(im)Personal Tale

Photo is of what I've been doing alot of , which is streaking agar plates with bacteria, and observing their growth. It's pretty interesting.
David Godman's blog has been a good place for me to air my experiences, interests, etc., in relation to Maharshi, Inquiry and spiritual practice.
Here is such a comment, "I was just thinking about several things that struck me as interesting, in light of Inquiry, and Ramana Maharshi. I was just thinking about how one of the things the people who Realized the Self have in common, the one's who had to practice that is, is that they really went for it. I was also thinking about how there is the intellectual understanding, and then there is the experiential understanding even un-Realized. For instance, with Lakshmana Swami, he had that experience where the name of Ram drove the evil spirit away, and after that, he was really intense about chanting the name of Ram, and practicing breath control. Things change, when something shows you that the world taken to be real, is not solid in the way other people think it is. I was also thinking about how different things lead to Self-Inquiry. For instance in my own case, I had an experience in my early twenties, where the world no longer seemed real, and it was a terrifying experience for me, because I didn't have anyway of understanding it, it seemed like the world was in my imagination, it was short glimpses, not Realization. So I eventually took up doing yoga classes on a regular basis, then tai chi, then chi gong, acupuncture, finally vipassana meditation. Eventually I was doing Vipassana meditation in the mornings and the evenings. It wasn't a choice, things weren't going O.K, if I didn't constantly spiritually progress. Then almost fatefully I was taken to a place that had a spiritual teacher I'm convinced is Realized, and through that was exposed to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, which I tried to practice, but until I contacted that teacher (e-mail), there was alot that was incorrect and repressive about my practice (still is). I was just thinking that even if one does not know of Inquiry but practices Hatha Yoga dilligently, sincerely. They will eventually be exposed to Inquiry in one form or another. I only know of the form Ramana taught, but I imagine that in one form or another, a sincere practicer will get exposed because it has to lead to Inquiry, as in a thorough diving in to one's own Consciousness, to reveal what is only consciousness, and not forms. I was also thinking about how even though Ramana advised against neti, neti. Any of those previous descriptions of Inquiry really work, and in a sense are part and parcel of doing Inquiry, but the sincerity is the deciding factor. If I really investigate, am I the body? Is the world real? Who am I? Am I this imaginary entity, the individual I take myself to be? That is where Inquiry has taken over. It's not really a method, it's more of a finding out that I'm not particularized, I'm not a person. For me, my first exposure as in written teachings to Inquiry, although less direct, it certainly was Inquiry was through the Four Agreements. The Four Agreements were not a practice, but an Inquiry. So I assume Don Miguel Ruiz is the Self without a trace of ego.
I was even thinking about how even if a person does not know how to do Inquiry as effectually as possible, the earnest, consistent, attempt will lead to finding (and/or being able to tell) a qualified teacher, a Jnani. Because even though they are "supposedly" rare, and I don't doubt that, they are out there, but as many people including Lakshmana Swami pointed out, you can't judge if someone is a jnani by the intellect, and Maharshi repeatedly I believe said that you can't judge if someone is a jnani by what they do or say. But through earnestly attempting to practice, the ability to discern what is sincere, and what is not, what is real and what is not, is definitely increased, and also Jnanis, the Self, they don't function on the level of cause and effect, so the finding a qualified spiritual teacher is also not a logical, rational, cause and effect process, and tuning away fro m the ego, leads more and more to the sensitivity, to end up in the right place."