my article

A friend recently wrote to me a series of emails asking about the practice of self-investigation ( ātma-vicāra ), so this article is compiled and adapted from our correspondence. No words can adequately describe the practice of being self-attentive What I actually am must be something that I always experience Thoughts occur only to ourself as an ego, not ourself as we really are Can we see ourself, the seer? ‘Attending to myself’ means trying to be attentively self-aware Our curiosity to see what we really are is what is called grace Trying to see what sees 1. No words can adequately describe the practice of being self-attentive In his first mail my friend asked whether there are any terms that are equivalent to ‘attending to ourself alone’. He suggested a list of possible equivalents, such as ‘attending to I’, ‘attending to myself’, ‘watching my sense of being’, ‘being aware of my aliveness’, ‘watching awareness’, ‘being aware of awareness’, ‘being aware of what is aware’, ‘paying att...

After reading my previous article, What is meant by the term sākṣi or ‘witness’? , a friend wrote to me expressing some thoughts that he had after reading it cursorily for the first time, so this article is adapted from the reply that I wrote to some of his ideas. Other things seem to exist only when we experience ourself as this ego Nisargadatta and ‘the witness attitude’ Sākṣi-bhāva can mean either a state of being or a state of mind Sākṣi-bhāva can also mean meditation on the sākṣi , namely ourself There are no distinguishable stages on the path of self-investigation At no stage on this path should we try to be a witness of anything other than ourself Self-attentiveness alone is the key to real detachment Vipassanā is similar to the practice of sākṣi-bhāva as it is generally understood When we experience what we actually are, there will be nothing else for us to observe or witness 1. Other things seem to exist only when we experience ourself as this ego My friend started by writ...

There is little remaining doubt in the scientific/medical community that high levels of LDL, so-called "bad cholesterol", cause heart disease.  Yet in some alternative health circles, the debate continues.  A new study adds substantially to the evidence that LDL plays a causal role in heart disease. Read more »

In February at the 13th Annual Los Angeles Conscious Life Expo, among 175 exhibitors was an organization that I hadn't heard about before — "Happy Science Reigen Channeling."  (I later learned 'Reigen' means 'spiritual messages.')  When I approached the booth, a Happy Science representative enthusiastically began talking to me about the founder of the organization, Ryuho Okawa.  When the representative learned that I was a blogger, he provided me with some introductory materials. In the Happy Science Organization Overview (July 2013 edition), there is a short biography: Master Ryuho Okawa Master Okawa was born on July 7, 1956 in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the prestigious University of Tokyo, he joined a Tokyo-based international trading company.  While working at the company's New York headquarters, he studied finance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. On March 23, 1981, he achieved Great Enlightenment a...

One of the most common pieces of advice in the health-nutrition world is that we should focus our carbohydrate intake on slowly-digesting carbohydrates, because they make us feel more full than rapidly-digesting carbohydrates.  Rapidly-digesting carbohydrates, such as potatoes, stand accused of causing us to overeat, resulting in obesity, diabetes, and many other chronic ailments.  Is this true? Read more »

When I attended a meeting of the Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK in London earlier this month, one of the questions I was asked was about the concept or practice of sākṣi-bhāva or ‘being a witness’. I do not remember exactly what I replied at the time, but after seeing the video that was made of that meeting, a friend wrote to me saying that he agreed that the term sākṣi or ‘witness’ as it is often used is a misnomer, and he recalled that Bhagavan said in certain contexts that we should take this term to mean just ‘presence’ (as in the presence of our real self) rather than ‘witness’. He also added his own reflections on this subject, saying: Many gurus ask their disciples to maintain sakshi-bhava towards the events or happenings of the world. They feel that if we do not react to the outside happenings we will become more equanimous, and thereby our vishaya-vasanas will be destroyed. I believe J. Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta and many others recommended second and third person attenti...