Atma Samarpan

The term of self realization is often misunderstood . It is because of the fact that there are so many ways to do this. Each tradition has its own ways, each guru has his own ways and so on. Actually this is natural . It is a subjective phenomenon. The guru or any scripture is like a finger pointing to the goal. The person has to walk the path. It is like the guru tells you the general direction but not the specific way. You take whatever way you want provided you stay focussed he tells. 

I would try to call this ego-sacrifice rather than self realization. This is because realizing self is not an attainment because we are already that. But the ego is the hindrance.So if we sacrifice the ego to the self we are done. It is like a yaga. We sacrifice our own ego to the fire to see the self which is already sitting in the throne. It can be called atma samarpan.

Now how to do this. It is like a spy story. Suppose you want to drive away a spy. What do you do?. You watch his ways.  Get familiar with his ways of life. Watch closely every step he takes. Then go on to drive him away. Also you are careful with him when he talks to you. You dont believe what he says. 

Now in this case, the ego is even more than that . He is a phantom or a non-entity. A dream like figure. So it is slightly difficult. How can you shoo away a ghost?. By not believing in him!!!. Yes a ghost is always a figment of our imagination. Once you stop believing in it , it vanishes. The lesser the belief in it the lesser the power. You will see the ghost fading away.


All your sorrows were a gift by this ghost. All your pseudo happiness were also so. Why pseudo happiness?. Because it can drag you towards its ways by showing you tempting pictures of happiness. True happiness doesn't need advertisement. It is always there. It is a blissfull peaceful state. It is neither an outcome of a desire in life nor is it a fleeting thing as a emotion or feeling. Its very nature is its permanency. So you dont fall prey to its temptations of happiness or the worries it shows you.

Another way the ego dies is by the process of enquiring about its location. You ask the mind where is the I?. Can you show me where exactly "I" am located?. This is something the ego cannot stand.  
This by far is the most powerful way as Ramana Maharshi found. The way to do this is rather simple in its essence. whenever a thought comes and troubles you for a long time , you turn around and ask the mind " To whom does this apply". Essentially what you are asking is this. You have told me a story about a worrying situation . Now tell me what is the entity to whom this applies. The mind will not be able to tell you. This is because it doesnt know about the awareness which is the source. As it is unaware of the "I" , it will remain blank. In this blank state the thought itself vanishes. So you can see that the mind is actually put you into  a situation. It tells you a story , but actually nobody is really affected. 

For e.g. suppose some  thought comes up in the mind like this . " I am worried about my son. He never heeds my advice". Now you ask the mind whom does this thought refer to. The mind would go blank. It cannot say to you that the I is the body. The body is never worried about your son. Nor does the mind say that I is the mind. The mind is only a collection of thoughts . How can it be worried about your son?. 
 It is only a thought that has the tag of worry attached to it. You can see that there are two points here. One is the thought . Second is the identification.  It is the second aspect that makes you mad. A thought is only a thought , it is an arising in consciousness. But identification makes you tense. But to know that the identification doesn't hold water is enough to make the thought vanish. It has no say without the identification. Now if the identification was true the mind should have told you to whom this refers to . Since it cannot tell you , it shows why the ego is a phantom it uses cleverly. So essentially you become thought-free not thought-empty. 

You might have heard of the term lucid dreaming. It is a way of dreaming knowing that you are dreaming. 
Several techniques exist on how to do lucid dreaming. 
Actually our life is a lucid dream. All the so called thought patterns actions etc are all as fictitious as in a dream as it refers to non entities. Only thing is we are conscious of the dream. If we truly understand this the ego will die its natural death. Always remember unless you believe in its ways it wont be able to exercise its influence on you, just like in a normal dream where you are affected since you believe in it. 

Lastly meditation. Meditation is not an achievement. It is rather a letting go of everything we have to get what we really want. We abandon the thoughts, emotions , feelings to be one with the ultimate reality that we are. To get infinity what are small sacrifices?.
So these are the techniques 

1) Always be conscious of what the ego is doing by keeping awareness in the background
2) Stop believing in its ways
3) Practice self enquiry
4) Enjoy the lucid dream called life knowing very well that the self is untouched and unaffected.
5) Meditate and live in it.