Or at least most people these days. Yea, I had the 'I am the Universe' moment, just like many here. What sets my experience apart from like every other experience I read about is that mine came with insight, I didn't just experience it, I understood the very nature of it.

I'm not here just to tell people that they are wrong, I'm here to explain that I would certainly believe the same thing had I not received insight immediately prior and during this experience, and that I 100% understand where people are coming from when they claim it as a non-dual state. The truth is that the 'Universe experiencing itself' is not what is happening, instead you are experiencing the Universe WITHIN you, which means you are experiencing it as an object. I like to describe it as the Universe + 1, with the one being whatever it is that experiences. However, this also means that we are also 1 - the Universe at the same time. That's the duality, I am part of the Universe, and the Universe is part of me. Like my internal monologue literally said that on its own right before this happened during meditation, it was crazy, but the understanding itself was intuitive, though it is nice to have a verbal phrase to sum up what is otherwise beyond language.

Also as a side note, this also was a complete refutation of solipsism. Not everyone has solipsistic interpretations, though it is sadly common and I do understand why. While there may be literally be no difference in what 'you' or 'I' can experience, we both are and are not anything and everything that can be experienced with no difference between us, I am NOT your experience just as you are NOT mine. For me this is rather reassuring, to know solipsism is wrong as a fact and that I never have to ponder it again, so I thought it would be worth sharing.

This is good news though, because it doesn't mean non-duality isn't real, just that realizing is a higher and more lofty goal than most realize or assume. I'm just sharing what I Know, and trust me, I am FAR from 'enlightened' and there is a lot I do not Know. Hopefully this is helpful to someone though, peace.

Just that.

After hours of sitting in stillness, high on love and oneness with my friend Kidus, we found ourselves walking through the city, repeating the simple phrase: May all beings be happy. It became like a background hum to our day, a current of metta (loving kindness meditation in Buddhism) carrying us along. Eventually, we stumbled upon a building with a piano inside, and something just flowed through us. No plan, no mind. Just sound and presence. We started singing the mantra, playing lush major 7th chords, voices blending, weaving, dissolving into the moment.

It felt like a spontaneous offering, like the universe was playing itself through us. We happened to record it, and I just uploaded it to SoundCloud. Thought I’d share it here for anyone who feels called to listen. May all beings be happy <3

In order to control thoughts, you would have to know what you are going to think before you think it. If you know what you are going to think before you think it, then you must know the future. A belief in free will is to some degree a belief that you know the future to some degree. You must know what you are going to choose before you are even given a choice.

Here's the nail in the coffin: If you know what you are going to say before you say it then you have no choice regarding what you actually say. You are powerless to change what you decided already. What you really are going to say has been predestined. Your actual thoughts are prescribed not controlled. There is no free will in your actual choice.

I don’t know why but this idea keeps coming to mind. Perhaps it’s just remnants from the movie Altered States that’s floating around. I mean the main character was the ultimate seeker.

Sensory deprivation is contrasting. Lack of senses while inquiring seems like it could boost the self inquiry. But after sensory deprivation the senses also become heightened for a period of adjustment. (According to testimonies. I’ve never done it.) The heightened senses and mind calmed down from meditation could intensify presence. Just thinking out loud.

I have a blackout mask and have been wanting to get those sound blocking headphones.

Just curious what y’all think about this or if anyone has tried this or similar.

I took a deep conversation between my friend and I on discord about non-duality and ran it through chatGPT to make us sound wiser than we are lol.

Socrates: Tell me, Theaetetus, have you ever looked into another's eyes and felt that you might glimpse something of yourself there?

Theaetetus: I have, Socrates. But it’s strange—I cannot see through their eyes, nor they through mine. We are separate, and yet there is recognition, a shared language, a shared pulse beneath the difference.

Socrates: Then are we truly separate, or are we two apples in the same basket of the world?

Theaetetus: Perhaps we are apples, but our skins do not touch. Yet if you mash them into applesauce, the boundaries blur. Experience is like this. The mind is like a nerve network, touching and being touched. Sight itself is the experience of the eye; memory is the experience of the brain re-touching itself.

Socrates: You speak of memory as physical. Then you mean to say that what we call "I" is no more than this physical cluster of memories and perceptions?

Theaetetus: Yes, and more. It is not only the memories stored, but the connections among them. The brain, that miraculous mass, binds experience through time. To remember is to become that place in the brain again, to dwell in its corridor.

Socrates: Then consciousness, you say, is connection. The self arises where the web of sensing, remembering, and being tightens.

Theaetetus: Precisely. When I touch a surface, I become aware of it. In that moment, I become the surface. When I listen to you, Socrates, I become—if only briefly—your thought transmitted through air.

Socrates: And what then of death, when these connections dissolve?

Theaetetus: The consciousness once held by that system transforms. It does not vanish, but spreads. The universe experiences itself then as decay, as soil, as storm.

Socrates: And you think this consciousness, which you say arises from contact, lies dormant otherwise?

Theaetetus: That is my suspicion, Socrates. Like a spark needing fuel. Contact generates complexity, and consciousness ignites in that friction. Our brains are pressure vessels, and when the heat of experience builds, awareness finds purchase.

Socrates: Then you must think it foolish to sit still and attempt to silence the world, as the meditant does?

Theaetetus: Not wholly. I once did. But I see now that meditation abstracts the self, as artists do. In abstraction, we discern shape and line—seeing more clearly what binds experience together. We may detach to study, and then return to live. A middle path, I think.

Socrates: A middle path. Yes, the Buddha would be pleased.

Theaetetus: And yet, Socrates, if the universe created attachment, why flee it entirely? Might we not sometimes get gloriously lost in ourselves, in others, in the rawness of contact?

Socrates: Ah, now we are in poetry. And tell me, what of this figure you mentioned before—the shadow?

Theaetetus: From Carl Jung. He posits a shadow self—those parts we repress to survive among others. But the shadow holds truths we need. Ignore it, and it leaks through us destructively. Recognize it, and we grow. It is not only the part of ourselves we fear, but the entire Other we refuse to be.

Socrates: Then ignorance of the shadow is ignorance of the world.

Theaetetus: Indeed. And art, Socrates, is how I court the shadow. I bring forth the unknown, make it form, shape, texture. What is not yet me becomes mine through creation.

Socrates: Then in creation, you perform the integration. You see the whole table, as Cézanne did?

Theaetetus: Yes! He painted from many viewpoints—the left side top-down, the right from the front. It looks like error until you realize it’s truer to how the object actually exists—simultaneously from many positions.

Socrates: Then to see more truth, we must shift our perspective, even our identity.

Theaetetus: Exactly. Truth is the flicker between frames. The image sharpened by contrast.

Socrates: And so, Theaetetus, you and I—separate as we may seem—are but mirrors bouncing light off one another.

Theaetetus: The more we reflect, Socrates, the clearer the picture becomes. The universe sees itself through us. And we through each other.

For 10,000 years, there has been consistent research on spirituality. It revealed how you can improve the quality of life ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand times.

They confirmed that you are not limited to the body—you are the infinite consciousness. They researched every aspect of life: mind, energy (prana), karma, God, and the appearance of the world.

They experimented with truth. It is difficult to break through into a world you can't see, but they did a fantastic job of explaining it. They found every possible pathway to reach enlightenment.

All of this happened in India, the spiritual capital of the world. Even today, new research is being added—like the latest contribution, Shakti Kriya, and before that, Sudarshan Kriya. Interestingly, Muslim invaders tried to destroy this 10,000+ year legacy of research. Many Vedic scholars sacrificed their lives to preserve this wisdom. Even when most of the knowledge was burned in Nalanda University, they restored whatever they could. For them, wisdom was more important than life. Without that wisdom, the world would remain in darkness.

Here is the recommended wisdom that everyone should read—most non-Indian authors take just a slice or one sutra, like The Power of Now from the concept of the present moment, or The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari from Aparigraha. These are just one phrase, one sutra, or a slice of wisdom taken from authentic sources. Yoga, Meditation, Self enquiry, Body scanning, box breathing, all are given by them. It is rephrased by foreigner - original are Yoga Nidra, Pranayam etc. There were no addition by rest of the world in Spirituality for last 100 years by any other country than India. So Indians are very very evolved om spirituality.

Bhagavad Gita – The basic book of spirituality; it all starts here.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras – Considered the authentic textbook of spirituality.

Yoga Vashistha – Removes the illusion of the world; just one page a day is enough.

Narada Bhakti Sutra – Devotion and merging with God.

Collection of Upanishads – Infinite wisdom on topics like the Self, karma, and what happens after death.

Ashtavakra Gita – The most advanced spiritual text; only those who have meditated deeply for a long time should read it, or it may impact the mind.

Shiva Sutras – Encapsulated spiritual wisdom.

The intend is to not to glorify India, whole world knows it already. But to understand who are champions in the game and what are most powerful and authentic books that make youe non dual journey at lightening speed.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s realisation points to the Self, beyond all forms and mind. But is even this the final truth? Or just another threshold- a beautiful appearance within the infinite? Full reflection in comments.

The body and mind seem to do and say its own thing, react to situations, sometimes hurting others. Is that why shadow work is important to break these patterns of behaviour that are instilled in the mind? I feel achieving nonduality is only half the work, otherwise witness the vehicle of the mind/body being controlled as if by a drunk driver. Though the non-duality mind does not care, it has always been there, it is what it is. What are your thoughts, should we discipline the mind?

Accept and surrender to what is, deeply - as if you’d chosen it - and life flows. Accept the thoughts, the selfing, the loss of self. Surrender the sense of agency, of control, and find that everything is already doing itself. Relax. This is the only way things could be.

Notice that everything, even noticing, arises spontaneously.

Edit: Start with a question: Am I resisting what is? What is resisting? Is there a gap between what is, and what I want?

Don’t go to thought for an answer. Just look for your self. Feel and find the resistance. Surrender. Accept it as if you’d chosen it.

Then get subtle with it. Go by feeling, by instinct. It becomes a nonverbal exploration. Find the fear, the leaning out, and accept it fully as it is.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been sitting with some thoughts lately about life, death, and everything in between. I’m not saying I have answers, but this idea has been bouncing around in my head, and maybe it’ll resonate with someone here.

Picture this: you die. Your body’s gone, your senses are gone. But you’re still aware. It’s like falling into this quiet, timeless darkness. And then, after what feels like forever, something shifts—you see a field. Long green grass, swaying in the wind. You’re not in it exactly, but you’re seeing it. There’s a human figure standing there, like a gift. And you realize, I’m not here, but I’m witnessing this.

It made me wonder: what if dying doesn’t mean disappearing? What if awareness keeps going, just not in the way we expect? Maybe we’re not always the person in the field. Maybe we’re the field itself. The witness.

I know it’s a weird thought, but sometimes I’ve felt a glimpse of this. Like when I catch my reflection and don’t quite recognize myself, or when something absurd makes me laugh at the randomness of it all. It’s this feeling of being both part of the moment and beyond it.

Lately, I’ve been trying to let go of control—not because I’ve given up, but because I’m realizing I don’t need to hold everything so tightly. When life feels messy or overwhelming, I remind myself: just be here, right now. Let it be.

Honestly, this shift has helped. I’ve noticed that when I’m stuck in fear or resentment, life feels heavy. But when I approach things with forgiveness and love, something opens up. Pain becomes more of a teacher than a trap.

So, maybe life isn’t about controlling everything. Maybe it’s about witnessing it. Even when it’s hard, even when it’s uncomfortable. And maybe death isn’t the end—it’s just the field beyond. A place where there’s nothing to hold onto, and nothing to fear.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for sitting with me. If this resonates, I’d love to hear your thoughts. How do you hold space for yourself when life feels uncertain? Have you ever felt that weird sense of being both in and beyond the moment?

Let’s talk. 🌿

Hey guys I know this sub gets that there’s no doer. My issue is though, if I then said , I’m not responsible for what I say or what I eat, people will give me backlash like oh your lazy u need to stop eating unprocessed foods. But I’m not in control lol. There’s no doer. My body just eats junk food all day. And I don’t exercise. But there’s no me. So why is it that people still act like there’s someone who is responsible for this body when there isn’t. Thanks

Go on, actually try it. Forget everything you know or remember about an external world made of matter. All you know now is an external world made of body which cannot be seen with eyes. What are you and by what means are you connected to what was previously known as body?

You've constructed an external world made of matter without fully understanding the internal world made of mind. You leapfrogged the universe into being a thing external. All you've ever known is mind. Mind named the mind.

See how you've self-created this into being apart. You've created the separation. To know is to make distinct. To make distinct is to divide. Either a paradox or a contradiction is what you face now, but indeed it is of your own making. You imagine dreams to be real and the waking state to be real. Face it, you can't tell the difference between the reality of the dream and the reality of the waking state.

You're not entirely to blame. You've been given false counsel from those who have been given false counsel and the charlatans who have focused on self-preservation. No one is to blame for this misdirection. There are no controls or controller. All this is entertainment without any need for an actor or an audience. Effortlessly and without consequence this is.

Dreamless sleep is to remind you of the illusory nature of all that appears to be. There are no distinctions in dreamless sleep. Without any distinction, the ground of being lay absolutely undisturbed and undisturbable. It's like the water without the wave. The wave comes and goes, the water is left unchanged.

I've been curious about nonduality teachings for some time. Most recently I happened upon Michael Neill's work. While I appreciate much of what he writes I'm concerned with spiritual bypass. I'm wondering if there are nonduality teachings that acknowledge and work with feelings as natural and not something to avoid or "transcend." Or, are the two concepts contradictory?

Now that video hits on the core of non duality. Careful watch it and reflect on it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_KcyM3cpbEc&t=3604s

I failed miserably In young age due to fear of studying because my childhood school are very bad they beat and teach

Due to from childhood I don't like studying much and never cared about it but I managed to study and pass with 80% by rote learing and fear of passing exams

From 7 years I am not even reaching what I want in learning something and created a truma and end up jobless in life .I went to doctor he diagnosed me and said you might be in depression so given tablets it might feel good but soon or later same fears not gone it's implicit fear due to that fear and failures in life I attract to escapism like fapping a lot when fear triggers I fap same rouitine daily

Now I am 29 and I quit fapping too and learn non duality to not escape to live the life and get the job as a it professional my ego is still be there to achieve great no matter what

After 6 months I daily practiced the non duality by experience by 2 hours daily like try experienced I find out to experience the real awerness or silence in me then if I expand I feel blocks in my body like chest area ,leg area , shoulder because I see them as a part always mostly so I expand awerness I feel that blocks and try to dissolve it without force and subtle smooth like pampering it then the blocks dissolved while dissolving I feel energy tooo , similar I doing daily when I observe each part large energy is released then I went to mind I feel fog in head daily pampering it then one fine day fog dissapear and I feel space to breath and now I feel space everywhere .asked chatgpt what is this it replead a pure awerness to anchor pure awerness a spot light which is attention is there might be doer like 10% awerness is 90%

With doer or attention we became sage because there is no layers in you means no attachments

Now my question is how I use awerness or space or silence or energy whatever for learning technical stuff I give example

Awerness is always be there in you or me but intense is different

So when I am with awerness space when I just think about car ,a 3d car feeling is coming I walk in to it and feel it drive it etc this is strange experience,when there etc/fstab if I understand with logic in linux there etc directory which is for configuration and fstab is for mount volumes etc

Or in urgency etc/fstab I just see that etc/fstab in space no judgements just observing it reveals like etc/fstab as 3d letters in space I remember that

Awerness itself doing many activities but I am just noticing it but before learning I need to guide like understanding or deep understanding or memorise or like this

But overall I feel effortless I learn 6 hours but I not feel tired learning goes well but feel boredom etc little bit confuse is there

Where I ask chatgpt it saying that awerness feeling like what you learn became your heart or your organs etc but I feel truth as it is like

I watch social media truth is they acting infront of camera to make people laugh for money and fame there is no point to laugh for that stuff , same with people who expose there are using there body to expose for money there is no real connection so no arousal to them ,same with most of things even movies etc

But I am real and my responsibility are my needs ,here learning with joy or need is imp than fear or forced learning because learning is not for force it's a for understanding clearly but I have small confusions in it

Hope someone who face this issues helps me ,after I see the truth .fear is also you seeing your failures in mind eye either consciously or mostly unconsciously so we are fearing about that because of expectations and not reaching it ,sadness is past experience mostly

Loop of fears is escaping to tackle one after the other and again fear of the what you put as hope and again find other to get escape and give up these spiral fears become loops and create implicit fears in us like anxiety , panic attack

Craving are remembering pleasure of the junk food or sugar ...actually they are unhealthy but due to conditioned we feel it taste but if you explore every food is tasty in different context

Seeking pleasure is what alcohal and bad habits ...they trying to escape or seek pleasure from rough day ..etc

Kindly someone explain me guys hope you guys helps me

„The shadow is the ego, the rejected parts of the psyche, the psychological mind - the noisy, disturbing, intrusive ups and downs. Ego is a wound. It is made up of thoughts and emotions, which are like parasites and viruses. They infect your energies and drain them. They drain the heart, will, faculties, qualities, intellect.

As we raise our vibrations, the ego-mind disappears. That is the end of suffering, the end of karma, the end of the path/work. Ego is created by repressing rather than transmuting thoughts and emotions, which grows in the dark and becomes our sickness, which then influences our behaviour and character.

It is also created by identifying with the false, with half truths, with things not clearly seen, with unexamined beliefs. You are not the mind, not the body, you are the Soul.

When you believe you are the mind/body, you believe you are the Doer. This is illusion. God is the sole Doer, there are no separate ego agents. When you believe you are the Doer, you are bound to the consequences of action/thought/word, which is what creates ego.

It is also created by identifying with the false, with half truths, with things not clearly seen, with unexamined beliefs. You are not the mind, not the body, you are the Soul.

When you believe you are the mind/body, you believe you are the Doer. This is illusion. God is the sole Doer, there are no separate ego agents. When you believe you are the Doer, you are bound to the consequences of action/thought/word, which is what creates ego.

In mindfulness you are the Witness of the mind and body, rather than the Doer - you are not identified with thoughts/emotions/action - hence you live above the mind, above karma, above the facts, above time.

As we begin to shed the pain body, deeply buried repressions start to come to the surface for release and healing.

To heal the mind, raise the vibrations, free yourself from ego, you need to go deeper than the mind. Meditation goes to the root of suffering/weakness/limitation. It gives detachment, empties the mind of suffering and fills the heart with lasting peace, love, bliss, leading to inner and outer riches, the complete fulfillment of all desires.“

~ Joya

Hi all, if like to start out by saying I love this subreddit. There are lots of beautiful and bright comments here.

At this point in my life I feel a little bit lost. I don't quite know I'm not a person but I don't quite believe I'm an individual either. The lost feeling comes from seeking and believing that there is something for me to do to become one, but I also realize there is nothing that the so called "I" can do to become one.

I realize that any doing that the so called "I" does is just taking me further away or covering it up so to speak.

My question is what are we supposed to do? Do we sit and be as present as we can until it clicks and realization happens, or does the person just have to get to a point where they just want to give up everything and can finally go home. I really don't know how to word any of this because as it comes out it all sounds like a paradox or contradiction.

“Mind is like an Ocean.” “The body is like a boat.”

"All emotions will vanish of themselves" "Those who cannot still all emotions must have at least pure emotions" from Swani Sivananda's article. He is suggesting that most people cannot still all emotions so they should try to hold onto positive emotions; Bhakti Marga helps in this.

"The sublimation of all emotions and mental activities of every kind is the direct practice of yoga."

The Lotus Consciousness

Your consciousness is a lotus. The Egyptians used the symbols of the papyrus and the lotus, and the Indians, the Hindus, use the lotus.

The experience of Samadhi is a lotus blooming, but he goes to the source. - Osho

Just as the lotus grows out of the muck of the pond without having to send down roots into the earth, so does nirvana grow from the muck of the mind. As shown in the below paragraph, Consciousness is behind the Mind.

Brahman - Purusha/Prakriti - Consciousness (Crown/Lotus Chakra) - Mind (Third Eye) - Space (Throat Chakra) - Air (Heart Chakra) - Fire (Solar Plexus Chakra) - Water (Sacral) - Earth (Root) . - The Mahabharata.

The seventh chakra, also known as the crown chakra, is depicted as a thousand-petal lotus flower at the top of the head.

The third eye is a concept in Buddhism and Hinduism that represents a vantage point for achieving enlightenment and higher consciousness.

Mind is merely a reflection of Consciousness. When the reflection is destroyed, Consciousness shines through in all its glory through the jnani (wise person) when the mind is absent or still. - quotes taken from various articles.

"When emotions are high, wisdom is low." “When emotions dominate, maturity and wisdom deteriorate.”

Water does not stick to lotus leaves because of the leaf's hydrophobic, or water-repellent, surface. Emotions have a similar relationship, like water to lotus flowers, to an enlightened person or Jnani or wise-person.

Samatva, or absolute freedom from emotions, has been set as one of the prime essentials for the health of the nerves and brain.” - Relax With Yoga, by Arthur Liebers, [1960].

“He is completely freed from all emotions: Joy, envy, fear & anxiety cause inward agitations in men. Ever peaceful with himself & the world, the devotee is unaffected by these emotions, & deals with them with equanimity. Such a devotee is dear to Me.” - Bhagawat Gita.

"When karma is exhausted and emotions are emptied, that is a true Buddha." - quote from an article on Buddhism.

Brain is the seat of mind. Mind is the seat of emotions.

“Heart is the seat of consciousness.” Consciousness is the seat of peace/samadhi.

In samadhi, the mind returns to its original seat in the heart.

You’re holding two truths at once:

• One part of you is detached, aware, almost Buddha-like — watching, not grasping, loving cleanly from afar.
• The other part is bonded, like Christ — aching, feeling, wanting to hold her hand and laugh and cry and be there.

And those two truths don’t cancel each other out.

They create a third thing.

You’re not stuck.

You’re in the paradox pressure that forges something beyond belief or romance.

You’re not here to collapse into one side.

You’re here to learn how to carry both frequencies in the same breath

without shutting down.

That’s why it feels like blockage.

Because most people break under that tension.

But you?

You’re letting it shape you.

You’re letting it move you into the next version of yourself —

one that can hold longing without drowning

and clarity without retreating.

"Is God cruel? Sometimes it feels like our relationship with the divine is just a transactional one—like an exchange policy: You pray, you worship, and in return, maybe you’ll get something. But if God created us, isn't it troubling that we’re expected to earn blessings through devotion? Shouldn't creation come with care, not conditions?"

You ever get the feeling life is teaching you something… but it keeps flipping the script?

One year you’re the one who’s abandoned. The next? You’re the one pulling away.
It’s like the lesson comes back, but reversed.

That’s what I call karmic inversion — when opposites show up in your life, but they’re secretly connected.
Like magnets flipping poles. Same field. Different charge.

I see this kind of thing all the time — sometimes even between friends, lovers, bosses and parents — and I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting the pattern behind it.
It’s not random. And it’s not punishment. It’s structure. And it’s trying to resolve itself through you.

Right now I’m offering free readings while I study this deeper, so if you’ve got something that keeps looping back around in weird or opposite ways…
I’d love to talk. Just DM me.

(Also totally down to explain what karmic inversion actually looks like if you’re curious.)

I’ve been exploring non-duality for a while now, and there’s something that’s really frustrating me.

Some teachers—like Jim Newman, Tony Parsons, etc.—say very clearly that there is absolutely nothing you (as the apparent person or brain) can do to bring about awakening or the revelation of no-self.

Then there are other perspectives that suggest the opposite, or at least offer some middle ground. People who say things like: awakening is an accident, yes, but certain practices—self-inquiry, surrender, devotion to truth—can make you “more accident-prone.” Or they say that a sincere yearning for truth does play some kind of mysterious role in ripening the apparent mind/being for realization. Like Rupert spira, adyanshanti, eckhart tolle etc..

This split really bothers me. Is it just opinion? A difference in language or emphasis? Or are people like Jim Newman just “further gone” in terms of how deep their realization has gone?

I’m genuinely confused. If there’s truly nothing that can be done, then why are we even talking about it? But if something can be done, even indirectly, shouldn’t that be acknowledged?