My last reflection was on the practice of vipassana and the three marks of existence. This was the primary practice I engaged in while on retreat, in terms of time-spent. The other practice (which is a bit of a non-practice) was that of self-enquiry, a practice taken from the Advaita Vedanta tradition [Advaita Vedanta literally means “radical non-duality”].
The enquiry “Who am I?” is the principal means to the removal of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss. When in this manner the mind becomes quiescent in its own state, Self-experience arises of its own accord, without any hindrance. — Ramana Maharshi, Self Enquiry
The teacher I’m working with, Kenneth, teaches 5 different practices, which he calls the 5 gears. I may discuss this in more detail later, including my experience with these practices, and the origin of this teaching method. The important thing to know for this article though, is that self-enquiry is the 4th gear, what Kenneth calls the “direct path.” Prior to the retreat he asked me to start spending a couple minutes of each sitting enquiring, “Who am I?” I did this for a couple weeks before going on retreat, and found it to be interesting for sure, but wasn’t exactly sure how it related to vipassana (I’m still not entirely sure), or how it related to Freedom (this I am more clear on). In any case, during the first four or five weeks on retreat, I’d started to do the practice of self-enquiry a sitting here, or a break there, but mainly focused on maintaining a continuity of awareness and doing the vipassana technique (which in the 5 gear model is the 2nd gear… The basic idea behind the gears being that the higher the gear the more quickly one recognizes Freedom). For some reason, whether it was because of where I was with the vipassana practice itself, or because the retreat was starting to wind down, during the last week I started doing self-enquiry as my primary practice. What I found out very quickly, was that this enquiry, “Who am I?” was massively powerful.
You see, Freedom is available right now. There’s nothing we need to do to get free. Anything which is done, assumes a doer who is not already free. Who is this doer? Upon asking, the question is revealed…. Freedom, complete release and surrender, is right here, right now. Where else could it be? Let the mind, the striving, and the self-contraction relax into that Freedom, which has no opposite. Who wants to be free? Enquire deeply and BE Free now.
This is what I recognized, over and over again via self-enquiry. That Freedom which cannot be described, not even while seeing it, is the Simple Truth. Even saying that “I” recognized this is wrong. It merely happens. No time, no space, no this, no that. Who?
