Heart

The path to liberation begins with a practice that cultivates discrimination, a systematic method of distinguishing the eternal from the transient in who we are and what we experience.  Mindfulness meditation, self-enquiry and jnana yoga are all trails leading to the same mountain top.  For all intents and purposes, the "neti, neti" (not this, not this) of jnana and the "who am I?" of self-inquiry and the keen and constant "noticing" of mindfulness mirror each other.  They assume something eternal and unchanging as the only reality, they ask probing questions of all that we think and sense, and by a prolonged and earnest process of elimination they arrive at the same crumbling precipice where reason finally fails and clarity reigns.  Their validity has been established over thousands of years of recorded awakenings and shared experiences.

From the standpoint of our conditioned minds this is all nonsense, and indeed non-sense is an apt description of what can not be described.  Many mistake one of its fruits, dispassion, as a sign that Advaitan philosophy is some kind of zombie-inducing kool-aid.  To the contrary, genuine awakening actually fuels greater empathy and compassion--how could it not when now we see at last how lost and misguided mankind is?  Freedom from the conditioned mind adds depth and a new poignancy to our perspective of life and those with whom we share it.