Om! Self-inquiry / I am not what I perceive - Atman Nityananda

 

Self-inquiry / I am not what I perceive

First, assume a relaxed, balanced and stable posture. Relax your body and connect with your breath and with yourself to the sense I am or I exist. As the attention is focused and the mind calms down you feel more clearly that you exist that you are present and you are more and more aware of where your attention is and you can use your attention and your mind consciously.

Thence, you enquire about your true nature by denying each perception, each experience that appears in your awareness. We do this enquiry the way that I propose you below.

The moment you become aware of anything that attracted your attention, you say, What I perceive (whatever it is) I am not. What am I? You ask the question and silently contemplate it with full attention. Don't expect a mental or intellectual response. Ask the question and continue to silently contemplate gently the question paying full attention to yourself.

If what catches your attention, what you perceive is the body, you say:

This body that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

If what catches your attention, what you perceive is an emotion, you say:

 This emotion that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

If what catches your attention, what you perceive is an impulse, you say:

This impulse that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

If what catches your attention, what you perceive are the thoughts, you say:

These thoughts that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

If what catches your attention, what you perceive is a sensation, you say:

This feeling that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

If what catches your attention, what you perceive is the feeling of I, you say:

This sense of I that I perceive I am not. Then what am I?

Every time you feel the body you say: This body that I perceive I am not. Then what am I? You do the same with everything else and you do it every time you perceive and experience something (whatever it is). You continue doing it until your attention is focused on nothing, until nothing attracts and catches your attention.

Self-realization isn't merely an intellectual conviction ~ Swami Krishnananda

 Self-realization isn't merely an intellectual conviction

~ Swami Krishnananda

Mind is a materialisation of Consciousness, an expression or hardening of the all-pervading Self. Mind is the cause of egoism. Mind is Avidya itself. It has got the habit of always running outwards. The control of the mind and merging it in the Self is the purpose of all Sadhana. Mind is very fickle in its character and cannot exist without duality. It can be destroyed only through meditation.

Extract from Moksha Gita of Swami Si Amanda 

Commentaries by Swami Krishnananda

9. Destruction of Sankalpas is really destruction of the mind. It is only Sankalpas destroyed beyond resurrection that constitute the ineffable, imperishable and effulgent Brahmic seat.

The Sankalpas should be destroyed beyond resurrection. The resuscitation of Vasanas allows the tree of Samsara to grow once again and therefore, the purpose of all methods of Yoga is the utter removal of all the possibilities of further appearance of the mind. Calm, sure and steady should be the way of approach to Self-realization. There is no other way to attain Liberation than the Knowledge of what really exists, for the bondage consists in the forgetfulness of the Absolute which is here and now. Liberation cannot be attained by mere living in a forest and practising self-mortification. It is not even the renunciation of Karma that is required for the purpose of Self-realization. It is Knowledge that is wanted and nothing short of it. Knowledge consists in the conviction that Brahman is the only reality, that everything is Brahman, that nothing other than Brahman can exist, that Brahman is the very Self of all.

Jnana is a means for Self-realization and not merely an intellectual conviction. Scriptural study may help further Knowledge but by itself it is only in the realm of Maya. Jnana is not a philosophical creed but an intuitional comprehension of the entire being. The individual should expand into the Absolute and should live as the Absolute. Actual living in the Experience of Brahman, the Divine Being, is what is indicated by true Jnana.

The eradication of the mental function is not done in a moment like a magical trick. The attachment of the Jiva to its finitude has come since aeons. A mere intellectual grasping may make one believe in the illusory nature of the world, yet, the illusion does not thereby stop tormenting the individual. The cessation of Samsara takes place only through the actualisation of the undying Knowledge and practice of Yoga.

Annihilation of egoism, mind and vasanas ¬ Swami Sivananda