Fwd: Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-21

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , " saikali6362 "

<saikali6362 wrote:

 

Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-21

 

From Surging Joy

By Dr Sarada Nataragan

 

The " I " -thought rises on waking, thinking itself to be a separate

entity. It sustains itself through the day by associating itself

with myriad thoughts, all linked with the sense of identity, the

sense that " I am so-and-so " . And, tired by perpetual

conceptualization, into the Self again it dissolves in the quiet

ignorance of deep sleep. The whole saga of creation-sustenance-

destruction unrolls within every individual, everyday. The rising of

the " I " -thought is creation, for, it brings with it an awareness of

the whole world, of course, in relation to itself. Consequently, the

setting of the " I " -thought, its disappearance in sleep, is death.

Then there is neither awareness of the " I " -nor of the world… " I " -

thought's sustenance is by " feeding on forms " , feeding on various

thoughts. (124)

 

But this tells only a part of the story. What is sustained by the

multiplicity of thoughts is only the sense of separateness. The " I " -

thought maintains only its identity aspect by clinging to other

thoughts. But what is it that sustains its very existence? Certainly

the other thoughts do not constitute or support the existence of

the " I " -thought. When their existence itself is dependent on the " I " -

thought, how could they, in any real sense, sustain its existence?

Can the building sustain its foundation, or the film the screen?

The " I'-thought is truly sustained only by the energy of the Self,

which continues as Existence even in sleep when the identity is

absent. Only, one is not conscious of this Sustaining Power to which

the " I " -thought daily returns to recharge its batteries.

 

As ice is frozen water, water choosing form, rising from water,

sustained by the melting into water; as the wave is the ocean, so

the " I'-thought, with its whole world, is born of the Self,

sustained in the Self and dissolves into the Self:

 

" The body is within the Self. And yet

One thinks one is inside the inert body,

Like some spectator who supposes

That the screen on which the film is thrown

Is within the picture "

 

-Five Stanzas on the One Self, Vs. 3 & 4

Sri Ramana Maharshi

" Consciousness, the Self is Real

The many forms cannot exist apart from it.

Can the different ornaments exist by themselves?

Are they apart from gold? "

 

-Forty Verses on Reality, V. 13

Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

To trace the " I " -thought back to this " Real " source of the Self and

abide there is to die as the wave and be as the Ocean, it is

conscious immortality. (125)

 

--- End forwarded message ---