I AM THAT. CHAPTER ONE. ( lst 1/2)

[Guest guest]

Excerpt From Message 187.

 

 

 

Questioner:

It is a matter of daily experience,

that on waking up,

the world suddenly appears.

 

Where does it come from?

 

 

 

 

Maharaj:

Before anything can come into being,

there must be somebody to whom it comes.

 

All appearance and disappearance

presupposes a change

against some changeless background.

 

 

 

Questioner:

Before waking up, I was unconscious.

 

 

 

 

Maharaj:

In what sense?

 

Having forgotten,

or not having experienced?

 

Don't you experience even

when unconscious?

 

Can you exist without knowing?

 

A lapse in memory:

is it a proof of non-existence?

 

And can you validly talk

about your own non-existence

as an actual experience?

 

You cannot even say that

your mind did not exist.

 

Did you not wake up

on being called?

 

And on waking up, was it not

the sense " I am " the body in the world. "

 

It may appear to arise in succession,

but in fact it is all simultaneous,

a single idea of having a body

in a world.

 

Can there be the sense of " I am " ,

without being somebody or other?

 

 

 

Questioner:

I am always somebody with its memories

and habits. I know no other " I am " .

 

 

 

 

Maharaj:

Maybe something prevents you

from knowing?

 

When you do not know something

which others know, what do you do?

 

 

 

 

Questioner:

I seek the source of their knowledge

under their instruction.

 

 

 

 

Maharaj:

Is it not important to you to know

whether you are a mere body,

or something else?

 

Or, may be nothing at all?

 

 

 

Don't you see that all your problems

are your body's problems –

 

food, clothing, shelter,

family, friends, name, fame,

security, survival –

 

all these lose their meaning

the moment you realize that

you may not be a mere body.

 

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