The Two Direct Ways to God-Realization, Part 1

[This is an article I recently wrote, which will be included in a meditation book I am writing. I contend that, based on the Trinitarian "structure" of Reality, there can only be two direct ways to the Absolute -- the Way of the Mystic, Divine Yoga, and the Way of the Gnostic, Jnana Yoga. This article is about the latter, while Part 2 will focus on the former.]

Q: Self-enquiry, finding out who one truly is, is a very popular spiritual practice nowadays. What are your thoughts on this practice?

A: I highly recommend Self-enquiry, particularly as it was taught by the late, great Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950). His teachings on Self-realization are the deepest and most detailed.

Q: How do you know that?

A: From decades of wide-ranging study, practice, and spiritual experiences. Anyone who can truly practice Ramana’s Self-enquiry (which means “pulling the mind into the spiritual Heart-center,” the soul-locus two digits to the center of one’s chest, where one awakens to the Self) will concur with my assessment.

Q: What do you mean by “pulling the mind into the spiritual Heart-center”?

A: When an “initiated” practitioner (one who has awakened Anugraha Shakti, the palpable force-flow of descending spiritual Energy) enquires to whom his thoughts arise, the Heart-center, which is the seat of the Self in the embodied being, literally sucks the thoughts into Itself, dissolving them. And when the mind is undone in the Heart-center, the Self spontaneously, for a time, shines forth as Consciousness-Radiance. When, in the rarest of beings, the Heart-center knot is severed by Anugraha Shakti (which is the same force-flow as the Christian Holy Spirit and the Buddhist Sambhogakaya), the Self is realized and thenceforth shines ceaselessly as illimitable Consciousness-Radiance.

Q: You say that one’s mind is pulled into and undone in the Heart-center. Where does the mind originate from, and where is it pulled down from?

A: The mind originates in the spiritual Heart-center, which contains the human soul-matrix, one’s psychical seed tendencies. These karmic seed tendencies, in response to internal and external stimuli, sprout forth, concatenating into habit-energies, which “crystallize” as thought-forms in the brain. But in an initiated yogi, the mind (the “bundle” of one’s thought-forms) is literally sucked back into the Heart-center, the Source whence it originated. Moreover, in an advanced yogi, the habit-energies that sprout forth from the Heart-center can be “irradiated” (obviated by Light-Energy) before they crystallize as thought-forms in the brain.

Q: How does the practice of Self-enquiry relate to pulling the mind into the Heart-center and realizing the Self?

A: The “I” thought, which perpetuates the ego (or separate-self sense), is at the root of all one’s thoughts. Self-enquiry is the practice of questioning each “I” thought as it arises. For example, if the thought “I want to eat” arises, one enquires: “Who am I?” Because no “I” -- no entity or thinker at the root of the thought -- can be found, the mind has no answer and is rendered silent. The uninitiated meditator’s experience is simply this silence, but an advanced meditator concomitantly experiences Anugraha Shakti, a force-current that pulls his attention (or “gaze”) into the Heart-center. When his attention and the Shakti merge in the Heart-center, he spontaneously recognizes himself as the true, or transcendental, “I,” the Self.

The Self, or Buddha-nature, is Being-Consciousness-Bliss (Sat-Cit-Ananda), not mere silence or emptiness. The Madhyamika and Zen Buddhists who identify the answer to “Who am I?” as just emptiness have not taken Self-enquiry to its onto-logical conclusion, which means finding out Who sees emptiness. The Self is Awareness, the Seer. Emptiness can only be an object. The Self, or Seer, is always the Subject, the true, or transcendental, “I” Who sees both emptiness and form.

Q: Why don’t these Buddhists get to the Heart-center and recognize the Self, the true Buddha-nature?

A: Because they have not awakened Anugraha Shakti, which is Blessing/Blissing Clear-Light Energy, the same Body, or Dimension, as the Buddhist Sambhogakaya and the Christian Holy Spirit. Anugraha Shakti is also the same Hypostases as the Hindu Bliss Sheath, which is the fifth and final (and therefore hierarchically most senior) sheath, or kosha, covering the Self, or Soul. The Self cannot be realized until Anugraha Shakti unites with one’s soul, or consciousness (contracted Siva), in the Heart-center; therefore, as long as one contemplates Shakti as an Object over against one’s consciousness, it functions as a sheath, albeit a blissful one. When Anugraha Shakti cuts the Heart-knot, it permanently de-contracts immanent Siva (one’s bound pure consciousness), and the Self shines forth as Siva-Shakti. When the Heart-knot is cut, Anugraha Shakti transmutes into Hridaya (or Heart)-Shakti, as the Self-Awakened yogi now radiates, rather than just receives, Blessing/Blissing Power.

The Nuts and Bolts of Practice

Q: Do you have specific recommendations for the practice of Self-enquiry?

A: Yes. First, instead of disidentifying from the body, be present as the whole body. When you are organismically present, you are integrally present, which is the optimal asana, or position, from which to initiate the enquiry. Consciously feel yourself as the whole body and be present to existence as a singular entity. Then begin the enquiry. Although, ultimately, you are timeless, spaceless Being, by being present as the whole body, you imbue your practice with consciousness-force, which will enable you to more quickly progress with the enquiry.

Whenever, in the course of practicing the enquiry, you become unsettled, randomly, briefly reassume the asana of being whole-bodily present. Once you feel integrally present, return to the enquiry.

Begin Self-enquiry by watching your thoughts. As soon as a thought with an “I” arises, such as “I don’t want to meditate right now,” enquire, “Who am I?” Or, alternatively, you can phrase the enquiry, “Who doesn’t want to meditate right now?” or “To whom do these thoughts arise?”
If thoughts cease and you encounter silence or emptiness, enquire, “Who sees the emptiness?” Eventually, your practice will generate enough conscious force to make the emptiness “dance,” to make it “come alive” as Shakti.

Periodically relax your bodymind and totally let go, being as if dead. This “unconditional surrender” is the perfect yin complement to the yang practice of intense enquiry. Alternating yin effortlessness (akin to Ohm’s reduction) with yang enquiry (akin to voltage) is the optimal way to generate maximal Shakti, or Spirit-current (akin to amperage).

The way to the Self is via Anugraha Shakti, the Spirit-current that is sucked into the Heart-center. And by alternating effortlessness with enquiry, you will, at some point, awaken (and thenceforth be able to evoke) Anugraha Shakti, the “Flow of Grace” that unveils the Self in the Heart-center.

Q: Because this Shakti, or Energy, is an object to one’s consciousness, just as thoughts and emptiness are, shouldn’t one enquire, “Who experiences the Shakti?”

A: Yes, because so long as the Shakti is perceived as an Object (even a holy Object) apart from one’s consciousness (or soul), it functions as the Bliss Sheath (or Body), the final covering of the soul. When this covering is removed, the soul shines as the Soul, the nondual Self (Siva-Shakti).
But the only way to “remove” the Shakti, the Bliss Sheath, is to merge your consciousness, or soul, with it. Therefore, even if you enquire into who perceives the Shakti, you will still perceive it, because, in the end, Shakti, being Siva’s Energy, is inseparable from Siva (Consciousness Itself). But when, upon Self-realization, the Shakti is no longer experienced as a separate Object, then the Bliss Sheath is “removed,” even though one still experiences the Bliss (or Ananda)-flow as a nondual extension of one’s Self (or Being-ness). In the State of Self-realization (or Sat-Cit-Ananda), Consciousness (Cit, or Siva) and Energy (Ananda, or Shakti) are One.

Miscellaneous Questions

Q: You talk about “pulling the mind into the Heart-center.” Does any other spiritual teacher talk about this?

A: Yes. The late Robert Adams (1928-1997), a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi who spent a few years in Ramana’s company. In Adams’ book Silence of the Heart, he repeatedly enjoins his students to practice Self-enquiry and pull the mind into the Heart-center, located two digits to the right of the center of the chest.

Q: I’ve read lots of Advaita Vedanta and neo-Advaita Vedanta books, and they don’t talk about Self-realization the way that you do. Besides Adams’ book, can you recommend any other texts that go into esoteric detail regarding the Self-realization process?

A: Yes. Get Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi (avoid the dumbed-down Inner Directions version), Sri Ramana Gita, and Sat Darshana Bhashya.

Q: I was under the impression that one simply had to stop thinking, or transcend the mind, in order to realize the Self. But you describe Self-realization as a multi-level process.

A: It’s actually a multi-sheath process, because in order to realize the Self, one must “cut through,” or transcend, the five hierarchically ordered (from grossest to most subtle) sheaths, or koshas, that encase or envelop (and veil) the indwelling Being-Consciousness. In his monumental text The Yoga Tradition, the late Dr. Georg Feuerstein, the foremost twentieth-century authority on yoga, describes the five sheaths thus:

1. The anna-maya-kosha, or sheath composed of food; that is, of material elements: the physical body.

2. The prana-maya-kosha, or sheath composed of life force: the etheric body in Western occult literature.

3. The mano-maya-kosha, or sheath composed of mind: The ancients considered the mind (manas) as an envelope surrounding the` physical and the etheric body.

4. The vijnana-maya-kosha, or sheath composed of understanding: The mind simply coordinates the sensory input, but understanding (vijnana) is a higher cognitive function.

5. The ananda-maya-kosha, or sheath composed of bliss: This is that dimension of human existence through which we partake of the Absolute. In later Vedanta, however, the Absolute is thought to transcend all five sheaths.

In the course of practicing Self-enquiry, a yogi (if he has not already done so) eventually awakens prana-shakti, the “lower,” or ascending, Kundalini, which correlates with the prana-maya-kosha. This awakening usually (but not always) corresponds with the temporary transcendence of one’s mind (manas), the mano-maya-kosha. Self-enquiry itself involves the “higher mind,” or “discriminative intelligence,” which enables the yogi to intuit or apperceive the Self as pure Awareness that is senior to (and apart from) the first three sheaths. At some point, the yogi will then begin to enjoy the Bliss-current (Anugraha Shakti) that accompanies abidance in transcendental Awareness. This Bliss-current is the ananda-maya-kosha. When this universal Bliss-current, the “higher,” or descending, Kundalini (which cascades down the frontal line of the body), unites with the yogi’s individual soul (or consciousness) in the Heart-center, Divine Union is attained, and the Self is realized.