! #$%%&'()* +$,*-.

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Pl !ames,
uavld Codman [usL posLed Lhls on facebook. noL sure why lL Look so long for
people Lo flgure Lhls ouL :). l don'L agree wlLh whaL he calls Self-lnqulry buL aL
leasL he Lells whaL Self lnqulry ls noL.
CuesLlon: ln my experlence Lhere ls a Lendency among many people Lo converL
Lhe 'Who Am l?' Lechnlque lnLo a manLra and repeaL lL. ls Lhls a good meLhod?

uavld: ln Lhe Second World War Amerlcan Lroops Look over an lsolaLed aclflc
lsland LhaL had never been exposed Lo wesLern clvlllzaLlon before. 1hey bullL a
runway and flew ln a vasL amounL of supplles for Lhelr mlllLary personnel. 1he
locals, some of whom were sLlll hunLer-gaLherers, ended up wlLh many of Lhe
lefLovers.

When Lhe war was over, Lhe Amerlcans deparLed, leavlng behlnd a runway and
some abandoned bulldlngs. 1he local Lrlbals wanLed Lhe Amerlcan bounLy Lo
conLlnue, buL Lhey dldn'L know how Lo brlng lL abouL. 1hey were clueless abouL
geopollLlcs and Lechnology. 1hey had seen large blrds descend from Lhe sky and
deposlL an unlmaglnable amounL of goodles on Lhe runway. 1hey had never really
boLhered Lo flnd ouL why Lhese sLrangers were on Lhelr lsland, or how Lhese
exoLlc goods were manufacLured and broughL Lo Lhe lsland.

1hey seL up alLars on Lhe runway and sLarLed Lo perform Lhelr own rellglous rlLes
Lhere ln an aLLempL Lo enLlce Lhe blg meLal blrds back Lo Lhelr lsland. 1hese
pracLlces became a klnd of rellglon LhaL anLhropologlsLs labeled 'cargo-culL'.

l menLlon all Lhls because many people Lry Lo do self-lnqulry wlLhouL really
undersLandlng how lL works and why lL works, and Lhls lack of undersLandlng
leads Lhem Lo do many pracLlces LhaL are noL real self-lnqulry, and whlch
consequenLly wlll noL produce Lhe deslred resulLs. lf l may pursue Lhls analogy a
llLLle furLher, Lhere ls self-lnqulry and Lhere ls cargo-culL lnqulry, and Lo


undersLand Lhe dlfference beLween Lhe Lwo, you have Lo know how and why self-
lnqulry works.

ln self-lnqulry one ls lsolaLlng Lhe lndlvldual 'l', and by dolng so one ls maklng Lhe
mlnd, Lhe lndlvldual self, slnk back lnLo lLs source and vanlsh. Any Lechnlque LhaL
encourages Lhe mlnd Lo assoclaLe wlLh ob[ecLs or LhoughLs ls noL self-lnqulry, and
lL wlll noL make Lhe mlnd dlsappear. Cn Lhe conLrary, lL wlll make Lhe mlnd
sLronger. When you repeaL 'Who am l? Who am l?' Lhe sub[ecL 'l' ls concenLraLlng
on an ob[ecL of LhoughL, Lhe phrase 'Who am l?' 1hls does noL lead Lo Lhe
dlsassoclaLlon of Lhe 'l' from lLs LhoughLs, lL keeps lL enmeshed ln Lhem.

1he same commenL can be made abouL pracLlces LhaL assoclaLe self-lnqulry wlLh
concenLraLlon on a parLlcular place ln Lhe body. A loL of people have Lhls
mlsconcepLlon. lf you are focuslng on a place ln Lhe body, you are assoclaLlng Lhe
sub[ecL 'l' wlLh an ob[ecL of percepLlon - whaLever spoL you are concenLraLlng on.
1hls ls noL self-lnqulry, and you wlll never cause Lhe 'l' Lo vanlsh ln Lhls way. Any
Lechnlque LhaL puLs aLLenLlon on a LhoughL or a percepLlon or a feellng LhaL ls noL
'l' ls noL self-lnqulry. lf you Lhlnk lL ls, you are pracLlclng cargo-culL lnqulry. ?ou are
followlng a rlLual or a pracLlce LhaL derlves from an lncorrecL undersLandlng of
how Lhe mlnd comes lnLo exlsLence, and how lL can be made Lo dlsappear. ?our
llkellhood of success wlll be Lhe same as Lhe lslanders who Lrled Lo enLlce planes
ouL of Lhe sky wlLh rellglous ceremonles.

CuesLlon: 8uL doesn'L falLh and devoLlon have a role? WhaL abouL Lhe people who
are dolng Lhlngs wlLh deepesL devoLlon and falLh buL perhaps don'L have a good
ldea of whaL needs Lo be done (or undone ln Lhls case)?

uavld: l'm noL crlLlclzlng falLh or devoLlon here. l'm slmply saylng LhaL Lhere's an
effecLlve way of dolng self-lnqulry and an lneffecLlve way, and LhaL one
undersLands Lhe dlfference by undersLandlng Srl 8amana's Leachlngs on Lhe
naLure of Lhe 'l': how lL rlses, and on how lL can be made Lo subslde.



!ames: ?es, lL ls Lrue as far as lL goes buL Lhe problem ls Lhe ldea LhaL Lhe mlnd ls
meanL Lo be made Lo vanlsh or dlssolve. 1hls ls a blg fanLasy. 1he mlnd does
'dlssolve' buL only momenLarlly, Lhen lL reLurns. lurLhermore, lf Lhe mlnd ls noL
Lhere, how can lL geL self knowledge? 1hls noLlon ls [usL a varlanL of yoga. lL may
produce Lhe lnferenLlal knowledge (when Lhe mlnd reLurns) LhaL Lhe self exlsLs
when Lhe mlnd ls noL presenL buL lL ls only marglnally more useful Lhan deep
sleep because uavld does noL undersLand LhaL self knowledge, whlch ls for Lhe
mlnd, ls llberaLlon, noL Lhe cessaLlon of LhoughL. lL ls qulLe sLrange because
8amana dlsLlncLly says 'by knowledge alone ls llberaLlon galned.'
lf l knew l was Lhe self lL would make no dlfference lf Lhe mlnd was presenL or
absenL. lL ls qulLe amazlng LhaL people llke uavld who have such a sLrong splrlLual
!"#"$" geL caughL ln a bellef llke rellglous people and sLop Lhlnklng clearly. 1he
problem ls LhaL you cannoL read your way Lo %&'#" and lf your 'Leacher' ls noL
acLually a Leacher buL [usL someone who knows who Lhey are, llke 8amana, you
can easlly confuse yourself because Lhe 'Leachlngs' are [usL lsolaLed sLaLemenLs
made aL dlfferenL Llmes ln dlfferenL slLuaLlon and Lhere ls no blg plcLure, no
resoluLlon of apparenLly confllcLlng sLaLemenLs. lf you are under Lhe Lhrall of Lhe
experlenLlal vlew of enllghLenmenL, you wlll flnd sLaLemenLs LhaL conflrm LhaL
vlew and re[ecL sLaLemenLs Lo Lhe conLrary. lL ls easy Lo resolve Lhe lssue of
knowledge and experlence buL only lf you are open Lo vedanLa, whlch, as far as l
know, ls Lhe only Leachlng LhaL does so.
WhaL uavld doesn'L geL..along wlLh Lhe resL of Lhe neos.ls LhaL self lnqulry ln noL
a quesLlon abouL one's ldenLlLy aL all. 1here ls no doubL abouL lL. lL ls Lhe
appllcaLlon of Lhe knowledge of one's wholeness and compleLeness Lo Lhe mlnd,
whlch belleves oLherwlse. As long as Lhe self ln Lhe form of Lhe mlnd Lhlnks lL ls
lncompleLe and acLually belleves lncompleLeness Lo be Lhe LruLh, lL ls sub[ecL Lo
Lhe seducLlve bellef LhaL lL can brlng abouL lLs enllghLenmenL by dlssolvlng Lhe
mlnd by applylng some Lechnlque. ?es, applylng knowledge ls done by Lhe doer
Loo buL ln Lhls case Lhe doer has Lhe rlghL ldea.LhaL lgnorance ls Lhe problem, noL
acLlon, Lhe appllcaLlon of some Lechnlque LhaL ls meanL Lo produce some klnd of
experlenLlal change. Self knowledge doesn'L change one's experlence lL changes
one's relaLlonshlp Lo Lhe doer/experlence by brlnglng abouL ldenLlflcaLlon wlLh


awareness. lL does so by desLroylng lgnorance. 1he lnqulry aspecL ls ferreLlng ouL
Lhe lgnorance.looklng behlnd your fears and deslres.and desLroylng lL wlLh Lhe
knowledge, whlch usually Lakes a loL more Lhan [usL asserLlng Lhe facL LhaL you
are whole and compleLe awareness. usually, you need %"$"$", Lhe loglc of
varlous )*"'*+,"#, Leachlngs, Lo lay wasLe Lo lgnorance born Lhlnklng paLLerns.
And for Lhe you need Lo be LaughL. lf you are hlghly quallfled, lnLelllgenL and can
acLually read wlLhouL pre[udlce, maybe you can plck up Lhe Leachlngs on your
own and apply Lhem and remove your own lgnorance buL lL ls much easler and
more effecLlve Lo leL a sage Leach you. When you are properly armed, Lhen you
wade lnLo Lhe arena and do baLLle wlLh lgnorance.
1he problem wlLh uavld ls LhaL he plcked up Lhe experlenLlal noLlon of
enllghLenmenL and, lL seems, never acLually dld lnqulry on lL because lf he had he
would see Lhe fallacy Lo Lhe dlssolved mlnd Leachlng. lL ls LoLally slmple and
obvlous why dlssolvlng Lhe mlnd doesn'L work. lf lL dld Lhen we would all be
enllghLened.because who hasn'L slepL? So he ls acLually llke Lhe cargo culL
naLlves he menLlons, caughL up ln a bellef whlch he Lakes Lo be knowledge. ln Lhe
land of Lhe bllnd Lhe one-eyed man ls klng.
!ames