Guidance on Difficulty with Inquiry - 7 April 2016
Saar (Essence)
Ananta guides seekers to move beyond mental answers like "me" or "I am the self" by inquiring into the witness of these thoughts, emphasizing that true recognition requires consistent checking rather than intellectual inference.
Don't let the mind derail you with simple cookies like mental answers; instead, ask who witnesses the thought.
Recognition of the true self is available now, but assimilation often requires a period of silence and openness.
If you are more open to satsang than the mind's words, the journey to self-realization cannot be long.
contemplative
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
There's a question from Prachi. Prachi says, 'There is overwhelming dullness, losing interest in worldly things. When I ask the question: Who is experiencing dullness? The answer is me.' Dea is watching from YouTube. Okay, so the answer I get... but you're not interested in the answer like this, you see? This is like saying, 'What is the capital of India?' 'New Delhi.' So that's not really an inquiry; that is just the mental questioning. So we're not really interested in the mental question and answer like this.
When the answer comes as a thought which is saying 'me', then we must look at it and say: Who is this thought arising for? Who is witnessing this thought? What does this one look like? Is this one affected by the dullness? You see? So use even this answer coming as 'me' to say: Who, me? Where is this me? What does this one look like? See, don't let the mind derail you with these simple cookies, you see. Whatever it is saying in response to the inquiry, let it say, and you use it for the inquiry and say: Who is this thought appearing to?
Sometimes it can feel like energetically something is being obstructed or emotionally something is being obstructed. Use even that to ask: Who is suffering from these? Is there a sufferer? Nothing can really get in the way of your inquiry just simply like this. If the mind is saying, 'Me! Of course me! What do you mean who me?' You know, it says these kind of things. Just look and say: Who is looking at these thoughts? The mind can say, 'But this is... you've done it so long, you don't find the answer.' Who's looking at these thoughts?
And this is what I mean by openness. If there is openness for these words here more than there is openness for the words from your mind, then definitely it cannot be a long journey. Just a simple checking about who you are. But if you are more open, or as open to the words of the mind as you are to the words of Satsang, then we can have a very long walk together.
Inquiry says, 'Father, when I do self-inquiry, these thoughts which I have picked up earlier keep coming up. I get an immediate answer that I am the Self, not able to go further.'
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Yes, same like this. The thought itself will try to have the answer for you: 'You are the Self. I am the Self.' So, who is witnessing this thought? Who are these thoughts appearing to? What does this one look like? Does this one want freedom? Is it resisting any experience in life? Is it concerned about any appearance? And if you find that the answer to all of these is 'no' and you've checked that 'I am that, I am this' after checking—not just a mental inference—then it is the recognition of your true Self.
And this recognition is available now. But remember that in spite of the recognition, it doesn't mean it is the end of all conditioning. Only in very rare cases... in fact, not really in any case, because it is said even about Bhagavan, who although had this clear recognition, he felt like he's dying and he wanted to be there to experience his death. But even after that clear recognition, he went into silence for ten years. How many years? For about twelve years, you see. So this being in silence and not immediately sharing from this recognition is very beautiful because it helps you dissolve the rest of the conditioning which can be there. This assimilation is very useful.
The Thread Continues
These satsangs touch the same silence.
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