Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-67

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Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-67

 

The outer discipline of Self-enquiry is a constant check on actions

and on the motive from which they spring. Sincerely and constantly

applied, it removes the need for any formal code of conduct, for it

strikes directly at the egoism in every action and reaction. The

impulses of the ego will not change immediately. An insult will

still cause anger and a flattering remark pleasure; attachment to

property and comfort will still continue; the senses will still

clamour (protest or complain; appeal or demand); but all such

impulses will be exposed for what they are, so that the result will

be to recognize egoism and feel shame and reluctance over each of

its manifestations. From that point its eradication will begin; but

only by constant effort and remembering.

 

Every spiritual path requires both purity of living and intensity of

spiritual effort, and the vichara (Self-enquiry) was given by

Bhagavan as a technique of pure dispassionate living no less than a

technique of meditation. If anything happens to offend or flatter

you: Who is injured, who is pleased or angry, who am I? So by use

of the vichara, the I-am-the-doer illusion can be destroyed and it

is possible to take part in the life of the world aloofly without

vanity or attachment.

 

As on every path progress is gradual and requires constant effort.

 

The disciple, for his part, should unswervingly follow the path

shown by the Master.

 

The vichara "Who am I?" is an enquiry into one's own "I"-its nature,

its locus, its scope, whether it changes (or not) with the ceaseless

changes in the body and in all conditions of life-in health and

disease, in pleasure and pain, in youth and old age, etc.

 

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

teachings.