Fwd: Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-17

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ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-17

 

From Surging Joy

By Dr Sarada Nataragan

 

Bhagavan points out (that) all experience is only in the present.

Future is something we have never experienced and can never do so.

It is merely a creation of the mind, a figment of the imagination.

What we plan for the future, when it actually happens, can only be

the present. So, where is future but in our minds?...Incessant

chasing of the future is but running after a non-entity, a mere

illusion projected by the mind. It is like trying to eat a chocolate

projected on a movie-screen. And fear of the future is believing

that the monster in the movie is clawing you really. The future

being merely imaginary, to give it any value, positive or negative,

is to imbue illusion with reality.(69)

 

In the " royal path " of self-enquiry one is directed to isolate

the " I " -thought. What does this imply? It means stripping the " I " -

thought of all its associations, denuding it of identity.

Associations are with reference to the past and the future. To be

rid of all associations means to have attention wholly centered on

the " I' in the now, minus even a moment's past and future.

 

The efficacy of the method lies in that, questioning identity

diminishes all possibility of associated thoughts, strikes them off

at the root. If attention is to be only on the " I " -thought minus its

appendages where is the question of seeking to attain? Where is the

room for pursuit of the goal? The thought of attainment is also

only an associated thought, it is also a branch of identity. It must

also be axed. It must also be questioned, " Who seeks to

attain? " " I " . " Who is that I? " In this manner attention is brought

back to the " I " alone, to the absolutely immediate now with no scent

of a split second past or an atomic second of the future...In that

moment of ceasing to do, of ceasing to be linked with the past and

the future, there would be awareness of the fullness of bliss, of

the infinite glory of the Lord (73) that shines everywhere and is

experienced within as the Self…In the midst of the greatest

frustration or the deepest sorrow all we have to do is stop a moment

to enquire. What is it that causes the frustration, the

sorrow?...There will always be the knowledge that an infinite bliss

is available to us in every moment, if only we care to pay

attention, if only we can cease to run and be still, if only we can

cease to strive and simply be. How can the past or the future touch

us then? The next moment may not belong to us, the lost moment may

not have been ours but the " now " nothing can destroy, nothing can

sully. To be ever conscious of the now is to be Self-aware. (74)…The

future is not ours to see or hear or act, it is not ours at all. But

the present is, now in simple being lies the infinite bliss. It is

ours. We can experience it, be it, live it, if we will. No, if only

we cease to will. (75)

 

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