Is Self Inquiry Different From Being Open and Empty? - 25th December 2019
Saar (Essence)
Ananta teaches that self-inquiry and openness serve to bypass the mind's tendency to intellectualize spirituality. He encourages resting as 'nothing' to transition from mental dependency to the intuitive self-knowledge of the heart.
Inquiry is like throwing a grenade into the mind to break the mask of being open and empty.
If you have an interpretation, it is a misinterpretation. Truth is not definable by the intellect.
Moving from head to heart involves withdrawal symptoms, like fasting from the mind to find true inner reserves.
intimate
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Is self-inquiry different from being open and empty? I feel active in a way, but when you're open and empty, it is completely clear to you what you are.
But the inquiry can only come in. The inquiry like 'Am I aware now?' or 'Who am I?' is helpful because many times we are not really open and empty, but we're just thinking we are open and empty. So to give it some more propulsion, to give it some jet fuel, a question like that can be thrown into the mix. A grenade like that can be thrown into the mix because we can be open and empty, even have the notion of being open and empty, but many times we just take on the mask of 'Oh, I'm being so open and empty, this is very nice, it's so peaceful here, isn't it?' These kind of things can just come in the way and you can feel like you're really enjoying this. Then we become spiritual sightseers and we try to hold on to states. So it is about none of that.
So when a question comes in there—'Who is aware of your existence?'—then you move from the subtle seeming mental position and you dive deeply into your reality. But actually, if there is no position being held at all, no expectation, no intellectual boundary, no time, no space, nothing, then you don't even need to ask yourself an inquiry question. You see, asking 'Who am I?' puts the focus internally to look for 'I'. No, you don't actually just ask 'Who am I?'; the question has enough potency to do the job for you. But if you treat it this way—that 'I must ask the question, then I must try and figure out the answer'—you see, the way it is troubling your own intellect? If you feel like 'I'm bringing my attention inwards, it is outwards, I have to bring it inside,' then it's all this outside-inside; it is all in the intellect.
So actually, in inquiry, eyes can be open, eyes can be closed, attention can be here, it can be there; it doesn't really matter because your self-recognition is not going to be a product of your attention anyway. But what you may find is that as you are asked a question like this with openness, and you're not personally intervening to try and get to the answer, you may find many times that attention gets absorbed in a certain way. And that is completely fine. It is not the product of some personal intention, because with all of this personal intention comes the boundaries of what we think to be right and wrong. Then you will never go beyond the notions of inside and outside. That's why I think it's important to remain open and empty and just... you see, once you've thrown the grenade, then you don't have to do anything. Just let your mind out of the way.
But when I'm open and empty, there is a lack of focus and there's a tendency to wait for the next thing. Is it that I mean...?
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So this is not it. In being open and empty, there is neither a lack of anything; there is neither lack of focus nor the one-pointedness of attention. It is independent of all of that. But I'm glad you're showing us all of this because this is what many of us can feel like. We are in a verbalism, like we talk about the tendency to be looking for what is going to happen, waiting for the next thing. So just be emptier than this. Forget the meaning of focus, forget the meaning of life, yes, forget being concerned with anything phenomenal. The mind will come and say, 'How can I forget? I can't forget.' Just let it come. Become more nothing than nothing.
Don't take yourself to be anything at all. Neither controlling your attention nor leaving it. Be nothing. Unconcerned about whether you are neutral, not bothered with any phenomena whatsoever, not bothered even with how attention is functioning. But because that type of openness and emptiness is rare, that is why sometimes you can use an inquiry question. Just ask 'Who am I?' somewhere. This answer is apparent about it but not expressible. And somewhere in our heads, the answer will never be found. No last of the USB to find a good answer in our minds, because in our heart, the answer has never been lost. So the seeker has to come to that truth which has never been lost. It only seems to happen because we are confused by our heads.
So you said, 'What am I misinterpreting?' If you have any interpretation, it is a misinterpretation. There are not two interpretations in truth. So if you have an idea of what this all means, let's forget about it. What it all means is dirty. But if it is definable, it is not what it means. You're missing the real. An analogy is coming to me about intermittent fasting. What happens if you start doing it? Some of us have done it. What is that initially like? If you start fasting, in your mind, breakfast is at breakfast time, and this is where the problem is. The body is not used to that sort of condition because you're used to having food in your stomach. In the same way, when we are open and empty, initial grogginess can come because what are we relying on? What are we relying on?
Then what happens is that when there is no food in the stomach, the body starts to rely on reserves which it seemed to have forgotten it had. All the reserves of stored energy which it seemed to have forgotten it had, it comes to that again. It's clear that it doesn't need to operate because the reserves are there. In the same way, because we have for so long relied on our minds, when our minds become empty, initially that grogginess comes. 'Now what do I do? What can I rely on? How will I live my life?' But as you allow yourself to remain empty for a bit, you will find that true knowledge has never been lost. It is always there, you see. So it's not even like reserves; it is just what you are. It's not like you have reserves of tomorrow. It's a good metaphor, you know.
So don't feel that grogginess about 'If I'm not understanding what this is, then I am lost.' This can be the vehicle. As you let go of your mental understanding of what this is and what you are, you come to your true reserves of intuitive self-knowledge which you can never lose. That's why after one or two days of intermittent fasting, you stop feeling that grogginess. And as you get used to the naturalness of remaining open and empty, you get used to relying on this intuitive self-knowledge and you will not clamor so much for mental understanding and interpretations. This is inclusive of this debate. All self-inquiry is having withdrawal symptoms from the mind. It is moving away from your head and going into your heart, which again is not an emotional heart; it is the heart of truth, the heart of the essence of reality. In this process, there can be some withdrawal symptoms from the head because we have relied on it for so long.