Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-7

[Guest guest]

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-7

 

>From Surging Joy

By Dr Sarada Nataragan

 

Self-enquiry is not a part-time job; it is an attitude of doubt

about our very nature, how then, can it be restricted to ten minutes

or half-an-hour?...The moment we seriously question the truth of

what we have taken ourselves to be, that question must necessarily

possess us, haunt us, permeate our every action, our every thought.

The very fact that we are able to make self-enquiry a part of our

schedule, instead of it dictating and governing our life, means that

it is merely an intellectual exercise, it is not the urgent question

that it ought to be.(11)…In fact any thought being present means

self-enquiry is not. Or, we have reduced self-enquiry to an

intellectual question.(12)…Self-enquiry must be used as a missile

against every rising thought, and attention should be turned back to

the "I" - the thinker, the seeker, the actor. Continuous vigilance

is essential. One moment's lapse and we are back thinking of a

hundred unnecessary things…If thoughts continue to plague us, it is

because we are not performing self-enquiry…In self-enquiry there

cannot even be the thought of sadhana, there cannot be even the

consciousness of trying to do self-enquiry – even that must be

questioned…There is sadhana, but not the thought of sadhana. How is

this? One does not think "I must ask myself `Who am I?'" Nor does

one repeat the question, nor does one mentally say, `I am not this

or that'…It is simply alert suspension of all thinking.(13,14)…