How to Practice Self-Enquiry | H. Breton

Let’s say a thought pops up in your mind saying, “I feel depressed.” You would counteract this thought by directly abiding as Pure Awareness or Unconditional Love. In other words, you would simply observe that thought but not claim any ownership of it nor emotional reaction as your own because just as the thought came spontaneously, it will also go spontaneously. If any sensation of fear, anger, sadness, or depression arises, OBSERVE and LET IT GO. That is called detachment. After all, thoughts are like water, if you let water flow, you are not met with a resistant force. The moment you try to stop the flow of thoughts by identifying with them as your own, you are met with a force of resistance which translates to suffering. The source of suffering is the ego. Only the ego (“I am the body” identity) loves to claim ownership of things. However, Pure Awareness or Unconditional Love has no need to feel like it owns anything for it is the ONE ESSENCE of all forms and shapes that vary in creation. There is no other essence other than it. That is why Pure Awareness is undefinable or indescribable. You can only describe or define something that is apart from you. However, since all of creation including us, constitute Pure Awareness or Unconditional Love, it is impossible to describe it in detail for all of creation is it and there are NO other entities other than IT. It is the one and only.

On the other hand, by keeping your attention on the “I-am-depressed” thought, it will stay, grow, and expand until a corresponding action is accomplished. Why? Well, because attention is energy. By keeping your attention on the thought, you are energizing it resulting in the thought remaining alive in your mind, enhancing the possibility of an action being committed out of depression. Just as the human body needs energy to remain alive, so does a thought. In this illusion known as life where everything is constantly changing, everything is energy. So wherever your attention goes, energy goes. That is why attention is the essence of meditation. For example, you are commonly told to focus on your breath because by putting your energy or attention on your breath, the thoughts start to lose the energy that they require to remain alive. With this method, you will see that the mind will initially keep on producing thoughts in an uncontrollable rate but the thoughts will start slowing down with practice and you will start to be like an observer: simply observing the thoughts and not taking them on as your own. You will keep shifting your attention from the thought (illusion) to the breath (another illusion). However, with self-enquiry, you are not focusing on any part of the body (illusion) but rather your Awareness which is the Formless Reality. Thus, you would constantly shift your attention from the thought (illusion as it is subject to change) directly to your Awareness (Reality as it permanent and all there is and will ever be). If this is hard to do, then you can do what Sri Ramana Maharshi has taught for beginners in Self-Enquiry: every time you claim ownership of a thought, sensation, or emotion, immediately ask yourself either in your mind or out-loud, “Who am I?” There is no one to answer this question for Reality (Pure Awareness) cannot answer it because it does not speak. This Question only serves to assist you in remembering your true nature: Unconditional Love or Pure Awareness. It simply is an observer that does not have thoughts for it is all-accepting as it is ALL of creation. If this is practiced with earnestness, you will abide like an observer, just purely observing without any judgement and criticism of your surroundings for you will have known that the body and your surroundings are ONE which is YOU. Therefore, judgement, criticism, likes, or dislikes which only takes place in duality or separation would not exist for you.

With daily practice of putting your attention your awareness and not claiming ownership of any thoughts that may arise from the mind, you will eventually reach the state of permanent thoughtlessness, bliss, happiness, and peacefulness. And that is your true nature. Your nature is that of the “Dance of Shiva” or “Sahaja Samadhi”. In other words, it is abiding as Pure Awareness or Unconditional Love even while doing anything or being surrounded by chaos. This is the state that the Buddha ultimately attained by giving up his status of prince and the wealth that came along with it. However, you can still attain to this state and be a figure of authority and wealth. An example of such a man goes by the name of "Janaka Maharaj" who was an enlightened king.

Submitted to Voyages of Light by H. Breton