THE WT WE CARRY
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THE BAGGAGE WE CARRY
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THE LIGHT WE CARRY
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The very first spiritual guru is the All knowing, All powerful God Himself!
Bhagavan Shivshankar in his aspect as Sri Dakshinamurthy is known as the Ādi Guru in our Sanatana Dharma.
The story goes that the four kumaras Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara—who were the mind-born sons of the creator Brahma and well versed in the Vedas and Upanishads—approached Bhagavan Shivashankar and asked Him to impart that knowledge which would enable them to get rid of their Maya.
Bhagavan Shivashankar graciously assumed the form of a youth as Dakshinamurthy and sat under a banyan tree facing south. The four kumaras too sat in His presence. They were all well advanced in age. That's how the story is.
Sri Dakshinamurthy assumed silence by remaining in the Absolute or the Turiya state of consciousness which also raised the minds of Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara to the Turiya state of consciousness and imparted spiritual instructions in silence.
As a result of Sri Dakshinamurthy's instructions, the doubts of His four disciples were destroyed.
Sri Adi Shankaracharya describes this beautifully in his celebrated Dakshinamurthy Stotra thus…
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Awakening is followed by enlightenment.
In fact, This is what actually happens.
First one is awakened then he attains enlightenment.
It is said that seven days after his enlightenment the Buddha was passing by a man on the road who was struck by the radiance of his face and his peaceful presence.
The man stopped and asked, “ My friend, who are you? Are you some angel or God?”
“No,” said the Buddha.
“Well, then, are you some kind of magician?”
Again Buddha answered, “No.”
“Are you a celestial being ? “ “No.”
“Well , then what are you ?”
The Buddha replied, “I am awake.”
Buddha means “one who is awake”- self-realised.
What is the difference between self-realisation and enlightenment?
What you know as ‘I' is the mind's ‘I'. There is false-self as an ‘EGO'. There is duality. There is a subject and object also.
When duality of the mind's ‘I’ dissolves - it is called self-realisation.
When dewdrop realises itself, it is self-realisation.
When existence merges into your being that is called enlightenment.
When Ocean merges into dewdrop, it is called enlightenment.
In other words - when the sixth chakra(Ajna chakra) opens then you realise your nondual self and that is called self-realisation and when the 7th - Sahasrara Chakra + 8th-Bindu Chakra and 9th -Talu chakra open then it is called enlightenment.
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Thinking is only a preliminary. The various thought systems are useful in developing faith and determination... but the real progress is in culturing meditative attention, and in this attention further depth is revealed. Yes, it could be said that "you are already That" but first the occluding fascination with thought and emotion must give way to undistracted sustained meditative awareness.
Ramana Maharshi is a key instigator behind the modern interest in Non-duality.
Ramana Maharshi, for example in "Talks with Ramana" a record of discussions in the ashram, goes into extensive depth about preparation. RM is well known for the "who am I?" technique, but in "Talks" he also recommends most of the other traditions saying that Bhakti (devotion), jnana yoga (discrimination like J.R. Krishnamurti), tantra, kundalini yoga, karma yoga etc... saying that they all lead to the same state as "who am I?". Examine the personal accounts from various students in the ashram. Ramana intuited what each student needed and addressed their unique personal needs, an approach that has been lost.
The modern neo-advaita non-dual teachers are going off on a course that is imaginative and has no firm connection to any traditional insight, and no connection to any actual realization.
Non-duality is a high state of consciousness where creation is realized as Self. This is a post enlightenment realization based on accounts from a number of sages. I do not know of a single non-dual teacher who teaches from this actual realization, they teach from a mental pattern and charismatic authority like traditional religious priests. Modern non-duality is a faith based system where blind unquestioning faith in the ideas and a certain style of speaking is emphasized.
The modern take on non-duality has shifted so that the original "who am I?" technique is no longer known, and engagement of the other meditative traditions is no longer understood.
So, what "triggers the shift" to a new state of being, to Being, is sustained meditative awareness in which subtler insight is revealed, although each tradition (kundalini, devotion etc) will speak of it differently. The busy mind and emotions simply cover up the subtler reality.
Modern non-dual teachers offer just another thought system, more mental content. This can be useful in building up incentive to look further but can also be a blockage if the need for meditation is not understood. Meditation is a tool, different styles work for different people, then there will be, at first, moments when technique falls away leaving pure receptivity beyond distraction.
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