Your name is not you.  It is ink on paper and ink on paper

cannot say I am Richard.

Your mind is not you as it is only a collection of unpredictable, whimsical, often irrational thoughts, impressions and memories.  So when the mind says I am Richard, it is a conditioned response programmed into the brain by my parents early on in life, an impression which dies and dissolves into nothingness when the body dies.

The body is not you as it is a DNA programmed food body made from food and sustained by food.  It too cannot say I am Richard.  It ages, grows, decays, dies and rots becoming food for the worms or the crematorium.

Then how does anything ever happen?  I sense that Source Energy sends a thought, an input to the brain, the brain reacts and based on its DNA programming and environmental, parental, peer group, etc. conditioning it creates a mental, emotional or physical action, an output, which in turn creates a consequence according to karmic law. 

Considering the foregone conclusions it would appear that we are all pre-programmed, free will is questionable, there is no you, nor me implying that thinking is happening, talking is happening, eating is happening, driving is happening, smelling is happening, hearing is happening, reading is happening, writing is happening, feeling is happening, etc., but there is no Richard, no doer thereof.

The Absolute is Eternal and unchangeable.  The mind-body concept is temporal and changeable.  Based on these findings it is impossible to be my name, body or mind.

For the first time in my spiritual quest I realize that Self Realization cannot be forecasted or found as it is something that has never been lost, but rather there is something to be deeply understood intuitively, immediately. 

It appears that some people get Self Realization spontaneously for no apparent reason; others get with a lot of hard work, others never get it no matter how hard they work. 

I think that when a particular stage is reached, the table is set appropriately and the ground is fittingly prepared there comes about an appropriate change spontaneously from within.

Thus, according to these deductions and my interpretation of the core teachings of Advaita Yoga the sadhana is simple:  Hold the conviction you are not your name, nor your mind, nor your body understanding that thinking is happening, walking is happening, eating is happening, etc. and there is no doer, no Richard, thereof.

Intellectual understanding was my first step.  Apperception is needed now to stop my moving in a circle, like the dog chasing its tail.

End

Note:  This work is learned from and interpreted from the teachings of Ramana Maharishi, Sri Nisagardatta and Ramesh Balsekar as it is understood by the author.