“When your sadhanas (practices) themselves become a means of giving life to the non-existent ego, how can they destroy it?” - Ramana Maharshi
If we already are what we are seeking then what is the purpose or need for spiritual practice? If we’ve already arrived so to speak, what need is there for the pursuit of a higher state of consciousness? A Course in Miracles says it’s a journey without distance, right? Jesus said the Kingdom of God is here and now… within you. So, if we take these claims to be the gospel truth, then the very presence and immediacy of what would be the end goal of spiritual seeking would seem to obviate any effort or striving toward it, wouldn’t it? And there are some interpretations of nondual spirituality, such as Neo Advaita that say just that.
Neo-Advaita for example asserts that all is already one/whole and there is no separate individual self. In the absence of a separate self, there can be no effective spiritual practice because all practices reinforce the notion of an individual self that is carrying out the practice.
I used to believe that spiritual realization and deepening would come from ever more frequent, assiduous study, meditation, contemplation, and devotion. In other words, I thought I (the Larry character, the body/mind I have taken myself to be) would become more spiritual. What that misguided practice produced was an enlightened ego, a person who had acquired a whole lot of spiritual knowledge, with a concomitant lexicon of spiritual concepts that I could convincingly articulate. Alas, there was no actual recognition of Truth or my true and essential nature.
It was only when I began looking closely at the “me” character, the person I have taken myself to be all my life, that I found the fly in the ointment, the flaw in the practice. That flaw was that all that spiritual knowledge was no more than a veneer of concepts atop a finite individual self-image. Despite the accouterments of spirituality, I was no more familiar with the bare, essential spiritual being that lay hidden and undisclosed beneath a false self. I had been seeking but not finding because I was seeking amiss.
A realization of who and what we truly are, which is pure consciousness (or in religious terms, God’s infinite being) can come about by sudden, spontaneous insight but that is quite rare, and more typically breaks through from a “practice” of self-inquiry. In Sanskrit, such inquiry is called Atma Vichara, which means deliberating or inquiring into the self. This is an ancient Yogic method that was revived by the venerable Indian sage, Ramana Maharshi in the 20th century and has been touted as the direct path to self-realization or spiritual awakening. It is sometimes called a non-practice since instead of seeking something that one feels is inaccessible or building up one’s faith in the Absolute, self-inquiry simply turns the light of attention inward to one’s true identity. It is in this no holds barred intense looking that one realizes one’s true nature. It is guided by the existential question, “Who or What am I.” At first blush the personal identity responds with “I am this body’ or "I am this" role or this history or "I am my thoughts, feelings and memories." However, when these presenting images of oneself are looked at closely we find there is no substance to these beliefs and that there is something prior to these objective qualities that observe them. While the body can be perceived through sensations it is constantly changing and can be changed, even one’s name and gender can be changed but that which is the “I” sense preexists and remains present and unchanging. Likewise, thoughts, feelings and beliefs which we humanly identify with are just as transient. Thoughts come and go, same as feelings and beliefs, but the awareness that observes them does not come and go. So self-inquiry is the practice of becoming quiet and becoming aware of awareness itself or putting attention on attention. When this is done with one-pointed attention one cannot find the “person.” There is no “me. A personal me is a fictional character we have come to believe we are but the light of truth (scrutiny) reveals no such separate distinct entity. In this internal investigation, experience trumps beliefs, and the Truth of our essential being is revealed. And in this revelation is the clear seeing that you have always been this pure awareness or consciousness. So the practice, is really not a doing so much as a seeing of what you are not, a negation of the false self, the consequence of which lays bare the true and only Self there is. And this is not a personal self but rather a universal Self that is one with all of life.
If this approach resonates with you, there is a plethora of teachings and teachers on the web to guide this direct path to realization. A simple search of “nonduality” or "Advaita Vedanta" will produce many offerings. I have followed many teachers. My favorite is Rupert Spira.
I wish you clarity, ease, and profound realization on your spiritual path.
Namaste,
Rev. Larry
I love this Larry.