End Of Knowledge

Tag: Self-Inquiry

  • Self Inquiry For Tough Times

    When life is going smoothly, it’s easy to do self-inquiry and say, “I’m not the body.”  But what about when the going gets tough?  Am I able to maintain my poise and distinguish between myself and the body when it really counts? 

    It’s clear that at some point in time the body will die.  That’s as guaranteed as the sunrise and sunset so there’s not much point in being overly concerned about it.      

    Besides, if I’m consistently dedicated to self-inquiry then it should also be clear that while the body will surely die, I will not.  I am the eternal, ever-present, unchanging self.  I was never born so I will never die. 

    So instead of obsessing over the news, dwelling on political nonsense or indulging in fearful speculation, I bring my mind back to the knowledge that I am the self over and over again.  I remind myself that what will happen in the world will happen, regardless of whether I obsess over it or fear it.  But no matter what happens, I am always completely fine.  So while I’ll surely take the necessary precautions to protect my illusory body, I do it with with peace of mind, always remembering who I really am.  OM.          

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 93

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 93

    For me there is no mental action, good or bad.  For me there is no physical action, good or bad.  For me there is no verbal action, good or bad.  I am immortal consciousness, beyond the senses.
    -Avadhuta Gita 1:8
    Meditation

    I am immortal consciousness.  I am that which equally “reveals” all mental, physical and verbal actions, whether they be good or bad.  Just as the sun is never touched by the good or bad objects that it illuminates, I am never affected by the good or bad actions that I “illuminate.” OM.    

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Week 13 Progress Check

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 91

    “Everything is indeed myself, from the creator of the universe down to the smallest tuft of grass.”  The one who knows this for certain becomes free from conflict of thought.  They are pure, peaceful and free from care for what is attained and not attained.
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 11:7
    Meditation

    The inescapable conclusion of, “Everything is indeed myself” is that nothing but myself exists.  What is spoken of as “everything” is merely an idea falsely superimposed onto myself.  That being so, where is thought and how could I be in conflict with it?  How could I be tainted when nothing other than myself exists to taint me?  How could I be disturbed when there is nothing to disturb me?  How can I be free of care when care itself is a false notion?  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 82

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 82

    The body comes and goes. Since I am the self that neither comes nor goes, there is no reason to mourn. 
    -Ashtavakra Samhita 15:9
    Meditation

    The fact that I can say, “The body comes, goes and changes” proves that I, the witness of the body, do not come, go or change.  I must exist prior to the thought, “Here is the body” because if I came into existence along with the thought of the body I would be unaware of the thought’s previous non-existence owing to the fact that I too would have been previously non-existent (and therefore not present to recognize the arising of the thought of the body).  By the same logic, I must exist after any particular thought of the body otherwise I would disappear along with the thought (and therefore not be present to recognize the disappearance of that particular thought of the body). 

    Nor do I change when the body changes, such as when the body changes from childhood to adulthood.  Because if I were identical with the changing body, then when the childhood body changed into the adult body (and thus no longer existed) I too would no longer exist.  And a non-existence entity would not be present and able to say, “Now here is my adult body.”

    So unlike the body, I do not come, go or change.  I am ever-present and immutable.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction

  • Steady Wisdom: Day 79

    Steady Wisdom: 108 Verses On Changing My Thinking

    DAY 79

    For me who am ever liberated, pure, changeless, immortal and indestructible there is no hunger, thirst, grief, delusion, old age or death.  For I am bodiless and all pervasive like the either.
    -Upadesha Sahasri 13:3-4 (Metrical)
    Meditation

    The body appears in me, all-pervasive consciousness-existence, like an object appearing in space.  Just as space is untouched by the inherent defects of objects, I am untainted by the inherent defects of the body such as hunger, thirst, etc.  I do not need to be liberated from the body because I was never bound by it—for how could I be bound by an unreal appearance?  The unreal appearance called “body” is mortal and subject to destruction.  This much is obvious.  What is also obvious is that because I am unaffected by the appearance of the body, I immortal and indestructible.  OM. 

    Read Series Introduction