As I am diving deeper into the direct path of meditation, there are a couple of extremely helpful books. One of them is The Seven Steps to Awakening. One of the gurus, the great master, Ramana Maharshi, shares that Self-Inquiry is one of the greatest tools to help one Awaken in this lifetime. How I have interpreted this is how self-inquiry is seemingly always interpreted as asking, “Who am I?” And sure this may be one of the ways and helpful in some way. But the real breakthrough for me was what unlocked within me when I finally read the introduction before the actual quotes began in the book.

On page 12 of The Seven Steps to Awakening Michael Langford describes Self-Inquiry as Self-Attention, Self-Abidance. This is what awareness watching awareness really is, it’s paying attention to the Self and that SELF is Awareness.

Now, if you tie in the blog that I just did on how Aliveness is Awareness then you have what I am feeling right now which is a huge insight into Self-Inquiry, that up until now hadn’t ever unlocked for me! The insight that is brand new is seeing that paying attention to the LifeForce, the Radiant Aliveness Within, is awareness watching awareness. And since there’s only one awareness, this is true for all.

What are the implications of this discovery? Well, it radically changes how I view Self-inquiry. It’s not just about asking, “Who am I?”. It’s how we both wake up and stay awake. It’s how we abide, it’s how we stay ‘centered in bliss’. And most wonderfully, it makes this practice of awareness watching awareness come alive, it’s juicy and vibrant! The scintillating Life-Force cascading in around through and beyond is where it’s at, in this state of fullness, meditation is no longer a chore. It’s both the doorway to the Infinite and how one abides serene and true.