Guest guest Posted December 1, 2002 Report Share Posted December 1, 2002 If 'I' is only a phenomenon of the waking state, can it be the 'I' consciousness? Is it self-conscious? Or is its consciousness, its strength, its energy derived from its source into which it had subsided unconsciously in sleep? This would give rise to an attitude of doubt about its nature. What then is the mind? If one observes it would be seen that the mind is a movement of thoughts, coming and going but built around a core, center, the 'I' thought. Though thoughts are beguiling in their numbers and variety, they are essentially disparate. When the individual's attention is on them, they surface on the mental horizon and disappear when there is a shift in that attention to another thought. Therefore, Ramana states that I would be logical to regard the mind as only the 'I' thought, the thinker, the individual. Further enquiry into the nature of this center would be possible only to the extent one can isolate it or separate it from its association with innumerable thoughts. Otherwise attention cannot be focused on it. For this, Ramana suggests a weapon in the form of a question 'Who Am 'I'? This has the instant effect of refocusing attention on the center, away from other thoughts. The main advantage would be to disentangle oneself from a jungle of thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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