Preetom

SELF INQUIRY!!! I will elaborate it on a new post after a week or so. After I finish my home retreat ^^

Due to karma or whatever, some people have some sort of built in 'wisdom' from their birth. These people seem to see the folly of 'consumption'. Nothing in this world seem to satisfy them. So...after years/decades of running around like a hungry ghost...desperately trying to fill the inner void with objects and ideologies..and failing countless times..they finally give in to the path of enlightenment. On the other hand, rest of the people take the carnal cravings as their highest priority in life and they chase after them...not seeing/admitting the folly of them..until their death approaches and there is really nothing left to do. So yeah, enlightenment does take an ounce of spiritual wisdom to initiate the path. If all your cravings and curiosity ends with the pleasure and pains of life, then there is no room for a possibility of enlightenment.

@Dan94 Man you gotta follow @Nahm's solid advice, If you are really serious about your life purpose (Being a successful musician) and care about producing quality content until the death of your body. From my experience, I can say that there is no shortcut in the long run. I remember practicing guitar blindly for 6 years and making huge momentum. Then all of that crashed and burned in 1 year due to a series of addictions, health issues and depression. Discipline for discipline's sake is the legit way to master your craft and sustain that over a long timeline. In case of your life purpose especially in some very technical field like being a performing musician, there is really no other alternative than solid discipline and practice routine. Cause you know how skipping just a single day of practice disturbs your form. And about enlightenment, I think being a disciplined musician itself is a solid path towards that higher consciousness. I'm sure you know many virtuoso musicians (In many genres), who have practically surrendered their whole life to their practice and craft. After some good years, they are not really looking for anything particular. Their solid discipline carry their flow state. That goalless, dedicated practice itself consumes their ego, pride over time. Some of these people are extremely grounded and you can almost feel their aura (the way you feel in front of a guru) After a while, practicing those scale runs, chords and songs get mechanical anyway. Start practicing 24/7 awareness on breathing while you practice to keep it fresh and conscious. NEVER let your daily practice become mechanical even if you are doing it for 50 years. Cause it WILL come back to bite your ass. When you are mechanically doing stuff, all sorts of things go on in your mind (mostly unconsciously) which inevitably depletes your mental and physical energy that leads to low conscious behaviors. Every single day counts! How about this for a strategy? 1) 8 hours of solid, conscious music practice (after a while this will become your meditation session). Start block time practicing in 30 min/1 hour chunks instead of planning and grabbing all 8 hours by the balls at the same time (It will seriously demotivate you to practice that day) lol. 2) 1 hour meditation. 1 hour breathing techniques + exercise/yoga. 1 hour PD stuff (visualization, affirmation, journaling, reading) then you got 5 hours still left in day to rest, maintain relationships, do other stuff, enjoy nature, studying more etc. (24/7 mindfulness goes on ) even if you sleep 8 hours. Make a routine that suits you most at your particular life situation. Then maybe take 2 vacations every year for psychedelic/solo retreats. Consider trying this out. I think you can discipline yourself easier as you already got solid meditation practice going on. I know it may sound like a very tough and mechanical lifestyle, but remember a musician's life can be either a very fulfilling one or a very miserable one depending on how you build it. Yeah it will consume all of your personal agendas and low consciousness cycle. Yeah It will consume your whole life. But wouldn't a hardcore lifestyle solely towards full enlightenment and understanding do the same thing? Finally, I will attach this link of me playing guitar at almost my peak performance level. Not to brag but to verify that I'm not just throwing 2nd hand knowledge at you. A musician got a HUGE road in front of him. Gotta figure a lot of stuff out and it's very easy to get lost somewhere. That's why staying conscious and strategic in everyday life is the key. All the best! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQs9_M8gc5U

There you go

@AleksM Thanks a lot for writing up this post. I wonder how come I didn't find it earlier. This post made a lot of sense to me. 24/7 mindfulness that you suggested sounds like a legit and quick strategy. I have some direct insights about mastery because of 10k+ hours of hardcore guitar practice in 6 years. I think if someone deliberately practices something 16 hours a day for a year (Like focusing on breathe), I don't think there would be much left in his psyche other than the practice itself lol. Its shocking how people trash talk about a claim so quickly without even trying it out. And also talking about woowoo or crazyness, Enlightenment itself is the ultimate mindfuck. "There is only God and I'm that", this statement itself is the most crazy thing. Compared to it 3rd/1000th eye, light body, deity, galactic counsel, 500th dimension etc pales in comparison. So I don't get why people pursuing the most crazy thing which is enlightenment, still get offended by some of these things you mentioned. Now It would be really helpful if you clarified some of my questions. 1) When you started 24/7 mindfulness, did you just focus on breath(sensation in nose) strictly or on the feelings of body at the same time? 2) I've really struggled holding this focus while studying/memorizing, using computer/mobile, talking with people, reading a book. During these activities, things continuously pop up which demands your thinking/attention. While activities like walking, eating, sitting alone, brushing etc are monotonous and easier to practice mindfulness simultaneously. How did you become successful in bringing unbroken focus on breath while those technical activities? Did you keep on trying again again million times a day until you reached a break through? 3) Have you attained complete and permanent dis-identification from mind/ego/karma/self image? 4) If so, how do you look at all this spiritual evolution/higher dimensions/guides? where is this stuff actually going and whats the point really when you can't cling/identify with anything but just observing. 5) Do you have any experience or researched seriously about kundalini? 6) Did you have a serious crisis in your life that led you to such hardcore spiritual commitment in the beginning (Like addictions/breakup/depression etc) or you just embarked on this path out of love for Truth and mystery of life? and finally... 7) How are you man? PS: Sorry if this is too long. Hoping for your answers. And you write in English just fine. All the best And I love how you say that our present reality itself is a psychedelic experience. Just beautiful!

What do you do when you become enlightened? Answer: You go fuck yourself. (cause there is no other) (Sorry if this is too cringe. OP/admin can delete it. Savage reply to zendevils and enlightened role players tho)

I once saw a video of a monk speaking something along the following lines: All human problems/suffering is basically a result of 'Mis'-Perception. We suffer because we don't know how to perceive properly. We generally perceive everything with our labels and projection. We are actually coloring a blank canvas then crying about the color. The moment we learn to just perceive things as they really are which is nothing but pure being, all other aspects just auto correct and get into complete harmony. That's basically the main job of meditation/mindfulness training. Setting our perception right. All our notion about us, others and things are just a complete joke when you actually perceive things right. But its a very miserable state which binds us into this self-perpetuating prison when we Mis-Perceive

@ajasatya hey brother, can you pray for us lost, confused fellas please? Your words always have a potent healing power. I genuinely feel that. Thanks for your contribution on this forum. Your posts are one of the reasons I try to be here regularly. Please consider writing a book someday that will heal the world. with love and gratitude, Preetom

@Leo Gura Is evolution an inherent drive in reality or is it just another perspective we all take it as the God's commandment without questioning. After self-realization (complete dis-identification from ego/karma/personality), is there really any concept of evolution left other than pure being for it's own sake?

@Leo Gura What is your defining moment for Enlightenment? I've been following you for years now and you've had many mystical experiences within a diverse range. But what is the exact milestone/shift that will confirm your enlightenment? Do you have a conceptual model for that? Being a highly strategic guy, you must have some sort of vision to confirm that. Is there a starting point from where there is literally no return? If so what is that in your understanding? Is there a final/completion point? Once again what is that? PS: I'm sorry if you already answered these questions in some video/post. I somehow missed it.

@Martin123 so you don't investigate/inquire on the sense of 'I AM' anymore?

@Martin123 Also can you please tell me what's your basic strategy now on this path? Are you going all out with love revolution? are you doing self inquiry meditation as well? Do you mediate at all? if so what technique are you using right now? Thanks in advance!

@Leo Gura Thanks a lot for answering. How many hours/days/weeks have you sustained that nondual awareness at most before it fades away. And also you talked about testing up a project of using a combination of 5 meo dmt and serious consciousness work to get enlightened in 1 year (like Martin Ball). Are still going with this approach?

See these 2 short animated videos. Hope you gather some insights in to mind and addictions. 1)https://youtu.be/1Je0mu4GG-o 2) https://youtu.be/WwNRXLKoKqY

@Martin123 so will self realization eventually happen? or people with awakened kundalini before self realization will jump to unity consciousness all together. they will completely reconstruct their ego/karma and have the most harmonious loving unified self. But they won't have total and permanent dis-identification and experience the void consciousness. Is this where it's going? And Jan also mentions that true dis-identification can only happen through self-realization. You can't fake it or temporarily have it. If you try hard to dis identify then it's just disowning/dissociation which is basically neurosis.

@Martin123 Have you had what Jan Esmann calls self-realization? Which is complete and permanent dis-identification from small self/ego/karma/personality? There can still be tons of karma/neurosis/ego left but there is literally no identification with it. From what I understood studying Jan's website is that Dark night of soul comes after self realization. Self realization is the very beginning of Enlightenment. There can be a loving self or a dark twisted self in your psyche but there is no identification with any of that. Starting from self realization, its a point of no return. The karma/ego starts restructuring itself (god consciousness stage) and it feels painful and miserable. But you don't suffer/identify with any of that. Since you are pretty experienced with kundalini which generally comes after self realization, So have reached that permanent shift yet?

@Ilya Phenomenal explanation! Thanks for the video. But I would like to know if Leo has any personal understanding on this one or is he taking some other teacher's model as accurate and going for it.

Hope this small vid helps

@Fuse I kind ya feel you man. I think that's the most dangerous side of addictions and self recurring negative thoughts. Yeah Its extremely hard to turn things around when you've abused yourself with porn/food/fetish/bad habits for years/decades. It toxify you on every level imaginable. Any effort or new beginning you start crumbles into ashes in just 2-3 days. You are back at your neurosis again. Even more knee deep than before. It can be one of the miserable experiences. You see your whole life fading away into trash and you can't seem to do anything. I sometimes think "God knows what sort of sick animal I've become". Really it makes us think if we can actually heal ourselves once again taking all the abuse we've done to ourselves into account. You are going through a very challenging change. Many people of this forum are on it as well. I wish you all the best man. Really hope you find a way out and breakthrough forever from this rut.

Jokes aside, you can see it from a hindu perspective. The universe is nothing but the interplay of Shiva (male) and Shakti(female). Shiva is the ultimate nothingness/stillness/awareness itself. Absolutely still. Shakti is the energy counterpart of Shiva. Shakti lures Shiva into a cosmic dance and that's how universe and consciousness comes out of utter nothingness. So its Shakti's nature to disturb the stillness of Shiva in order to immerse into the game of cosmic creation. Like so, women test and excite the energy in male to higher and higher levels so that both can be joined in that heightened rapture. Either in bed or outside..you know.....

Cause she wants the D.

The first step: Love your heart. The middle step: Love your heart. The Last step: Love your heart. Every disturbing experience that grab your attention and open the pandoras box of judgement and micromanaging, you need more love not less. Love becomes the only response to life no matter what arises. Matt Kahn <3 Do this and see the magic of auto correction over time.

@AlldayLoop I will share a new perspective. It's from the book "The Celestine Prophecy". It resonated with me so much. Very briefly here it goes.. Imagine living the 2nd century (1001-2000 AD) in a single lifetime.... At first of this era, everything was under the command of churchmen. They were the middle men in spirituality and every value of life. The population could only reach spirituality through these churchmen by blind faith. General population couldn't even imagine doing something independently without the counsel of these churchmen. Now eventually the churchmen abused/suppressed the whole system and the population slowly started to break free of this blind faith. By 1600, it pretty much got out of hand and people stopped taking the churchmen as their supreme counsel. Suddenly the population felt totally lost and mentally/spiritually devastated. Just Imagine being in a blind faith grip for 600 years, with all the assurance of prosperity and happiness in this life and the next came out to be a total folly. Imagine all your psychological shields and webs getting destroyed suddenly. Now you are confused, depressed as fuck and nothing to hold on to. Then eventually the population decided that they will find the TRUTH of this world by their own effort. Skepticism and questioning and reaching conclusion using one's logical experience started becoming the new rule to understand this world. Science evolved. General people relied on the explorer/scientists to find and present a new truth to them. But alas...nothing comforting came about quickly. Now the population realized that they are gonna have to stay in this planet no matter what. So why not make us comfortable while the scientists take their time to reveal a satisfactory truth. And boom, science, industry, business started growing like wildfire. For the last 400 years, all the resources were invested to invent a more cushy, comfortable, pain free life. All of this without a sense of where we are ultimately heading to. No one questioned a damn thing as their lives were getting more comfortable. Civilization started manipulating the earth ruthlessly to meet it's ends. But there was a cost. The cost was squeezing every ounce of mysticism from reality all together. So that the most convenient systems could be constructed. So by 2000s we realized that we have made our live way convenient. these 400 years brought revolutionary change in life. Now that we have satisfied us to a great degree through materialism and lot of our pain and inconvenience are long gone, the question of spirituality arises once again naturally. Now in our cushy lifestyle, we find asking ourselves, "Now What?", "Where is this all leading to?''. So back to my point, I think mysticism/enlightenment never died. It went through a dormant period. Every single human in this era is destined to face the question of reality sooner or later. We can't shove our heads in sand and pretend to be blind anymore. That existential itch will follow us to our deathbed. I live in a sort of poor, developing country. From all the rural stories I've heard, I sort of intuitively guessed that people living 50 years or more in the past were not faced with existential questions that seriously. Maybe just during catastrophes or at deathbed. Other than that most people kept on living in the same house, in same fashion generation after generation without questioning much. But now in this era, even teenagers are being hit by these tough existential topics ruthlessly. Huge amount of people all over the world are intuitively sensing a huge and hidden hollowness in their entire life and perspective. But most of them are unable to do anything due to closed mindedness and attachment to limiting beliefs. So in this era and the followings, mysticism/enlightenment is not a choice anymore. its like no matter what the hell you do and achieve in life, at one point of your life you are bound to face these existential questions. This itch will follow you to your deathbed. That's why many spiritual teachers call it a very special era where consciousness itself is breaking free from delusion. Sort of like making enlightenment work easier day by day. Hope you get a new perspective on this topic. This universal itch won't stop until the totality of creation readjusts itself to higher consciousness and bring mysticism in its rightful throne.

@Edvard I don't know man. Diseases can be a byproduct of lots of parameters like genetics, environment, psychology, immunity, lifestyle etc. A very complex system indeed. I don't wanna comment on that. But on further note, if we are openminded, masturbation can be looked at from different angles. When we completely heal ourselves sexually and unhook from distorted sexual cravings/views, we can use masturbation for many different purposes. 1) Masturbating + inducing sexual energy and then meditating/concentrating on that energy. Being open to it. It can be powerful mindfulness exercise all throughout the body. Plus learning to feel this energy on ever subtle level thus appreciating and feeling this energy more deeply. 2) Masturbation + concentration can induce creativity. Then using that to boost artistic endeavors and performance. 3) Some people masturbate before hitting the gym and can do some extra work using this energy. Raising one's energy and putting it in any work. you get the idea. But if the sole purpose of masturbation is to ejaculate and feeling that high, then inevitably you feel like shit no matter how you rationalize with it. The body just doesn't feel right with that level of friction. Masturbation + Ejaculation is a thief that comes and robs us. At least in my case.

Hey man, I can relate with that as well. While all the modern knowledge preach masturbation is so healthy and such, I never resonated with that claim through my own experience. Masturbation with/without porn inevitably leave a distaste and disgust for life. Feeling all drained and somber. Recently in an Interview I heard Jan Esmann ( A competent spiritual master in Shaktipath) saying, "Masturbation is a waste of energy. But having sex with someone is an exchange of energy." That made a lot of sense for me. Indeed Masturbation is ultimately a depletion of vital life energy no matter how you look at it. While during sex, two people exchange that life force with each other thus feel more alive and connected given that they appreciate and love each other. So I think a solution might be in shifting from masturbation to having intimate sex.