Om! The three main objectives self-inquiry - by Atman Nityananda

 

The three main objectives self-inquiry

The three objectives we use self-enquiry is discerning our divine essence from apparent or lower self, investigate the psychological issues and tendencies and maintain conscious contact with our divine essence (the silent space of consciousness within) and be established in it.

1. To Discern our Divine Essence from the layers or 5 sheaths.
2. To inquire into the Psychological structures and tendencies.
3. To Establish our attention in our True Self, that is, in the silent space of Consciousness.

The 5 Sheaths: According the Advaita Vedanta our apparent self is constituted by five Sheaths.

The five sheaths are:
1. Annamaya Kosha (food-sheath),
2. Pranamaya Kosha (vital sheath),
3. Manomaya Kosha (mental sheath),
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (intellect-sheath)
5. Anandamaya Kosha (blissful sheath).

‘Maya’ means full. ‘Kosha’ means sheath

You can read about the 5 Sheaths in the following text of Swami Sivananda: Discrimination between the Self and the non-self by S. Sivananda  

You van also read the book Vivekachudani: Adisankarcharya Vivekachudamani.pdf

A brief analysis of the different types of self-inquiry

Discerning our Divine Essence from the layers or 5 sheaths

Explore our divine essence beyond the body, energy, mind, intellect, and ego. Self-inquiry reveals the true Self within.

This type of inquiry is based on the teachings of great masters and spiritual traditions that help us to investigate our immediate experience. Based on the knowledge we explore one by one the layers of our apparent existence.

The purpose of this inquiry is to realize that we are not them and to discern our immortal divine essence (Consciousness) from all the layers.

Inquiring into the Psychological structures and tendencies

Dive deep into your psyche. Self-inquiry unveils the layers of your mind, helping you understand, overcome and eliminate egoic tendencies, emotional and mental patterns, false beliefs and overcome psychological issues.

We dedicate time every day at our place to investigate and delve into the issues and psychological reactions and tendencies we have observed during the day manifest in us.

This process allows us to realize their mechanical repetitive nature, their illusory quality, their causes, and consequences. Through this process we realize that we are not these emotional and mental reactions and we become able to stop identifying with them.

Finally, we use certain means, such as prayer, mantras and EFT, to dissolve part of their energy and weaken them as much as possible for the time being.

Short and Long prayer for the dissolution of Ego

However, it is highly recommended this aspect of self-enquiry to be used throughout the day whenever it is necessary to avoid or cease identification with sensory reality or mental and emotional reactions and make them subside.

Establishing our awareness (attention) in the silence space of Consciousness

The self-inquiry is perhaps the most powerful means to cease identifying with psychological expressions and sensory impressions and anchor our attention in the silent space of consciousness.

This type of Self-inquiry is a process by which we withdraw our attention from any objective experience and focus it on the silent space of Consciousness within ourselves. To facilitate this process we use some question or questions such as, “To whom do these thoughts arise?”, or “To whom does this emotion or impulse arise?”, or “To whom does this perception arise?”. The answer is, “To me.” And then we ask: “Who am I?”, or “What am I?”, or also, “What is the source of the Me or I?”.

This aspect of self-enquiry is practiced in both cases, as a seated meditation and as a means of remaining in self-awareness and detached witnesses of the inner and outer world moment by moment throughout the day.

However, this practice can be successfully practiced as the main or only method of practice by mature aspirants who have developed a pure sattvic mind that involves the development of important sattvic qualities or skills such as devotion, self-awareness, detachment, discernment, dispassion, clarity, one-pointedness of mind and steadiness of mind.

Less mature aspirants should follow a more comprehensive practice that will include a variety of practices related to all aspects of our existence aimed at the purification of the mind and heart and vital energy, the elimination of egoic tendencies of all kinds, and the development of the sattvic qualities of mind and heart.

This is the most direct way or method to focus and stabilize our awareness on our essential divine nature and finally establish ourselves in it.

You can read about the practice of Self-enquiry, The Practice of Self-Enquiry Enquiring ‘Who Am I?’ -Ramana Maharshi

The ‘secret’ to a plentiful life, a life of harmony, happiness and contentment is to have a sattvic mind free from desires and ego and to live in every moment in conscious contact with our true Self (Consciousness).

🌺 Peace, Love, Harmony

ATMAN IS SAT-CHIT-ANANDA - Swami sivananda

 

ATMAN IS SAT-CHIT-ANANDA

Sat, Chit and Ananda are one. Atman is partless and homogeneous. The three characteristics Sat, Chit and Ananda are not distinct from one another. They are coeval and coexistent with Atman. Sat-Chit-Ananda signify the one Atman. Sat is Chit. Sat is Ananda. Chit is Sat. Chit is Ananda. Ananda is Sat. Ananda is Chit. You cannot split up Sat-Chit-Ananda into three separate entities, just as you cannot separate light, heat and luminosity from fire.

 Atman is Sat

Atman is Sat. That which exists in the past, present and future, which has no beginning, middle and end, which is unchanging, which is not conditioned in time, space and causation, which exists during Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti, which is of the nature of one homogeneous essence (Sada Ekarasa, Sada Ekarupa) is Sat. This is found in Atman. Srutis emphatically declare: Sat only was prior to the evolution of this universe.

 Atman is Chit

Atman is Chit because he shines by himself without the help of any other light and illuminates the entire universe by his own light.

The mind is finite and inert. He has no independent intelligence. He is not self-luminous. The brilliance of him is borrowed from the Light of the fountain. He is subject to various limitations and changes. He is only an inert product of subtle matter. Only the Atman is the source of Chit. The mind is also perceived by Chit. The mind has a beginning and an end.

The external universe, however varied and large it may be, is after all only inert matter. It cannot be the object of our perception unless we cast upon it the flow of light from our consciousness; he can never know us. It is enlightened only by us. It can never enlighten us.

Atman is Ananda

Ananda is that bliss that is eternal, uncaused and incomparable. It is the true nature of Atman.

But the supreme bliss of Brahman has no degrees. It is infinite or unlimited because there is nothing superior to it. The bliss of deep sleep has no degrees.

Brahman bliss cannot be adequately expressed in words. It has to be felt and realized through the direct realization of the Self. Although we experience it, it is not an experience like the enjoyment of an object, because you are then an incarnation of bliss itself.

All miseries come to an end when one realizes (realizes) the Atman. Therefore the Atman must be an embodiment of bliss. Sat is Chit. Sat is Ananda too.

He who has realized this Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman is a liberated sage. He has nothing else to learn, he has nothing else to do, he has nothing else to gain. All his wishes are satisfied. He has obtained all the worlds. He is freed from the clutches of death. He achieves immortality.

In Spanish

ATMAN ES SAT-CHIT-ANANDA

Sat, Chit y Ananda son uno. Atman no tiene partes y es homogéneo. Las tres características Sat, Chit y Ananda no son distintas entre sí. Son coetáneas y coexistentes con Atman. Sat-Chit-Ananda significan el único Atman. Sat es Chit. Sat es Ananda. Chit es Sat. Chit es Ananda. Ananda es Sat. Ananda es Chit. No puedes dividir Sat-Chit-Ananda en tres entidades separadas, del mismo modo que no puedes separar la luz, el calor y la luminosidad del fuego.

 Atman es Sat

Atman es Sat. Aquello que existe en el pasado, presente y futuro, que no tiene principio, medio ni fin, que es inmutable, que no está condicionado en el tiempo, espacio y causalidad, que existe durante Jagrat, Svapna y Sushupti, que es de la naturaleza de una esencia homogénea (Sada Ekarasa, Sada Ekarupa) es Sat. Esto se encuentra en Atman. Los Srutis declaran enfáticamente: Sat sólo era anterior a la evolución de este universo.

 Atman es Chit

Atman es Chit porque brilla por sí mismo sin la ayuda de ninguna otra luz e ilumina todo el universo por su propia luz.

La mente es finita e inerte. No tiene inteligencia independiente. No es auto-luminosa. Su brillo lo toma prestado de la Luz de la fuente. Está sujeta a diversas limitaciones y cambios. Sólo es un producto inerte de la materia sutil. Sólo el Atman es la fuente de Chit. La mente también es percibida por Chit. La mente tiene un principio y un fin.

El universo externo, por muy variado y grande que sea, después de todo es sólo materia inerte. No puede ser el objeto de nuestra percepción a menos que arrojemos sobre él el flujo de luz de nuestra consciencia; nunca puede conocernos. Es iluminado solamente por nosotros. Nunca nos puede iluminar.

 Atman es Ananda

Ananda es esa dicha que es eterna, incausada e incomparable. Es la verdadera naturaleza de Atman.

Pero la dicha suprema de Brahman no tiene grados. Es infinita o ilimitada porque no hay nada superior a ella. La dicha del sueño profundo no tiene grados.

La dicha de Brahman no se puede expresar adecuadamente con palabras. Tiene que ser sentida y realizada a través de la directa realización del Ser. Aunque la experimentemos, no es una experiencia como el disfrute de un objeto, porque tú eres entonces una encarnación de la dicha en sí.

Todas las miserias llegan a su fin cuando uno realiza (se da cuenta de) el Atman. Por lo tanto el Atman debe ser una encarnación de la dicha. Sat es Chit. Sat es Ananda también.

Aquel que ha realizado este Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman es un sabio liberado. No tiene nada más que aprender, no tiene nada más que hacer, no tiene nada más que ganar. Todos sus deseos son satisfechos. Ha obtenido todos los mundos. Está liberado de las garras de la muerte. Alcanza la inmortalidad.

OM! THE SILENCE - Atman Nityananda

The Silence
by Atman Nityananda /blog

Mysterious is this silence, magnificent is this silence, untouched is this silence and yet ever present, peaceful and blissful.

This silence is What You Are!

If you are attentive you will see that this silence has no beginning, no end; it is limitless. It neither begins nor ends. It neither comes nor goes. It is motionless, changeless, formless, timeless. It is ever present, peaceful, silent and full. It is not disturbed when the mind or emotions are disturbed. Bodily, energetic, emotional and mental movements neither touch it, nor affect it.

You cannot touch it, dominate it or manipulate it, it is out of your control. You can neither move away from it, nor approach it. It is always with you, it never leaves you alone. You are intimately one with it. You are It!

But… watch out! You (the person or the I, what you think you are), are not it. That (the silent presence) is what you are!

You can meditate repeating the phrases below (all or two – three of these affirmations, the ones that resonate most with you), or make your own personal affirmations based on these concepts.

Om, Om, Om, Om I am pure consciousness, Ommm
I am silent emptiness, ever peaceful and luminous, Ommm
I am silence, always peaceful, full and blissful, Ommm
I am silence, full of infinite peace, light and love, Ommm

Om peace, Om light, Om love
Om, Om, Om

Repeat these phrases, becoming aware of the inner silence. At the end (after a certain time) stop the phrases and continue to feel the silence without making any effort. If the mind is distracted, say softly: May I be aware of the silence in me? This will carry by itself your attention in the silence without any effort.

Read also
Silence by Swami Sivananda

The ‘secret’ to a plentiful life, a life of harmony, happiness and contentment is to have a sattvic mind free from desires and ego and to live in every moment in conscious contact with our true Self (Consciousness).

 Peace, Love, Harmony