{"id":1976,"date":"2017-06-13T18:34:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/?p=1976"},"modified":"2017-06-13T23:46:36","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T03:46:36","slug":"self-enquiry-is-the-simulation-of-sahaja-samadhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/self-enquiry-is-the-simulation-of-sahaja-samadhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-enquiry is the simulation of sahaja samadhi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If there\u2019s one quote from Ramana that every serious seeker should know, it\u2019s this one:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Inquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That&#8217;s from <a href=\"http:\/\/realization.org\/p\/ramana\/who-am-i.html\"><i>Who Am I?<\/i><\/a> Here\u2019s the same sentence in another translation:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The name \u2018\u0101tma-vic\u0101ra\u2019 [refers] only to [the practice of] always keeping the mind in [or on] \u0101tm\u0101 [oneself].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s what Self-enquiry really is:  we keep the mind in the Self.<\/p>\n<p>We <i>hold<\/i> it there.<\/p>\n<p>This may come as a surprise to people who think Self-enquiry is mainly about investigating or asking questions.  For these people,  Ramana says in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Talks-Ramana-Maharshi-Munagala-Venkataramiah\/dp\/8188018074?tag=realizatorg\"><i>Talks<\/i><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nBut really vichara [enquiry] begins when you cling to your Self and are already off the mental movement, the thought waves.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He says <i>cling<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Okay then: self-enquiry means that we keep our mind in the Heart, in the Self.<\/p>\n<p>But what does that mean experientially?  How do we do that?  What does it feel like?<\/p>\n<p>Part of the answer is here in this passage from <a href=\"http:\/\/realization.org\/p\/ramanananda-swarnagiri\/control-vs-destruction.html\"><i>Crumbs From His Table<\/i><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Question: What are <i>kevala nirvikalpa samadhi<\/i> and <i>sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p>Ramana Maharshi: The involution of the mind in the Self, but without its destruction, is <i>kevala nirvikalpa samadhi<\/i>\u2026 [In this state]<\/span> one is not free from <i>vasanas<\/i> and so one does not therefore attain <i>mukti<\/i>. Only after the <i>samskaras<\/i> have been destroyed can one attain liberation.<\/p>\n<p>Question: When can one practice <i>sahaja samadhi<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p>Ramana Maharshi: <i><b>Even from the beginning<\/b><\/i>. Even though one practices <i>kevala nirvikalpa samadhi<\/i> for years together, if one has not rooted out the <i>vasanas<\/i> one will not attain liberation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He says that we can practice sahaja samadhi \u201ceven from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Huh?  Sahaja samadhi is effortless, and it can be effortless only after Self-realization.<\/p>\n<p>But he says that we can practice it from the beginning, before Self-realization.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore when he says \u201cpractice it\u201d he means to bring it about with effort.<\/p>\n<p>Because it\u2019s done with effort, it\u2019s not really sahaja samadhi.  It\u2019s a <i>simulation<\/i> of sahaja samadhi.<\/p>\n<p><i>Self-enquiry is the simulation of sahaja samadhi.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there\u2019s one quote from Ramana that every serious seeker should know, it\u2019s this one: Inquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self. That&#8217;s from Who Am I? Here\u2019s the same sentence in another translation: The name \u2018\u0101tma-vic\u0101ra\u2019 [refers] only to [the practice of] always keeping the mind in [or on] \u0101tm\u0101 [oneself]. That\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YVpx-vS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1976"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1990,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freddieyam.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}