self-enquiry, #2

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Q: What is the nature of the mind?A: The mind is nothing other than the 'I'-thought. The mind and theego are one and the same. The other mental faculties such as theintellect and the memory are only this. Mind (manas), intellect(buddhi), the storehouse of mental tendencies (chittam), and ego(ahamkara); all these are only the one mind itself. This is likedifferent names being given to a man according to his differentfunctions. The individual soul (jiva) is nothing but this soul or ego.Q: How shall we discover the nature of the mind, that is, itsultimate cause, or the noumenon of which it is a manifestation?A: Arranging thoughts in the order of value, the 'I'-thought is theall-important thought. Personality-idea or thought is also theroot or the stem of all other thoughts, since each idea or thoughtarises only as someone's thought and is not known to existindependently of the ego. The ego therefore exhibits thought-activity. The second and the third persons [he, you, that, etc.] donot appear except to the first person . Therefore they arise onlyafter the first person appears, so all the three persons seem to riseand sink together. Trace, then, the ultimate cause of 'I' orpersonality.From where does this 'I' arise? Seek for it within; it thenvanishes. This is the pursuit of wisdom. When the mind unceasinglyinvestigates its own nature, it transpires that there is no suchthing as mind. This is the direct path for all. The mind is merelythoughts. Of all thoughts the thought 'I' is the root. Therefore themind is only the thought 'I'.The birth of the 'I'-thought is one's own birth; its death is theperson's death. After the 'I'-thought has arisen, the wrong identitywith the body arises. Get rid of the 'I'-thought. So long as 'I' isalive there is grief. When 'I' ceases to exist there is no grief.BE AS YOU ARE