An Introduction To Advaita Vedanta Via The Direct Path
Contained Herein: A 4-part Series Of Guided Meditations
Overview
“Who am I? Why am I here? What is ‘all this’ about?”
Well, who is asking these questions?
Astonishingly, Advaita Vedanta in general and the Direct Path in particular are able to answer these questions definitively.
How? In what follows, I sketch out, through a 4-part series of guided meditations, one very common prakriya, or line of inquiry, in the tradition of the Direct Path. The latter is concerned to show us something quite simple: when we look very closely at our actual experience, what’s removed is ignorance (in the form of mental superimpositions) and, at the same time, what’s revealed is the very nature of our being. It’s a very elegant approach—parsimonious, suitable to Westerners, and quietly beautiful.
Part 1: ‘I Am Not At Peace’
In this first guided meditation, I begin by offering an account the point of which is to make plain what brings us to the spiritual path in the first place. We’ve come up empty-handed and realize that worldliness will not answer our ultimate concerns.
From here, I introduce the crucial preliminary teaching known in Sanskrit as viveka (“discrimination” or “exclusion”): we “unmix” ourself from all objective experiences and thus experientially understand that we, ourself, are aware of all experiences. “I am not that”; “I am that which is aware of that.”
To stabilize in witnessing awareness—that is, in ourself insofar as we know, or are aware of, all objective experiences—is already the end of suffering, though it is not establishment in the Truth. It is, however, an extremely powerful first step.
Part 2: Remain In Your Own Glory
Once we’ve “unmixed” ourself from all objective experiences, we’re in a position to examine our own being. (How can we examine our own being so long as it’s mixed up with, provisionally speaking, what it is not? Wouldn’t we be unable to make heads or tails of who or what we essentially are just so long as we can’t scrutinize ourself carefully?)
In this guided meditation, then, we turn toward ourself and explore, in great depth, the nature of ourself. We discover, for instance, that our being has no objective qualities (it’s invisible, intangible, inaudible, inconceivable, and so on), and we open to the possibility that what we are is beyond space and time.
First, we taste our own being. Finally, we remain in our own natural, radiant glory.
Part 3: How Blessed All Experience Is
The turn toward ourself is only the first step. To leave the matter here would be to assume that there at least two realities: ourself and objective experiences. Does our direct experience reveal that that’s the case? It does not.
In this guided meditation, we ask, "What is the relationship between the Consciousness that I am and objective experiences?" We employ the metaphors of “conscious space,” of “an aware spotlight,” and of “the center of our being” in order, provisionally, to come closer and closer to the most accurate understanding of our experience. In short, we examine what it means to say that all experiences are appearing within Consciousness.
Part 4: All Along, I’ve Only Been Experiencing Myself
This is the really sweet part, the moment when we ‘put it all together.’
In this meditation, we, awareness or ourself, return home and ultimately rest in nonconceptual, direct understanding.
Take it from the top:
Step 1: We, awareness, have temporarily separated ourself from all objective experiences in order to see ourself as we truly are. Remember that this was how the inquiry began.
Step 2: From here, we turn back to objective experiences and soon realize that all experiences are taking place in the very heart of our being. All experiences, at this level of understanding, are intimately, very lovingly tasted.
Step 3: One final step is necessary: we, awareness, recognize that we are that out of which all experiences are made and thus know that all experiences are, in fact, nothing but expressions of our very being. Which is to say: all along, we've only ever been experiencing ourself.
There is only ourself. There has only ever been ourself.