1. By the year 2001 the author had been studying the teachings of almost all the various religions and spiritual paths for 27 years, from the bodily age of 15 to 42.
2. He had read more than two thousand spiritual books.
3. He had spent time with many spiritual teachers in America and India.
4. It was clear that the essence of most of the spiritual teachings was focusing the attention on the “I AM”.
5. The place where Judaism, Christianity, Islam and “Hinduism” meet is turning inward and focusing the attention on the “I AM”.
6. The most direct and rapid means to eternal bliss, finding the kingdom within, “Self-realization” etc., is turning the attention within to focus on the “I AM”.
7. One modern example of this in “Hinduism” is Nisargadatta Maharaj.
8. Nisargadatta’s Guru told him to pay attention to the “I AM” to the exclusion of all else.
9. Nisargadatta followed his Guru’s instruction for three years.
10. After three years of practicing in his spare time, Nisargadatta realized his true Self.
11. Nisargadatta had to work to support his family, therefore, he could only practice in his spare time.
12. Nisargadatta used to spend hours each day looking at the true Self.
13. Focusing the attention on the I AM, while excluding all else from one’s attention, is an ancient practice in “Hinduism”.
14. The importance of looking inward and knowing the “I AM” is found in the Judeo-Christian teachings also (15 - 19):
15. And God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM”. And He said “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you”. (Exodus 3:14)
16. “Be still and know I AM God”. (Psalms 46:10)
17. The entire book “The Impersonal Life”, a book of Christian Mysticism, is written around the single sentence “Be still and know I AM God”.
18. Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I AM”. (John 8:58)
19. Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is within you”. (Luke 17:21)
20. Jesus did not say the Kingdom of God will be within you after your body dies.
21. Jesus said “is”. “Is” is present tense. “Is” means now.
22. The Prophet Mohammad said: “He who knows his Self knows his Lord”.
23. There are many other spiritual traditions and teachings that have pointed out that focusing the attention on the I AM is the most direct and rapid means to freedom.
24. Another modern example from “Hinduism” is Ramana Maharshi.
25. Ramana Maharshi taught for more than 50 years that the only effective means to end the ego and sorrow and to remain as eternal joy is to focus on the Self, the I, the I AM.
26. By the year 2001 the author had attempted to practice the method of focusing the attention on the I AM for 27 years.
27. The author had made very little progress with that or any other method.
28. In December of the author was in Tiruvannamalai India for the purpose of attending the talks of a teacher in the Ramana Maharshi tradition.
29. The author was in his room at the Sesha Bhavan guest house.
30. The author was thinking about all the possible meanings of I and I AM and all the possible approaches to I and I AM that he had read over the years.
31. The I thought, the thought I AM.
32. The I feeling, the feeling I AM.
33. The I consciousness, the I AM consciousness.
34. To think I or I AM.
35. To feel I or I AM.
36. To focus the attention on I or I AM.
37. The number of different combinations of the approaches and the different views of what I or I AM means.
38. After 27 years, the author still was not sure what I AM means in Direct Experience.
39. The author was wondering if there was some way to solve these questions and to have clarity both in the meaning of I or I AM and what to do with it, focus the attention, feel, think, or?
40. The author wanted an understanding that was so clear that there would be nothing vague left, no more choices left.
41. The author really wanted to know the answer.
42. The author was not going to confine the answer to any previous understanding.
43. The author was willing to have his previous understanding shattered, if need be.
44. There was a willingness to consider, maybe for the last two and a half decades, the author had not at all understood what the I AM is and how to focus on it.
45. It was a willingness to allow all the old views to be swept away, if need be.
46. Ramana Maharshi had said that Self-inquiry is more like feeling than like thought.
47. Asking “Who am I?” or asking “To whom do these thoughts arise?” are easy instructions to follow as long as one stays in the realm of thought.
48. However, when it comes to feeling “Who am I?” or feeling “I AM”, that had always been a bit vague, because what exactly is the feeling I AM?
49. How do I know I AM?
50. Nisargadatta Maharaj and many others had said the I AM is consciousness.
51. The author wondered is the “I AM” the I-thought or is the “I AM” just my present awareness?
52. The author thought:
53. If the “I AM” is this present awareness, just the awareness that is now looking at this room, then paying attention to the I AM is just:
    
    
    My awareness watching my awareness!
54. This was a revelation!
55. Instead of having some vague practice where one is told to pay attention to the feeling I AM, without ever being sure exactly what the “I AM” is and feels like, here was an absolutely clear instruction:
    
    
    My present awareness watching my present awareness.
    Awareness watching awareness.
56. Not some unknown seemingly far away awareness labeled the Infinite Self, or labeled God.
57. This awareness, my awareness, here and now watching itself, while ignoring thought, the body, and the world, etc.
58. Immediately the author tried this practice (59 - 65):
59. Awareness watching awareness while ignoring thought.
60. The author shut his eyes, because the point was also to ignore the world.
61. To turn the attention that normally goes out to the world around 180 degrees and to look inward.
62. To turn the attention away from thought and towards awareness watching awareness.
63. If the author noticed a thought, he ignored the thought and brought the attention back to awareness watching awareness.
64. Awareness paying attention to awareness to the exclusion of all else.
65. Awareness paying attention only to itself.
66. The results were instant!
67. From the very first moment one tries this practice, one is abiding as awareness!
68. There is no waiting!
69. It is so easy.
70. One does not mean to imply that from the beginning the ego ends.
71. It takes years of continuous practice before the ego meets its final end.
72. However, from the moment one tries this simple, easy to understand practice, one is abiding as awareness!
73. The author practiced the Awareness Watching Awareness Method for two years, from December 2001 of to January of 2004.
74. There were more days with twelve hours of practice than there were days with two hours of practice.
75. In January of 2004 the author’s ego, sorrow and suffering came to its final end and what remained is:
    
    
    Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
76. Thus the Awareness Watching Awareness Method once again lived up to its reputation as being the most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss here and now in this lifetime.
77. Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj had both specifically described the Awareness Watching Awareness Method, however, the author’s ego did not allow him to see it.
78. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method was like a buried treasure, hidden amongst so many other quotes on so many different subjects.
79. Future volumes of this book or the Freedom Religion, inc. website, will present some quotes where the Awareness Watching Awareness Method has been described by Awakened Sages of the past and other quotes that are helpful to spiritual aspirants or that support the teachings in this book.
80. All of the spiritual teachings of the past have been distorted and contaminated by the ego, therefore the present volume has very few quotes.
81. Another reason the author did not previously realize the true meaning of the “I AM” is because he had read that the I AM, the true Self, is Infinite Continuous Awareness.
82. That made it seem like it must be something different from the awareness that wakes up in the morning.
83. However, it is due to the habit of always looking outward that the assumption is made that the awareness that wakes up in the morning is limited.
84. If one observes the awareness for many years eventually one discovers that the awareness is not limited and is continuous.
85. The significance of the Awareness Watching Awareness Method discovery is one of communication.
86. A human could be told to focus on the I AM and even after one hundred million lifetimes still not know what the I AM is.
87. However, if told the I AM is the awareness that wakes up in the morning, the background of awareness that is there during all the waking hours, and given specific instructions in how to turn the attention away from thought, etc. and towards awareness watching awareness, one can end the ego, sorrow and suffering in this lifetime and remain eternally in bliss.
88. Those specific instructions are found in Chapter Seven.
89. You might think that the majority of humans would rejoice at the discovery of the most rapid and direct means to eternal bliss.
90. Due to the tricks of the ego, the majority of humans will not rejoice at the discovery.
91. That is why this book begins by identifying the imposter, exposing the motivations and tricks of the imposter, showing the importance of, and how to awaken, the extremely intense desire for liberation.
92. Historically, not even one in a million humans has been dedicated to the Direct Experience of the Eternal Truth that lives within them and is their true Self.
93. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a human to end suffering and to remain in Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss.
94. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a person of the Jewish faith to directly experience the I AM that revealed its Self to Moses.
95. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a Christian to discover and live in the Kingdom of God within them in Direct Experience in this lifetime.
96. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a “Hindu” to attain liberation while living (jivanmukti) and to live in Being-Awareness-Bliss (sat-chit-ananda).
97. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a Muslim to know their true Self. The Prophet Mohammad said: “He who knows his Self knows his Lord”.
98. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method is the most rapid and direct means for a Buddhist to attain Nirvana and to bring the ego, suffering, desire and craving to its final end.
99. The ego has distorted all of the religious and spiritual teachings of the past to serve its purpose and to hide the most rapid and direct means to liberation.
100. What happens in all of the religious and spiritual teachings of the past is the ego in the reader or listener co-operates with the ego in the so-called spiritual teacher to produce a teaching that will serve the ego. Then both the teacher and the student call the false teaching a true teaching.
101. Some of the spiritual teachings of the past were authentic spiritual teachings given by awakened sages.
102. However, the moment an awakened sage speaks the ego in the listener begins to distort the teachings.
103. Therefore, the distortion does not take time to begin. The distortion begins instantly, immediately.
104. Once the teaching has been distorted by the ego, the teaching serves the ego.
105. The ego distortion becomes even greater as time passes.
106. It is possible to extract helpful quotes from the teachings of the past, however, the quotes must be extracted by an awakened sage.
107. If one in whom the extremely intense desire for liberation has not been awakened attempts to extract quotes, the quotes extracted will usually be those that serve the ego.
108. Because it is the most rapid and direct means to end human misery and to live in Peace-joy, the Awareness Watching Awareness Method is of great benefit even to those who are not spiritually inclined.
109. What might seem like only a slight difference in the way one practices, makes a huge, profound, extraordinary, quantum leap of a difference in the speed of the results.
110. What might seem like only a slight difference in the way one practices, can save years or even lifetimes of practice.
111. Therefore, the precision with which the practice instructions are described is crucial.
112. A slight change in the wording of the practice instructions will produce a slight change in the practice, thereby making the practice indirect and losing the rapid results.
113. There are other methods that appear similar to the Awareness Watching Awareness Method, however, seemingly similar methods will not produce the rapid results and they will not save the years or lifetimes of practice.
114. Those other seemingly similar methods have slight differences that destroy the efficiency.
115. In the Awareness Watching Awareness Method, no external teacher is needed.
116. All that is required is that one has the precise practice instructions and follows them by practicing.
117. First the written instructions are the teacher, then the practice itself is the teacher.
118. The written instructions are only the teacher for the few minutes it takes you to read them or listen to them if you decide to record them on a tape recorder or CD.
119. Therefore, it is the Awareness Watching Awareness practice itself that is the teacher.
120. You never need to physically see a teacher on this Direct Path.
121. Physically seeing a teacher would draw your attention outward and would be counter productive.
122. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method practice instructions are offered free and are found in Chapter Seven.
123. The only way to find out if the Awareness Watching Awareness Method works for you is to practice it.
124. If without trying it, you come to the conclusion that it will not work, then you have allowed the imposter (thinking) to rob you of a great opportunity.
125. With thinking you have a conclusion, an opinion, an assumption that may be correct or may not be correct.
126. However, with practice, you will know for sure if it works for you or not.
127. Therefore, consider giving it a sincere, fair try.
128. A few months is not long enough to be a sincere, fair try.

Read Chapter Six very slowly three times before reading Chapter Seven.

To read Chapter Seven click this link