Self-inquiry

Discovering Eternal Bliss

In the simplest terms self-inquiry confronts the grand illusion of your ego—the root cause of all of your suffering. It is the deep examination of your real nature—the eternal bliss of vast indescribable silence. But what exactly is self-inquiry and what does it do for you? If you have been exposed to Ramana’s teachings, or maybe have even practiced self-inquiry for a number of years, you are very aware that awakening to the bliss of your being is extremely fast. In fact, Ramana’s teaching is recognized as the absolute fastest path to the sublime happiness of liberation or moksha.

But the finger snap speed of awakening does nothing to free you from your mind, the genetic mind, ego, or the Prarabdha Karma contained in the genetics of your body that work in unison to keep stubborn patterns of suffering appearing in your life over and over again. The great challenge after awakening is remaining awake—simple and the greatest challenge of a lifetime.

The common experience is to feel the euphoria of awakening, which is simply recognizing you are the consciousness shining through your face, only to seemingly loose this state of euphoria when you return to your normal every day routine—so what exactly is going on? How can you experience the profound bliss of your being one second and feel absolutely miserable the next? How does your mind work? How does suffering actually happen? The pure genius of Ramana is he recognized three fundamental problems caused by the movements of mind; the mind easily remembers, easily forgets, and easily distracts your attention. Even the most sublime state of bliss is forgotten the moment you are distracted by and react to something going on in your life.

The genius of Ramana is he realized that your senses, combined with your mind, genetics, and ego create the powerful illusion and deep feeling of ‘me’ in your body. The constant movement of your mind and this deep seated feeling combined with the changing states of consciousness it generates hides the endless bliss of your being. Ramana drew the inset drawing above to reveal just how powerful the illusion generated by the mind is—in fact he realized that the ego itself is the root of the problem due to its reflective nature—it is like a double sided mirror that reflects the infinite light of your eternal nature on one side and your five senses on the other side. It is the reflective nature of ego and your natural tendency to spontaneously agree with whatever you think that generates the very powerful illusion that you are your body.

This illustration is actually a road map to liberation from the powerful illusion of ego, but this drawing is not two-dimensional in actuality it is a three-dimensional road map to liberation. If you expand this drawing into three dimensional space it is simplifies the nature of the problem, but also provides a very clear road map out of this unending house of mirrors. You see, suffering happens in your head, but freedom lives eternally in your heart.

The reflective nature of ego is like a still mountain lake—the surface of the lake reflects whatever you perceive via your senses. The light of your eternal nature is in the depth of the lake shining up through the surface of the water from your heart. It is this combination that makes this reflection feel very real, but in reality it is no different than a reflection on a still lake—it appears to be real—but is it?

The light of the Self or your eternal nature is the purest bliss or the stateless state of happiness that lives in your heart. Regardless of what you are thinking or doing or changing states of consciousness the Self remains constant and unmoving just like the profound stillness of a mountain. Do you see? The light of the self never changes and never moves—it is simply always here and now.

To free yourself from the powerful illusion of the ego requires the support of satsang—a meeting held in the highest truth that supports the direct intimate discovery of the happiness of your true nature. Satsang is not a lecture or class it is profound transmission of the hightest truth that contains the power to burn through eons of suffering. Once you awaken to this living truth in the core of your being, or have a direct experience of your eternal nature, the core practices are essential to develop the discernment necessary to abide in the source as this infinitude.

If you want to experience the profound bliss of your being on a continuous basis there is simply no avoiding the very real effort of practice—liberation is earned not given. The teaching supports your spiritual maturation process through the intrinsic power and grace of silence (meditation), sound (mantra), and self-inquiry—all of which are forms of vichara—your own intimate and deep realization of the Self—the omniscience of your eternal nature—the purest joy!