Meditating on the ‘I Am’: The Highest Method

Out of my decade of studying and practicing meditation intensively in a wide variety of traditions with many different teachers, one of the most powerful meditation techniques I have come across is to meditate on the ‘I am’.

It is profound because it is both relatively accessible, and at the same time it can result in very immediate (temporary) enlightenment experiences. Glimpses of total freedom, total causeless satisfaction, and oneness experiences.

For this reason it is described as the ‘highest’ path or method in many traditions.

It is the highest method in classical Tantra and the popular text ‘Vijanana Bhairava Tantra’ (known by many as the Radiance Sutras).

It is the highest path in Tibetan Buddhism known as Dzogchen.

It is the Jnana Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita.

It is what is endlessly revered and described in the Veda’s.

It is the essence of the Tao te Ching.

It is the Purusha that we seek to unite with in Yoga and Sankhya.

It is what the powerful deity Shiva represents.

It was the method taught by Nisargadatta Maharaj, the Indian sage whose talks are recorded in the famous book ‘I am That’.

And personally, I am convinced it is the meaning of Heaven as described by the prophets in the major religions.

So what is this meditation about?

If you compare all the major meditation traditions, they all, without exception, point us to something that is beyond the world of appearance.

They call it the deathless, the infinite, the ground of being, the unconditioned, the formless, the true nature.

Some call it your God-essence. Consciousness or Awareness.

It is so subtle, that most people overlook it.

It sounds so mysterious, that skeptics will discard the idea as nonsense upon hearing about it.

Yet it can be realized and tasted, for anyone who is sincerely interested.

It is found when we stop our attention from moving along with the endless changes inside and outside of us.

When we for a moment let be the endless thoughts, moods, and the ever changing world, for what it is.

And we stabilize attention inside, into the unchanging simplicity of ‘I am’.

I am-ness has to be understood as the only thing we know that does not change in each experience.

There is no moment in our lives in which ‘I am’ wasn’t. Every moment is born inside the ‘I am’.

‘I am’-ness is like space; space doesn’t move, but it is that which holds the entire universe in it.

It is the silence inside which sounds appear.

It is that which remains aware when in deep states of meditation all experience of phenomena ceases.

The I am is profound because unlike anything else in us, it cannot be touched.

We can break a bone, hurt our skin, be psychologically affected, our hearts can be broken, but the ‘I am’ is unshakable and untouchable.

No one, including ourselves, has the power to harm it, touch it, change it, or affect it.

I am-ness is the only real power we truly 'have'.

It is so powerful, that it is humbling.

It is so subtle, yet so obvious.

It is so close, that we usually overlook it.

Meditating on it simply means to bring our attention to it. It is to bring the sense ‘I am’ from unconscously in the background, into our conscious awareness.

Once we do this correctly, it should feel expansive. Our attention opens as wide as the sky. Our experience feels lucid. We are absorbed in nothing; and thoughts find nothing to cling to. We are here. We arrive - even if only temporarily.

To practice with the ‘I am’, we can start with short meditations.

To start, we can take a breath, relax our body, and say mentally just once ‘I am’.

And then feel into this ‘I am’, without words.

Feel what it feels like, to be aware of being.

Aware of being aware.

Centered, fully here, still aware of our experience,  but without clinging to any particular experience. Thoughts, sounds, sensations, all come and go without trying to suppress them.

In longer meditations, we can do it too. We can dwell and rest in the ‘I am’, to find nourishment. Be cautious here to not space out; true meditation still requires our conscious presence and participation.

To realize the ‘I am’ more clearly, come back to it often. Check: is it still here? Take short ‘glances’ until you are absolutely clear on with what the ‘I am’ is, and what it is not.

This meditation can complement any other meditation practice.

Try it out and let me know how it goes for you in your practice.

It can be in my experience and of many students I worked with one of the most profound and mind-blowing turning points in one’s spiritual journey that will leave you amazed again and again as it brings ever deeper insights.