winterknight

The state may be similar to lucid dreaming, but enlightenment is not a state. States come and go. That’s the difference. Still, the peaceful free state is a very useful thing to find for a seeker. Holding to that, the other states will lose power and ignorance will eventually evaporate.

Go and see if we do have a sense of self. You might be surprised. The goal is to see who you are. It is not a shame based practice. It is a practice of intense desire for truth. Forget “killing the ego.” Look for the ego first. What is it? What is the I? Don’t worry about souls. All that will be understood if you look for the I.

You are looking for who you really are. The point of all this seeking is ultimate truth and freedom — though words cannot describe it fully. Whether thinking and mind are the same depends on the context in which we talk. These are words which are used in many different ways. Truth realization is beyond time and death. I am not a fan of Sadhguru.

Energy is not a great way of thinking about things. It only matters insofar as it affects your ability to have a quiet mind to pursue self-inquiry. A "quiet mind" is the better concept. For example, if you haven't dealt with trauma (hopefully by psychoanalytic psychotherapy and by aligning your desires), you might not be able to concentrate on self-inquiry effectively. Also, don't get seduced by "practices." The word "practice" can be dangerous and misleading. It's true for a little while, but very quickly you need to think beyond practice entirely. The Truth is not something which comes and goes, or which is built up like a good body or a set of skills. Self-inquiry (and read this link to make sure you understand it correctly) is the key. You need to be engaging in self-inquiry at every waking moment. Self-inquiry is ultimately not a practice. Don't think of it as a practice. It is an intense looking with a seaching intent to find. It's not a repetitive, mechanical practice to get the mind to a certain state. On every issue always listen to Mooji over Sadhguru. Neither state is right. The first state is focused around some idea of love; the second has no peace. The "state" you are looking for is not oriented around any particular emotion, but will be one of peace, clarity, and absolute effortlessness that happens not just as you're sitting but as you're walking, talking, and doing anything in the regular world.

Yes, actually the real you is already enlightened. It is the false you that has to die. When you have followed the path to completion, you will find that there was never a false you to begin with.

No You're already in sahaja samadhi. The problem is the "I" that wants a taste of it. The I can't have a taste of it.

There's no need to do that unless you feel like that's necessary. If you do, there's no harm. Concentration is developed more broadly through having a quiet mind, and that requires having a basic intellectual framework for what the whole self-realization process is (you can get this from reading good scriptures and overviews of the whole process like my book), resolving all doubts about it (by asking questions of people like me) and becoming honest about your desires. That's not how I recommend approaching it. Read my link above and let me know if you have any questions.

?? Why do you like it so much and why do you feel it’s better than BG/Upanishads? Any favorite parts/stories?

Yes, those are not the methods I recommend. I mainly recommend Ramana Maharshi's self-inquiry.

The I that seems to suffer is not the true I. The I that can drop fetters is not the true I. If the enlightened one seems to suffer it does not mean there is actual suffering. Anyhow, these are riddles. I don't talk about "my" experience because it's always misleading. If you have questions about your path and experiences, though, please ask. My general advice to seekers is contained in this set of links. What is your meditation practice?

You cannot see the truth if the mind is disturbed. If you haven't dealt with your psychological baggage, your mind will be disturbed. Therapy is an excellent way of dealing with psychological baggage. In ancient times only after years of preparation in monasteries would a student be permitted to learn final truths about existence. That is because it took that time for the physical and mental disciplines to quiet the mind sufficiently. In the modern world, for worldly seekers, that is unrealistic, so a different method of mental purification must be employed.

Thanks, although Maharshi's position on it satisfies me: "Maharshi: The Kundalini of jnana marga is said to be the Heart, which is also described in various ways as a network of nadis, of the shape of a serpent, of a lotus bud, etc. Disciple: Is this Heart the same as the physiological heart? M.: No, Sri Ramana Gita defines it as the origin of the ‘I-thought’. D.: But I read that it is on the right of the chest. M.: It is all meant to help the bhavana (imagery). There are books dealing with six centres (shadchakra) and many other lakshyas (centres), internal and external. The description of the Heart is one among so many lakshyas. But it is not necessary. It is only the source of the ‘I-thought’. That is the ultimate truth."

You don't need it -- but it can be very helpful. It is something I like to recommend to seekers to help them purify their mind, to deal with past trauma and neglect, and to help become honest about what they want. All that helps immensely in the spiritual search.

You cannot, unfortunately. Psychotherapy requires a psychotherapist. I see you're in Lithuania. I would contact the Vilnius Psychoanalytic Society and see if there is a good treatment option near you -- often there ways to get inexpensive treatment if you don't have much money.

Good question. Unfortunately you can only know the answer when you get there.

You're welcome. Good luck, and come back any time

Just thought this might be appreciated since so many enjoy psychedelics as spiritual aids to exploration on this forum. That sense, when you take a psychedelic, of being taken on a swing backward and upward so that suddenly you can see the stage of life where once you thought you were an actor upon it... That "whoa! oh!" sense of reality of everything being spun on an axis you didn't even know existed... That sense, where you notice that the blankness, the spaces of experience are actually full... That sense of being supported on all sides and at every point at all times... That sense of being able to hear the static in what you thought was silence... These are just what it is to taste temporarily of what is actually always the case. You are in a psychedelic state right now that operates every second of your life. It runs through experience like an old-school phone tone, seemingly interrupted only by the thoughts of experiences, themselves rooted in the sense "I am". Try to grasp that "I" sense and the attempt will lead you to being able to hear that tone; eventually it will be all you hear.

In deep sleep, Self perceives the thought of pure forgetfulness, total darkness. That IS what it perceives.

Bhagavan also said that this teaching was just to help people who were body identified, that the real heart was simply nothing other than the Self. That's pretty much most of what I’d say about that. I'm no chakra expert and never really teach about the heart area per se... there are no light experiences for me.

If you are that, then to whom do the doubts occur? Self-inquiry must persist until there is clarity.

So if that is the I, then whom does the question bother? If you think that "I" is being bothered, then what you need to do is to hold to that I and focus on it. Do not let your attention go anywhere else.

Right, and this doubt can never be removed by any verbal answer I can give. It can only be removed by investigating who is asking the question. When the thought of doubt arises, look at to whom the question occurs.

But to whom is the involuntary recognition occurring? The question of who sleeps does make sense -- if sleep happens, it is certainly happening to someone. This is true even of deep, dreamless sleep. In the Vedantic conception, deep sleep too is experienced -- and we know that it is because when we wake up we had the vague sense that we slept. We don't logically "infer" that "I must have slept" because "I remembering laying down on the bed and now I'm on the bed and opened my eyes and hey that must mean I slept." No -- we know we did not know what was going on in the interval. That knowing of not-knowing is the experience of deep sleep. So sleep does occur to a 'someone.' That someone when investigated may prove itself to be a robot at one level, but at a deeper level it is not merely a robot. The one to whom that "robotic I" occurs and is experienced -- who is that? The one who is identical in waking, dream, and deep sleep... the one that is constant through those very different-seeming states... who is that?

Self-inquiry ends in a place beyond questions.

Ok. But then what is the question?