Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-29

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Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-29

 

SELF-ENQUIRY

When to enquire

 

40-If one carefully determines the most auspicious day to perform

[self-enquiry,] the one good action, there is no other day like

today.

 

Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 755: If the jiva (individual self)

practices vichara (self-enquiry) without wasting any time, his life

will come to possess great excellence. "I am this wretched body"

will cease and the sea of supreme bliss will surge abundantly within

him.

 

41-If one performs [that self-enquiry] whenever the opportunity

arises, without the least lapse of attention, one's life will become

solid and fortified.

 

Question: Is it enough if I spend some time in the mornings and some

time in the evenings for this atma-vichara? Or should I do it always-

say, even when I am writing or walking?

 

Bhagavan: Now what is your real nature? Is it writing, walking, or

being? The one unalterable reality is being. Until you realize that

state of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you are

established in it, there will be no further worry.

 

No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts

arise. So long as you think "I am walking,I am writing," enquire

who does it.

 

Question: How long should enquiry be practiced?

 

Bhagavan: As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind,

so long the enquiry "Who am I?" is required. As thoughts arise they

should be destroyed then and there in the very place of their origin

through enquiry. If one resorts to contemplation of the Self

unintermittently until the Self is gained, that alone would do. As

long as there are enemies within the fortress, they will continue to

sally forth; if they are destroyed as they emerge, the fortress will

fall into our hands.

 

42-Even if you are about to lose your life, you should remain

eternally vigilant, never losing your mental grip on that one thing,

self-enquiry.

 

43-Practice vichara ceaselessly while you are awake and destroy the

forgetfulness of mind that leads one to the laya of sleep.

 

Laya is a state in which the mind is temporarily in suspension, such

as in trance or sleep.

 

Bhagavan: Destruction of mind alone is tapas (intense spiritual

effort...). This alone is one's duty. One who is doing his own work

will not pay attention to anyone else's work. One should never give

room for swerving from the thought of the Self. However many duties

one may have, at all the other times not meant for performing

duties, one must perform only self-enquiry. While standing, sitting

and taking food one can do vichara, can one not? If the mind happens

to forget the enquiry "Who am I?" because of vasanas (mental

tendencies; the latent desires and feelings that compel one to

behave in a particular way), when it remembers the enquiry, it

should try not to lose hold of the enquiry again.

 

FROM "PADAMALAI", TEACHINGS OF SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI, EDITED BY DAVID

GODMAN, PAGES 212 TO 214.