Connecting To The Grand Self

I first hesitated to write this section because there seemed no direct way, no particular action, no instrumental thing we may do to trigger insight into the Grand Self -

'And even if we seek throughout all the material worlds, - the Exalted, Pure Awareness cannot be found except in our mind.

    Who does not know this and seeks the Self outside his mind won't find it there.'

Padma-Sambhava
- The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation -

- '… except in our mind' - And yes, I'm certainly aware that Padma-Sambhava declares mind to be the very tool for achieving this grand insight. - But unfortunately he left no tangible instructions how to employ mind for this specific purpose.

     Then - while scanning The Upanishads - I stumbled upon numerous instructions and references how to establish direct, intense contact with our Grand Self exactly through meditation.

    It took a while to find the cause for this odd discrepancy between both scriptures: -

    During ancient upanishadic times access to the Grand Self was evidently fairly widespread, and meditation was used as an effective tool for intensifying that highest perception. This is what the twelve oldest of these scriptures strongly convey.

    Yet as the centuries passed, this knowledge must have deteriorated until the existence of the Grand Self was still somewhat remembered, but the actual way to open these portals, the very methods to contact and interact with the Self, had fallen into oblivion.

    Thus when  The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation  was written - roughly 1500 years later - the author could not present a workable process any more by which to gain access to this precious insight.
Sure, - Padma-Sambhava perceived his Grand Self, - yet he probably did not attain this prized connection by any kind of method, but far more likely through personal intuition or by chance.

Quite a number of people seemed to have reached this grand perception in a similar fashion. During the past two millennia numerous reports surfaced that document such 'miraculous' insights in many cultures and all over the world.

    An analogy may illustrate the mechanism behind such sudden, unpremeditated expansion: - Picture awareness to be a cloud-covered sky. Erroneous ideas, preconceptions, limiting desires and fears basically make up the clouds that pretty persistently prevent us from perceiving the prime energy of our current existence.

    Yet once in a while the clouds part briefly and we take in the radiant presence of the sun. This brilliant sight impresses us profoundly. Though we don't know what actually removed the clouds and cannot replicate this riveting experience, our life changes fundamentally.

    This being the case - it nevertheless is quite probable that the great majority of these spontaneous, natural breakthroughs went unreported because those special individuals were unwilling to communicate their insights. Quite possibly they could not relate to or explain what they perceived because their current model of the world did not allow for such widened perception, - or they were scared of their novel experience, - or feared repercussions and isolation within their social environment, - or interpreted and expressed it only in terms of the religious framework they were familiar with, - or may simply have been unable to write.

    The kaleidoscopic flavors of the reports that reached our time speak of the many different intuitive routes by which those select beings became aware of their Grand Self.

    Some of these spontaneous insights sparked off crusade-like fervors and even widespread movements to propagate this special perception. Yet this was always short-lived. Once the initial inspired individuals passed on, or got suppressed by the prevailing hierarchy of power, their inspiration and movement usually died with them - often without leaving much of a trace.

    The highly transitory nature of such campaigns is basically caused by their persistent lack of relevant, sound instructions how to methodically shift focus to that highest state. Once the 'surge-effect' - that charged exhilaration the initiators of these movements always emit - is gone, subsequent followers lack any reliable way to also reach this grand perception, and then one or two generations later the originators' inspiration is forgotten.

    Had Padma-Sambhava known any method that truly worked, he surely would have described it in  The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.

    To locate such instructions, we thus need to retrace the trail back to an era where this knowledge was still alive and very much in use.

The Upanishads describe a type of meditation that - in all probability - might primarily be destined for those already aware of their Grand Self.

    So if we perceive this grand presence within us, - and even if we experienced it only once during first insight, - then that ancient type of meditation easily connects us to the Self. We simply know where to look, know intimately how our Grand Self feels. We only need to reawaken awareness of this subtle presence within us.

    And as we bring the Self's broadened vision and sweeping comprehension to the forefront of our awareness, we then can start to explore, deepen and to engage this intricate power for our current layer of manifestation.

    But even if we do not perceive our Grand Self yet, this ancient way of meditating may work for us as well. As Padma-Sambhava wrote -

'… we nevertheless should not forego meditation; - for when we meditatively experience the Great Awareness's quiescence unmodified in our mind, the clarity of non-created Wisdom instantly shines forth as the result.'

    But be aware that you are entering uncharted territory. The Upanishads' instructions are certainly for those 'sitting close' to Brahman - close to their Grand Self. The ancient scriptures offer no specific method or technique to reach this special insight in the first place, - as also  The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation  does not present any such practice.

    So understand that you are experimenting, and that you might encounter obstacles: -

    As long as our awareness is still deeply mesmerized by the thrills and trappings of the physical world, we tend to focus pretty exclusively onto the two (lower) layers of senses and mind. We do not really want to alter our perception or the way we interact with the world around us (yet). And this very unwillingness to - even temporarily - question the fascination these regions extend on us, in effect disables all 'spiritual tools' at our disposal.

    The emotional energy and the intent we put behind our (meditative) efforts is the major force that really effects changes. Thus - if we carry such reluctance deep within us, if we hang on to subliminal attachment to the layers we are familiar with, this simply cancels out the power of any technique we may practice. We might outwardly profess to the intention to expand, but inwardly our restrictive emotional disposition thoroughly prevents us from generating sufficient power to truly shift focus to a more advanced level.

    Thus we need to become clear about the objectives we indeed carry within, and what themes we absolutely still want to experience within a material context, - before we go for truly widening our awareness beyond the range of matter.

    Another factor may also hamper our efforts: - What we expect of our meditation and our very ideas how it 'should' work (but actually doesn't) may easily influence and limit what we experience as outcome.

    So be aware that - to really perceive the dimensions beyond the two low layers - you need to enter uncharted territory, - you need to progress beyond the cocoon of attachment to 'the familiar' that overwhelms senses and mind on both these layers.

Meditation requires re-allocation of one of the most precious resources we have in our present circumstances, and that's  our  time. Since its practice involves a sizable chunk of this asset, it would be well worth to check in advance whether a technique we want to use does actually produce results.

    Judging the effectiveness of 'spiritual' systems, methods, practices or beliefs is easy. Simply look at the people propagating or 'selling' such techniques, and you'll intuitively sense how far these protagonists have come. Direct attention to what they radiate after their many years of practice, - whether unrestricted expansion is the true theme of their life, or just money-making, or self-aggrandization, or making you adhere to a restrictive way of life.

    Tune in if they are aware of their Grand Self, - i.e. if they truly know what they are doing.

    If the energy-makeup and insight of the teacher(s) does not genuinely impress you, then wisely evaluate if you really want to invest similar time, energy and money into such exercise.

    Or bluntly put: - If after 20 years of practice the teacher looks dull and formal and not anywhere near perceiving advanced layers, then you may safely assume that you - after spending two decades of exercising this technique - might have 'achieved' exactly the same dullness.

    Most traditional, or well-known, or socially accepted systems and beliefs are little more than rigid doctrines how meditation or other practices 'should' work, - but in effect never do. Here one either finds taciturn compliance that it e.g. would be insolent to claim any true breakthrough (as in Buddhism), - or wide-spread 'make-believe' where the adherents do claim command of higher powers and perception they never actually have (as in most other 'spiritual' organizations).

    Choosing a system of meditation or any other method aimed at shifting focus to 'The Subtle' is not a matter of how much money we spend or whom we pay, - or how intensely we believe in a particular technique, - or of sitting at the feet of a charismatic teacher, - or being part of a social group of similarly attuned souls.

    Even if a particular system sports masses of followers, most these 'movements' quietly disappear after several years, usually leaving behind a small group of zealous die-hards who resent to admit that their cherished practice doesn't yield lasting results.

    So let your own experience be your key guide.

    Get familiar with the mechanisms of your practice to be and then sincerely try it out. If it doesn't yield tangible results within a reasonable period, then forget about it and test the method next in line.

    Yet if a particular technique makes you truly break through to the regions beyond senses and mind, - if you are thrilled and ever more enthusiastic for further and higher insight and clarity, - then it's worth pursuing what you are doing to further depths.

    Now, - the instructions on meditation found in the Upanishads are vastly different from our present-day ideas how meditation should work, the techniques currently en vogue, and the results their practice is supposed to generate.

    Actually the upanishadic ways of meditating may disagree so fundamentally with all you've learned and are used to think about meditation that it may easily irritate you.

    But bear with me, - becoming familiar with this new (but actually very ancient) approach spotlights all modern techniques from a remote and exclusive perspective. It allows you to evaluate your expectations, your techniques' scope and claims, and the results you were promised to reach through them in an entirely new light.

    And it hands you a powerful tool to access layers beyond your present focus.

What we think, that we become, - this is the eternal mystery.

Maitri Upanishad VI.34

Life is where our attention is. - Whatever event, subject, emotion or thought our attention is drawn towards, that is what the spotlight of our focus illuminates. Within this focus we act, react, interact, think, feel and communicate. This is the stage where our life takes place.

    During normal days we usually direct our attention towards limited objectives, - to complete a job, to get together with the person(s) we love, to attend to our body's needs etc., - or we drift along random events and themes our environment, intuition or instinct present us.    Our typical day is a mixture of both these facets.

    Yet the mechanism behind this is simple: - wherever our attention is aimed, that part of our environment becomes lively, immediate, dynamic, gets energy, becomes our life.

    Now, - as easily as we channel attention towards limited objectives, as easily are we able to direct our focus towards yet unknown regions of our awareness, - to enliven these hidden parts of ourselves and bring them to the forefront of our attention.

    And in exactly the same way can we also apply that very mechanism to contact and interact with our Grand Self.

    Meditation is basically the intentional directing of our thoughts towards those parts of our being we want to enliven.

Once we decide to direct our thoughts as intensely towards our Grand Self as we now direct them towards the objects of this world, - then nothing will ever stop us from breaking free of all restrictions.

Maitri Upanishad VI.34

This is the part where The Upanishads unfortunately are not very forthcoming. Though the scriptures provide sufficient details where to direct our focus and even spread out an intriguing overall picture of the dimensions we'd be entering and interacting with, the very mechanism exactly how to do this focusing is missing. Such information must have been regarded as so natural, so commonplace during the ancient days that nobody ever bothered to actually note down these basic directives.

    Yet - the cavalry to the rescue - there exists another body of scriptures of almost identical antiquity which provides exactly this missing link: - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

    The Yoga Sutras  present deep insight into intricate layers of meditation, coupled with practical instructions essential for utilizing the directives The Upanishads provide. Thus we'll branch out briefly to this other ancient text.

    After the excurse we'll return to The Upanishads.