Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization

About every other Satsang, Robert would tell us, "Your mind is not your friend."


Often he'd stop in the middle of a talk and just say "Stop thinking" as loudly as he could, two or three times. But he couldn't speak very loudly due to Parkinson's.


Seung Sahn Soen Sa used to tell me all the time, mainly because I was always thinking too much, "You must become very, dumb, dumb as a brick." He would also say, "Go straight ahead," meaning don't constantly try to figure things out with your mind even including the correct practice.


In Sesshin at Mt. Baldy you do not speak for seven days except to Roshi or when given work instructions. Everything is silence. 


But so many of you who read this are trying to figure things out with your mind. You ask what is the best practice? Am I doing this right? What about what Ramana said one time? Nisargadatta said xxxxx at one time, what do you think about that?


Your mind is always stopping you from getting deeper than mind. You are deeper than your mind and even deeper than consciousness, but until you stop following the lead of your mind, you will never get below mind, you will never find freedom.


I did all that self-doubt, self-checking, got distracted, worried about making money, employment, played endlessly with philosophical and spiritual concepts, and just plain dawdled for 27 years.  I could have done it in half the time if I hadn't "wobbled" so much.


Therefore, based on my own experience, I urge you to stop thinking. Just get hold of the Nisargadatta Gita, download it, print it out and read it every morning and evening. Then sit and ponder the meaning. Then sit as strongly as possible, find the I Am feeling, and dwell in it, abide in it, immerse your attention in it.  If you do it strongly and continuously, in a very short time you will begin to feel happy, and all your questions will begin to go away.


Just go straight ahead with that practice.


It is a matter of persistence and focus. 


All the experiences you have along the way are irrelevant, meaningless distractions.  Just follow the deepening peace, the deepening I Am until the I Am disappears.


At this point you are where Rajiv was near the middle of Autobiography of a Jnani. This is when "self-discovery" becomes really, really interesting. But until you reach this point, just follow the I Am. Stop checking to see if you are making progress by comparing what I or anyone said about anyone's understanding or progress.


It is all up to you, your focus, your dedication, your persistence, and not getting distracted.


Go straight ahead, become dumb as a rock. Stop thinking! Just meditate on finding your sense of self.