Re: questions on I AM THAT
Namaste FlipAsso.
Swami Jnaneshvara in his Website http://www.swamij.com/ has highly practical methods for various stages of 'yoga meditation' as he calls it, that is, meditation that leads to 'yoga' (unity). On having a glance at some of his articles, specially the one "Intentionally Inviting Thoughts", it seems to me:
• Inquiring into the nature of I AM has its driving question 'Who am I?' and discarding whatever that seems to us as not the ultimate Self, as we practise the inquiry.
• Observing whatever comes up in the mind is a beginning stage of meditation where we just invite and observe our thoughts but DO NOT participate in them. In other words, we should not consciously elaborate on a thought aiding it with picturesque or verbal expression but just observe and let it pass by.
If we watch the process of our thinking, we would find out that we think by association aided by pictures and words. So one way to practise just to observe thinking without participating in it is to think a thought with just a phrase or word, instead of the usual thought in a complete sentence or picture, giving less and less subjective suggestions to foster the thought. For example, the thought 'this evening I would go to a film' can be abbreviated to 'film, evening' and let it be gone with that.
The very first 'sUtra' of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra is:
yogaH chitta vritti nirodhaH
"Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind."
Thus yoga meditation is taking on the restraint and inquiry side by side.
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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