The annals of scientific discovery are full of incidents of rtambhara prajna, like William Kukule's vision of the snake eating its tail, which led him to cracking the mystery of the benzene ring. There's Einstein's testimony to the fact that all his great scientific breakthroughs came not when he was thinking about them, but when his mind had become completely quiet. As a meditator, I've learned to trust the insights that arise out of this state of quiet mind, and little by little, to discern the difference between rtambhara prajna and the other voices and feelings that arise.
The turning point for me in discerning the 'feel' of clear inner guidance happened in a mundane and apparently trivial way. I was about to fly home from New Delhi, and I'd been packing quickly, discarding everything that didn't fit in my suitcase. But as the taxi waited at the door, I discovered that I didn't have my airline ticket. (E-tickets didn't exist in India in the early 1980s!)
Frantically, I turned out my bag, the drawers, the wastebasket. Nothing. At last, I closed my eyes, got quiet, and asked Consciousness, "Please find my ticket."
Seconds after I made the prayer, a very faint sequence of words began to appear in my mind. Word by word, I heard, "Look in the wastebasket again." I did. My ticket, it turned out, was folded between two other papers, concealed so well that I hadn't seen it.
I relate this story for two reasons. First, because the guidance was so specific and concrete that it was impossible to discount it as fantasy. Second, because it gave me my first clear model of how trust-worthy guidance appears. For me, at least, it comes in trickles. I feel it surfacing as if from a depth. It feels small and subtle—literally, for me, the 'still small voice'—though other people tell me that they receive images more often than words. It is often so subtle that if I'm not looking, I won't find it. But when I do, there's a quality to it that brings release or ease. And it also, if I truly pay attention to it, feels inevitable, even if it is calling my attention to something that challenges my personal status quo.
The guidance that arises from the truth-bearing mind often feels so apparent that you may wonder why you didn't get it before. Afterward you may have to work out details, or deal with your own reservations about the guidance. And you certainly have to test it.
But at the moment it comes, it doesn't inflate the ego, nor does it create feelings of smallness. It simply seems . . . true.
Testing Your Guidance
My experience with the ticket actually gave me a model for hearing and working with inner guidance. Basically, when I want to understand something or make a decision, I ask for guidance, and then I experiment with following the guidance I've received. There's a process I use, which I offer you below, that I've found has really made a difference in my ability to hear what my deeper self wants to tell me. In following the steps below, you might not want to begin with a major life questions, but rather with more ordinary situations. You could start by asking for help in resolving a creative problem, or a problematic relationship or living situation. You could ask for insight about your practice, or about an inner tendency that disturbs you.
Here is a process you might follow for receiving guidance.
1) Spend some time formulating your question, getting as clear as possible about it. Write it down. (This is important—the act of writing concretizes your question or issue.)
2) Close your eyes, sit comfortably with your back erect but not rigid. Hold the question in your mind. Say it to yourself a few times, and notice the feeling-space that arises when you do. Notice your feelings about the issue. Notice any thoughts that come up, including resistance to the process. Jot them down if they seem important or relevant.
3) Focus on the rhythm of the breath. Using the breath's rhythm as your anchor, keep your attention on the breath until the mind begins to relax and become quieter.
4) Now, sink your attention deeper. You can do this by focusing in the heart center, in the middle of the chest region, or by focusing on the belly center, three inches below the navel, deep inside the body. Or you can use a visualization: Imagine yourself descending down a staircase into a quiet cave, moving step by step until you find yourself enclosed in quiet.
5) In this quiet space, ask the Sage within you, the person of wisdom who resides at your deepest core, to be present. Or, if there is a particular deity form or teacher or sage you respect, you might ask them to be present. Alternatively, you might simply have the feeling that you are asking guidance from the universe, the Tao, the source of all. Understand that it is enough to ask that inner wisdom be present, and it will be available.
6) Ask your question. Then wait silently, without either expectation or discouragement, to see what emerges. Remember that insight does not always come in words. It might come as a feeling, or an image. Also, it might not come in the moment that you ask for it. Intuition emerges in its own time. Once you have seeded the question, be attentive during the next 24 to 48 hours, because answers to your question will arise. They may come as insights, as gut feelings, as words in a book, or as something said by another person.
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