"The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving up the concept of an active, volitional 'I' as a separate entity and accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a process." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Diving Within

Sri Annamalai Swami

Q: In ulladu narpadu anubandham, Bhagavan mentions the three paths: self-enquiry, observation of breathing, and diving within the heart. Could you please say something about this diving? What it is, how it happens?

AS:The result of following these three paths is the same: Self-realization. And it can also be said that the three paths are also the same, although at first sight the description of them makes it sound as if three totally different techniques are being described.

Bhagavan said, "Do self enquiry. Find out who you really are. When you are totally absorbed in this problem, this enquiry will lead you to the Self." Some people, though, said that they found this very hard, or they said that this method somehow didn't appeal to them. Bhgavan would  sometimes tell such people to watch the breath, to see where it arose. Bhagavan always maintained that mind and breath arose in the same place, so focusing attention on the source of the breath is really the same as focusing attention on the source of the mind through self-enquiry. The third option is diving within. This is not a separate path. It is just another description of what happens when you follow self-enquity, or when you find the source of breath through intense observation. 'Diving within' means putting your whole mind on the Self. When the one-pointed intensity to discover the Self is there, diving in happens and the mind foes back to its source and merges there.

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सर्वानुग्राहकत्वेन तद्स्म्यहं वासुदेवः॥

That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being:
I AM THAT. -- Amritabindu Upanishad