From our book "Pearls of Vedic Wisdom to Succeed" I have extracted the description of a simple two step process to practice and finally attain Self-Realisation. It incorporates the essence of all Advaita Vedanta texts and is mainly inspired by Ramana Maharshi’s teachings.
Step 1
Sit in a calm place and in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and intensely start observing your breath. No need to alter or interfere with the breath. Just breathe normally and observe how deep the breath is going inside and where it is returning from. With 100% concentration if you do this breath observation for few minutes, your mind would become calm and silent. Once you firmly believe that you are silently observing your breath without any other thoughts please go to the next step.
Step2
Now stop observing the breath and start observing your silence and be with it for as long as possible. When you are observing your own silence then you are existing as Silent Awareness. Only to calm the mind and to become silent the breath observation was necessary. Once silence is established breath observation is no longer necessary and let the breathing happen on its own. If the mind gets disturbed by some other thoughts please do not worry. Just go back to Step 1, do the breath observation with intense concentration, establish the silence and come to the Step 2 and exist as Silent Awareness.
That's all there is to it. When I am observing my own silence I am said to "be" in Silent Awareness and "existing" as Pure Consciousness. The real "I" is this nameless, formless, Concentrating Entity, Consciousness, Awareness, Knowingness, Chit Shakti (Sentient Energy), Atman (Self).
Before embarking on this meditation, the theory part should be very clear which is called Paroksha Jnana (Indirect Knowledge). It would be extremely helpful if you read my answers to the following questions and also kindly take time to go through all the hyperlinks.
How can I learn Advaita Vedanta? - List of books that can provide deep insight into Advaita philosophy.
What is Enlightenment as per Advaita Vedanta? - Introduction on what we are trying to seek.
Why is Enlightenment so difficult to realise? - Explains the power of concentration, how everyone of us are capable of being in 100% concentration and how we lose our individuality when we are concentrating.
Atma is Immortal and Eternal - Calls Consciousness as Chit Shakti (Sentient Energy). The moment we use the word “energy” and call Atman as Atma Shakti it makes it that much more easy to grasp it because of our familiarity with other energies such as Gravitational, Heat, Light, Magnetic, etc.
Before starting the determined Sadhana (effort) to do meditation, intense practice of Sadhana Chatushtaya is a must as it is required to reduce the ego and the restlessness of the mind. Highly focused concentration is called Samadhana, one of the virtues mentioned in Shad Sampat which in turn is part of Sadhana Chatushtaya. In “Tattvabodha” a verse explains Samadhana as Chitta Ekagratha meaning Single Pointed Concentration.
This meditation process is mainly inspired by the famous teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi which is "Summa Iru" in Tamil language meaning "Be Silent". Thus the goal is to "Be", "Just Be", "Exist experiencing the Silence". 100% concentration is necessary to practice Step1 and to firmly establish the silence. This effort of concentration is what Sri Ramana told as diving deep within and fetching the pearl of Self (Who Am I? - Verse 19).
The proposed meditation technique of "being" or "existing" in silence should be practiced as frequently as possible, may be for 10 minutes everyday to start with. Then gradually increase it to 30 minutes and then to 1 or 2 hours. This meditation can be done with eyes closed or open. For beginners, closing the eyes is recommended. This meditation can be done while sitting, standing, walking, travelling in a bus or plane, etc.
In the pantry room of several IT companies I have seen a board containing a list of some good habits to be practiced. One of such instructions is “Everyday in the morning try to be in absolute Silence for 15 minutes”. Thus the corporate world is also advising practicing of Silence as a stress buster and to improve concentration. Now we can carry out the same instruction of being in Silence everyday for some time with a much greater zeal and purpose which is to attain the ultimate goal of Self-Realisation.
If thoughts bother you and disturb your silence then you are allowed to firmly and silently hold on to only one thought which is "I", "I am", "I am Consciousness", "I am Awareness", "I am a nameless, formless, Concentrating Entity", “I am a Thinking Ability”, “I am a Knowing Power”. This is what Ramana Maharshi meant by being in "Self-Attention" (Who Am I? - Verse 11). Ramana calls this kind of "I" thought as "no thought at all". Hence one could hold on to the thought "I am Atman" or "I am Brahman" or "I am a nameless, formless, Awareness". This is exactly what is conveyed by the Maha Vakya (Great Saying) in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10) of Yajurveda which says "Aham Brahmasmi" meaning "I am Brahman". All the Upanishads convey the same and urge us to meditate and exist as "I am Consciousness".
If this technique is practiced continuously over a period then finally the knowledge dawns when the Pure Consciousness, Silent Awareness is firmly grasped as "I". The knowledge is not gained by just hearing, reading, contemplation or intuition. This "Experiential Knowledge" is gained by the “experience” of "being" or "existing" as Pure Consciousness without any other thoughts. This is what is called Aparoksha Anubhuti (Direct Experience). Please check this web page on Aparoksha Anubhuti (Direct Experience) where it is nicely explained that “Every knowledge may not be an experience. But every experience is knowledge”. Thus the knowledge to be gained is an “Experiential Knowledge” and can be attained by constant practicing to “be” or to “exist” with a single thought “I am Brahman”.
Once the knowledge "I am a nameless, formless, Consciousness" is gained then it remains with us all the time. One starts to clearly feel that we are Poornam (complete) and there is absolutely no kind of lacking within us. This is what is conveyed by the Shanti Mantra "Poornam Adaha Poornam Idham …". After gaining the Knowledge, no further effort or practice is necessary. One would always like to remain in silence and is able to do it effortlessly. The ego-self does not bother the mind anymore. Hence the mind will not be “Wanting” anything and becomes free of desires. This is exactly what is conveyed by the verses 3.1.1 - 3.1.2 of Mundaka Upanishad which tell the tale of two birds (ego-self and Self).
Advaita Vedanta uses a sanskrit term “Jagat” which includes this world, the body, the mind and the thoughts. All the observable, knowable things are Jagat. Advaita calls this Jagat as Anatman (Not-Self). The observer or the knower is Atman (Self).
We are normally always associated with this Jagat and hence are called Jiva or Jeevatma which is existing as limited individual Self. When we let go of our attachment with Jagat then we lose our individuality and we could start identifying ourselves with the infinite, eternal, Atman (Self).
When we start the meditation, in the beginning of Step 1 we exist as Jeevatma, “a living being” ignorant of the true Self. In Step 2 when we are able to successfully exist as Silent Awareness, we become Shuddha Atma, “a pure being” without any thoughts (pure mind) or with a single thought “I am a Chit Shakti (Sentient Energy)”, “I am a Concentrating Entity”. When the knowledge dawns, we become Mukta Atma, “a liberated being” free from any kind of bondage which is called Moksha (liberation), becoming free of ego-self, desires, selfish and self-centered thoughts.
As Jeevatma, every single time our effort of meditation is to exist as Shuddha Atma. All our effort is to exist determinedly with just one single thought “I am a nameless, formless, Concentrating Entity”. In Advaita, meditation does not mean stilling the mind, rather it is channelizing and focusing the mind on to one single thought “I am a Concentrating Entity” and holding on to this single thought with great single pointed concentration. After constant practice even this one single thought also would go away and we would gain the "Experiential Knowledge" of being in Absolute Silence, Pure Consciousness, Silent Awareness. Ramana Maharshi says that this single thought is like a stick used for stirring the burning pyre where finally the stick itself gets burnt and is destroyed (Who Am I? - Verse 10).
When we clearly identify "I" with "nameless, formless, Consciousness" then we would have moved from untruth to the Truth. We would have moved from being in darkness of ignorance (ego-self) to the light of Knowledge (Self). We would clearly know that the death is only to the body and not to the Consciousness or Awareness or Atma Shakti or Chit Shakti (Sentient Energy). Physics states that “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed” and hence any energy is eternal. Thus when we identify “I” with the Sentient Energy, Atman, we would have moved from death to the nectar of immortality. This is exactly what is conveyed by another Shanti Mantra "Asatoma Sadgamaya. Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya. Mrutyorma Amruthangamaya".
As per Mandukya Upanishad (1.3 - 1.5) we normally exist in one of the three states (Traya Avasta) which are Jagrat (waking state), Swapna (dream state) and Sushupti (deep sleep state). When we exist as "Silent Awareness" without any thoughts it is called Chaturtha, the fourth (Mandukya Upanishad 1.7). Adi Shankara’s Guru’s Guru Gaudapada in his Mandukya Karika, first chapter Agama Prakarana, in the verse 1.10 calls this state as "Turiya". Though this is not a separate state, it is always present as it is the substratum of all the other three states. By the meditation, we are trying to consciously experience this state of being in "Silent Awareness" and in that state we exist as pure Sacchidhananda Swarupa (Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss).
The verses in the entire chapters 8.7 and 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad say this "Pure Consciousness" should be sought or known. He who knows Brahman attains the highest (Bihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.1.1). He who knows Brahman, becomes verily Brahman (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9).
Thus we do not need any more motivation to practice the meditation and attain the greatest treasure which is Self-Knowledge and it is the only single important message of all the Upanishads and all other texts of Advaita Philosophy. When we gain the knowledge and attain Self-Realisation we could clearly see how each and every verse of Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita and all other texts of Advaita Vedanta come alive and spring to life.
I believe this is going to be the single most important post ever of mine. My main purpose of starting to write these articles was to share this information about an extremely simple meditation technique to achieve the ultimate goal.
I hope that this post helps many sincere seekers in successfully attaining the goal of Self-Realisation in this very life and inspires many more. You could extend your help by sharing a link to this post in WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Quora, etc.
See Also:
What is Brahm or Brahman or Atman as per Advaita Vedanta?
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