winterknight

Well, these are reflections of divine love. Divine love itself isn't a 'feeling' -- even of unity -- or recognition. Feelings and recognitions that come can go. Divine love is simply the unchanging Reality that there are no others.

Of course it's possible... Ramana Maharshi was not even told anything before he had his 'enlightenment' experience at 16. This is said to be the result of the seekers having made all their efforts in previous lifetimes.

You are already enlightened. When you grasp the meaning of this, not just as a concept, but directly, you are near enlightenment. Best to give up all expectations about timing.

If there were an infinite amount of space with an infinite amount of stars, it would also take an infinite amount of time for the light from all those stars to travel through that infinite space to reach earth. But the earth hasn't been around an infinite amount of time, and neither has this universe. So we'd never see all of it, only the tiniest fraction.

yes, not delusional at all

yeah sure that sounds more or less right. I don't love the phrasing of "watching the watcher," though... You cannot watch the watcher, really, since you actually are that. "staying in aware presence," as you put = staying in the samadhi achieved in the above paragraph. 1. a little bit of mantra-chanting... other than that, self-inquiry itself was my meditation for over a year. And contemplating all the spiritual concepts, understanding them, reasoning them out, dealing with my own objections and doubts -- even though concepts eventually have to be given up -- was arguably a very important "meditation" practice as well. 2. I personally always had devotion to God, too, in various Hindu forms. I never did rituals, but I did pray. I think that helped me. 3. formal sitting at the very beginning and quickly leaping to all the time

Not sure what Osho said. Basically if you "want something more," keep inquiring. If you are at peace and relaxed and clear while staying awake and able to do other things -- stay with it.

1. Yeah, it's the looking/exploring part that matters, basically. 2. Only enlightenment provides total frictionlessness. Actually eventually following your desires honestly will lead you to increase your desire for spiritual liberation. Can be very helpful. I did. But gurus can come from many things -- the inner guru is most important. That which cannot be named. You can do that if you feel like that's the sequence that would be helpful for you... The root reason is that you aren't being honest about your desires and feelings. Read this post for more.

Yes, in therapy. If that's not available then you need to get honest about your desires yourself. Admit to yourself what you actually want and feel -- not what you should want. And how do you figure out what you actually want and feel? Notice how you feel; metaphorize it (articulate what it feels like); think of what you might want to do & notice/metaphorize how you feel given each possibility; act in various ways and metaphorize how you feel after these actions. In this way you come closer to what you actually want, not what you "should" want or hope you want or think you should want or want to want. Maybe you want to make music and not meditate. So make music -- be honest about it and do that! That's the way to move forward: align action and motive. Or maybe you don't want to lose weight. If you’re going to eat junk food -- tell yourself "I want to eat junk food. This IS what I want." Or perhaps you both want and don't want that... admit that to yourself too -- "I want to eat junk food but I also want to look better." Then investigate what these feelings mean... metaphorize them, and really listen to what they are saying, their reasons. Imagine they are little voices inside you. They have histories, reasons for wanting what they want. But just hold them... realizing that "What I want is to stay in conflict right now, because I don't know what to do." And take responsibility for that at least. There are also many other feelings you could try admitting to yourself, negative feelings you have about parents, your past, your friends, etc. -- often stuff we are ashamed about. Again, all this is exactly why I recommend psychoanalytic therapy (not just any therapy... psychoanalytic therapy). And expect it all to take time. No shortcuts. But you can meditate, read scriptures, and so on to some extent while doing all this.

Please go make an appointment with a therapist and make sure that you ARE in fact ok. If you really are enlightened, you won't be afraid of making sure that you're mentally fine.

Follow the spiritual path and discover your true self. That's the source of happiness. Someone working can do it too.

From the spiritual standpoint, the goal is the quiet mind. A quiet mind comes from being honest about one's desires and following them. If you want sex, admit it and be open about it, and try to act in a way that pursues that desire. But do so ethically -- ethics also ensure a quiet mind, by reducing both inner and external conflict. Now that said, if what you want is the spiritual above all -- if that is what you actually feel and not just tell yourself that you want -- then you could experiment with celibacy. Sex and relationships can consume a lot of time and effort and breed emotional attachments. That's why monks traditionally didn't engage in them. That energy could be used in the spiritual search. So if you are open to giving those things up, try it and see what happens. You can always go back later if it isn't working.

Yes, that's correct -- if you want my answers. The problem is that you ask a lot of questions without any context. I've answered many of them in the past, but I don't see much sign of your integrating my responses. "How long is string?" "Is it good to talk?" That's in effect the kind of question you're asking. The questions are based on misconceptions. If you want an intellectual framework, why not start with something like a good overview text like Drik Drisya Viveka or my book? Or if you must ask these kinds of questions, relate them to your path and give me your own thinking on them first -- how you came to that question, why it would even occur to you, what your own thoughts are on it, etc. This is a question of just that type. "Thought" means many, many different things in different contexts. To the enlightened one even thought is non-thought. Merely not having thoughts at one particular time is not enlightenment, though it may be a coma, or it might be deep sleep, or it might be nirvikalpa samadhi. If one never has any thoughts, then who is the thinker who is to be called enlightened or not -- who is the one who doesn't have thoughts? You are too concerned with the end goal of enlightenment and what it is "like" -- which is delaying you from actually simply looking inside and finding out what it is like for yourself.

Please relate these questions to your particular path and to the obstacles you are facing on it.

It is the purpose of art to explore those questions. For a seeker, the creation and appreciation of art can be a powerful tool to understand one's own mind and those of others, become more honest about one's feelings and desires, and discover beauty in painful experiences -- all this helps to quiet the mind and aids self-inquiry.

You're very welcome. Yes, SoonHei says it correctly: the aim of meditation is to discover that as your constant nature. That is the meaning of enlightenment. Meditation is not something separate from that. You can have quiet-mind states through music & art, but because they will not last past the time you see that song or painting. Educate yourself about the path & practice self-inquiry and you will understand what meditation actually means.

Yes. Dare to relax totally -- that's what it comes down to.

My book, How to Find What Isn't Lost. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Who says the body is moving? It is only when the mind leaves that place which is “so still, it’s just being” that someone says the body moves... So what is happening, then? Well, it is only when the mind leaves that place that THAT question is asked... The same is true of the questions about who is responding to questions here. Follow the path of self-inquiry and you’ll find out that it cannot be said ever to have come into being. Yes, this is an unfortunately common misunderstanding. The Heart simply means the Self. All the right side of the body stuff is only meant for those who currently identify themselves other the body, as a way of helping them go beyond it, as a bridge to a better understanding.

This is true, and there are some questions here that are less than meritorious, but there are a lot of genuine ones as well. I partly feel committed to "pay it forward" since I've had people patiently answer my questions as a seeker, and have learned so much from various Q&A dialogues with, e.g. Ramana Maharshi. Great choice of emoji. Yes, the idea to help others qualifies. But dig down deeper into the "I" and you might find that the very idea of a "purpose" doesn't really represent reality accurately... that in fact things happen "without a purpose."

The problem here is that the entire idea of a person who has emotional responses is itself part of the "virtual reality" if we take your example. No one can be said to actually have this emotional response. Who is this person to whom that response matters? And perhaps it might be worth asking yourself -- to whom does it matter right now, this whole idea of others suffering? I'm not really interested in going into great autobiographical detail about my search, but I'll say that from the seeker's perspective it took 20 years of searching. The reality is that there is no such thing as "realization" -- that is part of the realization. And thus there can be no "more" to do, given that there was nothing ever to do, really. Though the seeker must proceed as if there is something to be done. From the mind's standpoint, the mind can always grow quieter and quieter, and that -- to the mind -- is what seems to be happening. In reality there is no such thing as mind. These are the paradoxes of talking about this stuff. There is no enlightenment and no "after." There is no "I" after enlightenment, so no question of life purpose. There really isn't, but if I spoke in that language I'd say -- the only purpose is to be, and all else comes involuntarily and spontaneously, unplanned -- even planning itself. How does this relate to your search? I don't think asking or answering these kinds of questions is too helpful.

Yes. "That there is an appearance" is itself a thought, and one based on a separate sense of I, which is also a thought. Cut the second thing and you cut the first. The ego is the categorizer and namer, and its categories are all based on the duality of perceiver & perception, of "I" and "not-I." If the ego is recognized to be false, all the names and categories -- including the very idea of "thing" or "appearance" -- must all be seen as false as well. And so Silence prevails.

Yes, I'm suggesting that your understanding of illusion is missing something. If you're interested in discussing this further to deepen your understanding, I'm willing. But if you're just interested in telling me how right you are, then I'm happy not to continue this conversation.

This is just a limitation of words. The idea that there is an illusion at all is illusory. This cannot be understood with the intellect, however. No, that's an intellectual answer. What I meant is that you need to follow the path and do self-inquiry and then you will understand the answer yourself. If I speak the answer in words, you won't understand, but ok: it appears to you that I'm doing these things, but in fact it cannot be said that I am doing these things, and it cannot be said that these things are being done at all. It cannot be said that there is a narrative that someone is "playing," despite whatever appears to you.

My answer is to see who the "I" is and then you will know the answer to those questions in the only way they can truly be answered. All the other answers are misleading.