Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-47

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Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-47

 

The enquiry: Who am I? really means trying to find the source of the

ego or of the "I" thought. You are not to occupy the mind with

other thoughts, such as "I am not the body". Seeking the source of

the "I" serves as a means of getting rid of all other thoughts. You

should not allow any scope for other thoughts, but should keep the

attention fixed on finding the source of the "I" thought by asking,

when any other thought arises, to whom it occurs; and if the answer

is "to me", you then resume the thought: "Who is this "I" and what

is its source?".

 

The very purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its

source. It involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep

it steadily poised (stable state; equilibrium) in pure Self-

awareness. Self-enquiry is the only infallible means, the only

direct one, to realize the unconditioned (natural), absolute Being

that you really are.

 

It is a question of tracing the "I" thought back to its source.

 

All that is required of you is to give up the thought that you are

this body and give up all thoughts of external things or the non-

Self. As often as the mind goes out towards objects, stop it and

fix it in the Self of "I". That is all the effort required on your

part. Ceaseless practice is essential until one attains without the

least effort that natural and primal state of mind which is free

from thoughts, in other words, until the "I", "my", and "mine" are

completely eradicated and destroyed.

 

Absence of thoughts does not mean a blank. There must be someone to

be aware of that blank.

 

Bhagavan often cited man's continued existence during sleep,

dreamless sleep, as a proof that he existed independent of the ego

and the body-sense. He also referred to the state of deep sleep as

a body-free and ego-free state.

 

Self-enquiry does not set any object in front of the mind but simply

turns it on itself, seeking its source.

 

Know that the pure and changeless Self-awareness in the Heart is the

Knowledge which, through destruction of the ego, bestows

Liberation. Self-enquiry leads to the destruction of the ego.

 

Whatever you experience, you should never rest content with it.

Whether you feel pleasure or fear, ask yourself who feels it and

continue your efforts until both pleasure and fear are transcended

and all duality ceases and the Reality alone remains. There is

nothing wrong in such things being experienced, but you must never

stop at that. For instance you must never rest content with the

pleasure of laya (dissolution; disappearance) when thought is

quelled but must press on until duality ceases.

 

Self-enquiry has gradually to be extended from set hours of

meditation until it becomes the undercurrent of all thoughts and

actions.

 

Source: Various reliable publications of / on Sri Ramana Maharshi's

teachings.