be not true.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by MikeS80

Yep, all it means is for one to not come to make conclusions/assumptions, as the conclusions/assumptions one makes is more likely to be not true.

The mystical Christian classic "Cloud of Unknowing" makes similar points as well as Bodhidharma's "not knowing" response to the emperor's question about who he was.

It is reported that Socrates was once asked if he knew himself in accordance with the "Know Yourself" teaching. Reportedly, his response was: "I don't know .... but I do understand the not-knowing."

[Miss Hepburn]

A film...19 min

An experimental, mixed-format documentary, "The Cloud of Unknowing" looks at a Trappist abbey in Spencer, MA
and spiritual seekers in the city of Boston: exploring issues of contemplation, mysticism and the quest for God.
Winner of the Best NH Short Documentary at the 2018 New Hampshire Film Festival.
And
The underlying message of this work from the late 14thc suggests that the way to know God is to abandon
consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender
one's mind and ego to the realm of "unknowing", at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God.

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

https://universaltheosophy.com/sacre...ena-upanishad/

The disciple said: I do not think I know It well, nor do I think I do not know It. He among us who knows the meaning of “Neither do I not know, nor do I know”—knows Brahman.

This is crystal clear to me and experientially so. Everything I know well I can point at, assign attributes or qualities, etc... Eliminating all that is known well leaves only That which cannot be known well because It can't be pointed at or assigned attributes or qualities. However It does reveal Itself every single unit of Planck time, ever present and unchanging. It's "known" in the most intimate way because It illumines all knowing and thus constantly reveals Itself. It's Self-revealing and Self-evident and therefore I do not think I do not know it.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

A film...19 min

An experimental, mixed-format documentary, "The Cloud of Unknowing" looks at a Trappist abbey in Spencer, MA
and spiritual seekers in the city of Boston: exploring issues of contemplation, mysticism and the quest for God.
Winner of the Best NH Short Documentary at the 2018 New Hampshire Film Festival.
And
The underlying message of this work from the late 14thc suggests that the way to know God is to abandon
consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender
one's mind and ego to the realm of "unknowing", at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God.

I will have to check out the documentary.

I personally LOVED "The Cloud of Unknowing" and I am in agreement with your understanding of its message. I read the book long ago, and it really opened my eyes to the "realm of unknowing at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God."