Sublime

‘The body is not I; who am I? I am he!’ (dēham nāham, kōham? sōham!) – this is the quintessence of the self-investigation found in the scriptures, to facilitate which they lay down the following four practices (sādhanas): Discrimination (vivēka) between the eternal and the ephemeral Desirelessness (vairāgya) towards enjoyments in this world and oth

My own practice has been a journey downward, in contrast to the way we usually think of our spiritual experiences. Over these years I’ve found myself working my way down the chakras (the spiritual energy centers of the body) rather than up. My first ten years of systematic spiritual practice were primarily conducted through my mind. I studied, read

Tantric yoga,

My wishing to know and understand takes precedence over everything.

Swami Chinmayananda,

Trying to destroy ego by other sādhanas is a wasted effort akin to digging a pit to bury one’s shadow and after finding the shadow within the pit, closing it with sand.

So long as this mind is allowed to continue watching [or attending to] thoughts and other objects, which are [respectively] second and third person objects, it will most certainly not subside; it will only increase more and more in the form of mental modifications.

The secret Parvati shows us is that the relational form of self-realization requires just as much conscious effort as to realize the transcendent self.