The experience of the Self #9

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The experience of the Self #9

 

Editor: Saradamma asserts that the world is nothing but the mind. The

logical inference from this is that jnani's do not perceive the world

at all since they no longer have a mind. Saradamma confirms that this

is so in the following exchange:

 

Question: You make two statements: one, the world is nothing but the

mind, and two; the realized person has no mind. If both these

statements are true how do you see the world since you no longer have

a mind?

 

Saradamma: I don't see the world, I only see the Self. Seeing the

Self everywhere I look is such a fundamental property of my being

that I sometimes forget that devotees are not also seeing what I am

seeing. When this happens it is only when they speak that I am

reminded that they all have minds, and that when they look at the

world they are only looking at their minds.

 

Editor: Not having a mind, Saradamma travels through life

unencumbered by any mental baggage. The implications of this are

sometimes quite surprising.

 

Saradamma: Sometimes I go to Bangalore and visit my sister who lives

there. While I am away from the ashram I completely forget about it

because there is no mind to keep reminding me of its existence. When

I come back to the ashram it is very strange. Even though everything

is familiar, it is almost as if I am visiting the place for the first

time. Since I do not have a mind, there is nothing in me to provide

continuity with the past. The Self only exists in the present moment,

and since it has no residue of the past attached to it, each

experience is now and fresh. When I am in my sister's house in

Bangalore, that household is all that exists for me. When I am here,

only the ashram exists. Wherever I am there is no attachment to the

past and no anticipation of the future.

 

Editor: Before her realization Saradamma's mind was constantly

occupied with thoughts of Swamy. When her mind finally died such

thoughts were no longer possible, but the love, which generated the

thoughts, continues to flow:

 

Saradamma: Before realization I could not take my eyes off Swamy. I

was thinking of him all the time and my mind was always aware of his

presence. Since realization my mind has gone and I now find that I

have no impulse to look at him for more than two or three minutes at

a time. The thoughts have finished but the love is undiminished; the

only difference is that formerly it was mind-love whereas now it is

Self-love. The same Self-love flows back from Swamy: Swamy is my

Heart and I am Swamy's Heart.

 

 

>From No Mind I Am The Self. David Godman

 

This completes this chapter but other chapters to follow.