Difficulty In Self-Enquiry

[Guest guest]

limited to a few hours per day as seekers do in the case of Japa,

meditation, Puja, etc. The search for 'I' should go on constantly and

uninterrupted, even when one is engaged in worldly activities like

professional or domestic duties. Suppose a person who was travelling

by a bus from Chennai to Bombay woke up from a short nap and found to

his consternation that he was unable to recall as to who he was, to

which place he belonged, etc., such a memory-loss is called "amnesia"

in medical terms. He found no clue to his identity from the few

clothings and other possessions in the bag he carried as also in his

pockets. There was no visiting card or any papers or diary, etc. He

was racking his brain for hours but to no avail. He was nearing

Bombay and had very little money in his pocket. How panicky he would

have become! Will he confine his searching in mind to one hour or two

or will he continue it for hours till he recollects his identity? In

the same way, the search for 'I' has to be a

continuous affair as if it is life and death affair (which it is). In

this connection, I remember an anecdote about Schoppenhoeur, a famous

philosopher: From his school days, he was always engaged, whether in

the classroom or in his house, in serious contemplation about answer

to a few questions, viz. "Who am I, Where have I come from? What am I

doing here?", etc. He was thoroughly obsessed about getting answers to

these questions. Once he was sitting in his house fully dressed, lost

in his usual contemplation. At midnight, involuntarily he got out of

his house and began walking in the street and through somebody's

private garden full of fruit bearing trees. When the watchman with a

lantern in his hand espied this stranger walking with his hat on, at

that time of the night, he mistook Schoppenhoeur to be a poacher and

ran towards him from behind, shouting, "Hey, who are you?",

Schoppenhoeur turned round, ran towards the watchman and holding his

hands exclaimed, "Oh Lord, these

are the very questions I have been asking myself for years and have

not been able to get any answers. You are also asking me the same

questions, my dear man". Such an obsession and persistence are

necessary for the path. It is a 24 hours job daily. Just as a person

who has forgotten his name and all other particulars is fully

obsessed with recollecting his identity and will not bother about

eating even normal food not to speak of delicious dishes and also

about any other worldly temptations, when Self-enquiry continues,

automatically it results in 'Vairagya', ie. a contempt for wealth,

fame, ease, pleasure, etc. In other paths like VEDANTA, Vairagya

becomes a pre-requisite for the practice and it is very difficult to

cultivate it. ( TALKS with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk No27, p.26 ).

Here, it is a by-product of 'Self Enquiry'. [Excerpts from - Golden

Guidelines to "Who am I" - by Swami Shantananda Puri,

publisher : Parvathamma C.P.Subbaraju Setty Charitable Trust.] Send

instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.