An account of enlightenment by Gary Weber

[Ajay0]

Gary Weber recounts on how the teachings of Ramana Maharshi influenced him to shed the excitement seeking ego, resulting in enlightenment .

 

https://happiness-beyond-thought.com/legacy/theauthor.html

 

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Somehow, I happened upon the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. I began looking in the other direction, back inside at what it was that was doing all of these practices and causing all of this confusion. One day, realizing that enlightenment was impossible as long as there was an “I” insisting on being present for the exciting conclusion as well as keeping all of its attachments, I surrendered completely. Everything was surrendered, everything; my “self”, possessions, job, corner office, parking space, options, house, attachments, everything. I said deeply and sincerely from the bottom of my being, that I had to know the Truth, even if it cost my life. With that surrender, I could feel something shift.

 

Shortly afterwards, doing an asana that I had done thousands of times before, the “I” blew out like a candle in the wind, and a page turned. I went into the asana one way and came out transformed. Consciousness shifted completely and irrevocably. Thought stopped as a continuous activity and stillness and presence were there at a level I could never have imagined. I realized that I was not this body, nor these thoughts, but the undying consciousness behind them. I saw that everything was perfect just as it was and that everything was somehow inside me and was in fact, all One. Surprisingly, I also realized that everything was God. ~ Gary Weber

 

 

[Ajay0]

An interview with Gary Weber where he elaborates on  SRIN meaning 'self-referential internal narrative'.

 

https://www.spiritualteachers.org/gary-weber/

 

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Q: If I had to sum up this Gary Weber fellow’s teaching in a sentence, it would be “stop thought by realizing that the I doesn’t exist.” Have I mangled your message?

 

A: The only modification i would add is “stop self-referential internal narrative by realizing that the I doesn’t exist”. The clarifying language is needed by some folk as “no thoughts” is often misinterpreted. Since the self-referential internal narrative (SRIN) is 98% of most folks’ internal dialogue it is close to the same thing but doesn’t raise as much resistance.

 

 

[johndoe2012]

It takes a long time to remove SRIN but it is doable. 

 

However I think there are more techniques than the ones that Gary Weber mentions on his website and books. 

[Mark Foote]

On 7/23/2024 at 4:02 AM, Ajay0 said:

Gary Weber recounts on how the teachings of Ramana Maharshi influenced him to shed the excitement seeking ego, resulting in enlightenment .
 

  Quote

Somehow, I happened upon the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. I began looking in the other direction, back inside at what it was that was doing all of these practices and causing all of this confusion....
 

 

https://happiness-beyond-thought.com/legacy/theauthor.html

 

 

 

Nisargadatta, a famous teacher who lived in India in the last century (said):
 

You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself.

 

(Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]. Mumbai: Zen Publications. ISBN 978-9385902833)

 

 

“The consciousness should give attention to itself”—in thirteenth-century Japan, Eihei Dogen wrote:

 

Therefore, …take the backward step of turning the light and shining it back.

 

(“Fukan zazengi” Tenpuku version; tr. Carl Bielefeldt, “Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation”, p 176; © 1988 The Regents of the University of California)

 

 

That’s a poetic way to say “the consciousness should give attention to itself”.

 

I used to talk about the location of consciousness, but a friend of mine would always respond that for him, consciousness has no specific location. As a result, I switched to writing about the placement of attention:

 

There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence.

 

(A Way of Living)

 

("Take the Backward Step"')
 

 

I find that a presence of mind from one breath to the next can precipitate “one-pointedness of mind”, but laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep. 

 

(A Way of Living)