Tag: Advaita Vedanta
-
What Is The Essence Of The Mind?
Pt. 1: A searching investigation of the waking state will show that all that appears is dependent upon mind “in the broad sense.” By the latter, I mean that there’s a conceptual veil cast over what’s appearing such that all is appearing as “name and form.” Pt. 2: The first point is simply intending to…
-
What Kind Of Answer Do I Get From Self-inquiry?
Question Would the following jnana yoga approach in the vein of self-inquiry be correct? S1. A thought arises S2. I close my eyes S3. Then I ask: “Who is getting this thought?” (I experience a slowness in my breath and inevitably get an answer.) S4. I live in the moment. Is this the right process? Answer…
-
Are The Three Pillars Of Zen Unique To Zen?
The three pillars of Zen aren’t really the three pillars of Zen. They’re, rather, the three forces that motivate any serious sadhaka to realize atma svarupa. These pillars are: great determination, great trust or faith, and great doubt. If your spiritual temperament is marked by power or zeal, then you are to let great determination…
-
What Is The Meaning Of Sri Ramana’s ‘Go Back The Way You Came’?
One key to understanding self-inquiry is to get, at the level of practice, what Ramana Maharshi means when he says that you need to “go back the way you came.” 1. When Ramana Maharshi says, in particular, that at the root of all thoughts is the I-thought, what he means is that all objective experiences…
-
Self-inquiry Is Not Neti Neti
One common mistake is to think that self-inquiry is identical with neti neti. The latter is, at most, only a “preliminary study” that prepares the ground for self-inquiry proper. Thinking “I am not the body, not the senses, and not the mind” may be a good start. Indeed, a deep investigation, in the vein of…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 