Question:

Didi, I was under the impression that the spiritual path is effortless, but you said in the previous post that effort must be applied. I am sure I am missing a delicate pointer somewhere. Please guide me.

Answer:

Let me explain it in detail, my dear one.

A spiritual path beginner is at the level of Srishti Drishti Vaad, where he believes that:

• • He is the body-mind person.
  • The body-mind person was born in a pre-existing world.
  • The pre-existing world will continue to exist after the body-mind person dies.

The highest level of Ajaata Vaada reveals that:

• • The idea of a permanent physical body is merely an imagination.
  • The idea of a permanent individual mind is merely an imagination.
  • The idea of a permanent personal intellect is merely an imagination.
  • The idea of a permanent waking world that outlasts the body-mind is merely an imagination.
  • Reality is simply the NOW and the current arising on the backdrop of the NOW.

To cross the bridge from Srishti Drishti Vaad to Ajaata Vaad requires:

• • Erasing the old conditioning of belief in the imaginary and
  • Seeing Reality as it is [in one’s actual experience, overriding belief].

Initially, there is effort required FOR:

• • Realizing oneself as the Witness of the body-mind while challenging old conditioning.
  • Ignoring the tantrums of the mind attached to old conditioning.
  • Defying the intellectual analysis that justifies old conditioning.
  • Accepting that one’s personal world, including family, is an imagination limited to the Waking state, unavailable in the Dream and the Deep Sleep states.
  • And finally realizing that ‘there is no ‘I’, there never was’.

After this, it gets effortless, my dear. It is effortless to SEE:

• • I am Not-I.
  • I am conscious of being conscious. I am aware of being aware.
  • I am conscious of not having a physical body.
  • I have the ability to deny the ‘I am the body’ state of mind.
  • When I develop the skill of denying the personal Self, I recognize my power of denying imagination.
  • I can never become happy as I am Equanimity itself.
  • There is no possibility of a God other than my own Being.

More such SEEings happen on the Jagat Mithya path; these are only a few examples. As the pointers got too long for a blog post, these have been converted into a book – ‘Life without I’. It is available to procure here – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1965163319

After that, there is no going back to suffering. Dukkha [Suffering] becomes only an imagination just like Sukkha [Happiness]. That liberates one from the imagination of Personhood. That is what is called Nirvana!

That is why we have long Samadhis in the Gnyana Sangha Advaita and Buddha retreats – to WITNESS the collapse of the ‘I’ and attain freedom from ‘the imaginary Personhood’.

So, don’t shy away from effort until you believe to be the ‘Person’, my dear. You invested a lot of time in nurturing and developing the conditioning. The resistance to washing away all that past effort requires more courage than before. Maintaining the courage in light of contrary conditioning requires initial effort, my dear one.

May you find the fortitude and tenacity required to walk from effort to effortlessness!