What is the character of the search?

[Guest guest]

Initial Doubts

 

Devotee: You say one can realise the self by a search for it. What is the character of this search?

 

Maharshi: You are the mind or think that you are the mind. The mind is

nothing but thoughts. Now behind every particular thought there is a

general thought which is the 'I', that is yourself. Let us call this

'I' the first thought. Stick to this I-thought and question it to

find out what it is. When this question takes strong hold on you, you

cannot think of other thoughts.

 

D.: "When I do like this and cling to my self, i.e., the I-thought,

other thoughts do come and go, but I say to myself 'Who am I?' and

there is no answer forthcoming. To be in this condition is the

Sadhana. Is it so?

 

M.: This is a mistake that people often make. What happens when you

make a serious quest for the Self is that the I-thought as a thought

disappears, something else from the depths takes hold of you and that

is not the 'I' which commenced the quest.

 

D.: What is this something else?

 

M.: That is the real Self, the import of I. It is not the ego. It is the Supreme Being itself.

 

(Sat-Darshana Bhashya and Talks, p. 1)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~