Nisargadatta "Ask the question, "Who Am I" C#77 Part I

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'I' and 'Mine' are False Ideas

 

Q: I am very much attached to my family and possessions. How can I conquer this

attachment?

Maharaj: This attachment is born along with the sense of 'me' and 'mine'. Find

the true meaning of these words and you will be free of all bondage. You have a

mind which is spread in time. One after another all things happen to you and

the memory remains. There is nothing wrong in it. The problem arises only when

the memory of past pains and pleasures - which are essential to all organic life

- remains as a reflex, dominating behavior. This reflex takes the shape of 'I'

and uses the body and the mind for its purposes, which are invariably in the

search for pleasure or flight from pain. When you recognize the 'I' and 'mine'

as it is, a bundle of desires and fears, and the sense of 'mine' as embracing

all things and people needed for the purpose of avoiding pain and securing

pleasure, you will see the "I' and mine are false ideas having no foundation in

reality. Created by the mind, they rule their creator a long as it takes them

to be true; when questioned , they dissolve.

The 'I' and 'mine', having no existence in themselves, need a support which

they find in the body. The body becomes their point of reference. When you

talk of 'my' husband and 'my' children, your mean the body's husband and the

body's children. Give up the idea of being the body and face the question; Who

am I? At once a process will be set in motion which will bring back reality, or

rather will take the mind to reality. Only, you must not be afraid.