Importance of awareness and Self-inquiry in daily life

Many of us feel that we are the body.Intellectuals feel that their essential nature is mind.Truth seeker imagines that he is the Self but he has no first hand experience of it.

Self,mind,body are they separate entities or do they belong to a single integrated being? How to find it out whether they are separate or integrated whole.Daily we walk early in the morning.It is the body that walks.But we are superimposing that activity of the body on us and say "I am walking".

In vedantic jargon it called Adhyasa(defect of superimposition).Usually we walk mechanically and we usually go on thinking while walking.So we are not aware of walking.We are not aware of surroundings while walking.It is almost a somnambulism.

Are we aware of the birds,their songs,trees with their beauty,flowers,clouds,the beauty of crane flying in the background dark clouds of monsoon,are we sensitive to all these?

Majority of us are lost in our thoughts which takes us to an illusory territory.Why it is happening like that? It is because we are unaware to the present moment.If we start de-mechanizing the walking by being aware of walking thinking stops.Thinking is not needed while walking just as thinking is not needed while breathing.

When there is no thinking we are aware of the surroundings,we perceive the beauty of birds,the sounds that they make,one bird respond to the sound made by the other bird,the beauty of flowers,trees,the smell of air while raining,we become sensitive to all these without any thought.

In that thought-free state there is joy.But the mind of an average human being has such a momentum and rush of thoughts many times he is lost in thoughts missing the beauty of surroundings which is quite obvious.

Unless we are aware to these gross aspects we cannot develop the skill to be aware of subtle things like thoughts and mental activity.Whatever we do we must do it with awareness then only we become aware of subtle things.

If we develop the capacity to be aware of subtle things we develop the capacity to de-mechanize the thought process.At present we are thinking mechanically in unawareness.

We are superimposing that activity of thought and are saying "I am thinking".The thought process is going on even when it is not required and has no role to play.

It is just like while we are sitting if we move our hands incessantly and awkwardly
without any cause it looks mad,same is the situation with thinking,at present
its activity is out of our hands and thought is running amok.

Normal human being means he is a socially adjustable being with the mask of personality with this type of perverted and uncontrollable thinking.All this is due to lack of awareness resulting in a mechanistic thinking and Self-inquiry de-mechanizes this by bringing in awareness.

Awareness keeps the thought where it is expected to function and prevents anomalous
thinking.If one is aware many human problems are solved.Awareness is the panacea
for problems of humanity and Self-inquiry is the way for it.

To fulfill basic needs we require only few thoughts for action. But we are indulging in unnecessary thinking and action, which i feel should be curtailed in sadhana(Spiritual discipline) stage. This is very vital. Thought traffic is reduced when one is in uninterrupted awareness,(Sada Apramada) as told by Sanat kumara.

About the Author

Sri Suryanarayana Raju is interested in Self-Enquiry in the light of Sri Ramana Maharshi,Osho,JK.He wrote two books on "Self-Enquiry" and "Commented on Upadesa Saram and Akshara Mana Malai". available for download at http://www.esnips.com/ web/ramana-maharshi

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