Lakshmana Swamy - Self-enquiry

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Typed from No Mind -- I Am the Self by David Godman, chapter 8: Sadhana, section Self-enquiry, pages 87-92

 

 

Self-enquiry

 

Lakshmana Swamy realised the Self through a spontaneous act of self-enquiry. He now teaches that this method (that is, scrutinising the nature of the 'I'-thought or seeking its origin), is the most direct way of realising the Self. This is the same method that Sri Ramana taught for nearly 50 years. Sri Ramana recommended it to almost everyone who came to him for advise, but Sri Lakshmana feels that it can only be successfully practised by devotees who have attained some degree of mind control. Sri Ramana himself sometimes admitted that self-enquiry could only be practised by 'ripe souls', but that didn't stop him from encouraging most of his visitors to adopt the technique.

 

excerpt 1:

 

Question: I have been practising self-enquiry. I ask myself 'Who am I?' and I get to a stage where I realise that I am not the mind. This is followed by a feeling of emptiness. How is one to go beyond this feeling?

Swamy: Who says that he is not the mind and who experiences the emptiness?

Question: I do not understand.

Swamy: It is your mind. All your experiences and questions are still within the mind. Deciding that you are not the mind is an activity of the mind. Experiencing a feeling of emptiness is also an experience of the mind. If you want to go beyond the mind by self-enquiry you should not stop with experiences or mental judgements. You must keep up the quest 'Who am I?'. Ask yourself 'Who experiences emptiness?', 'Who thinks that he is not the mind?'. Pursue the quest earnestly by questioning thoughts as soon as they arise. Eventually the 'I' will go back to its source and experience the bliss of the Self. Don't be satisfied with answers to the question 'Who am I?', or with experiences -- these are all in the mind.

 

excerpt 2:

 

Question: Is it necessary to practise self-enquiry in a sitting position?

Swamy: If the mind continues with its thoughts, then sitting meditation is of no use. The mind has to be still. When the mind is still there is bliss. If you can repeatedly dive into the Self by following the quest 'Who am I?', and abide there, this will lead to constant Self-abidance.

Question: When I look into who I am, the mind becomes still. After a few moments' silence I find myself in the middle of thoughts again. Then I remember the self-enquiry again and become silent for a while. Then I forget again. It goes on like this all day long.

Swamy: Yes, it is like this, but with more and more practice the mind becomes still.

For me this world is a waking dream. If you are in this state, then there is no birth or death for you; or sleep. First look into yourself. Just sit every day for half an hour and look into the source of the 'I'. Ask yourself, 'What is this 'I'?'

Without thought there is bliss. Thought itself is pain.

Question: Sometimes questions come up. They are in the mind of course. Should I just disregard them and go on with the quest, or should I look for an answer?

Swamy: Go on with the quest and leave them alone.

 

excerpt 3:

 

Swamy: What is religion? I don't know the answer to that. I don't know anything about all these religions. So many religions, all insisting that they know the truth. Hindus say that the Bhagavad Gita contains the truth, the Christians say that the truth can only be found in the Bible while the Muslims say that it is all in the Koran.

Followers of different religions are always fighting and quarrelling with each other about whose religion is correct. Sometimes they even have wars because they cannot agree on what truth is. No one wants to give up their life in search of truth, which is what is required for self-realisation, but many people will happily kill someone else just to prove that their beliefs are the only correct ones.

At the end of all religious paths there is the quest 'Who am I?'. Until that question is satisfactorily answered no one can claim to know what the truth is or what God is. The ultimate instruction in all religions should therefore be 'Know thyself'. When one looks for the source of the 'I' by asking the question 'Who am I?', the 'I' or the mind sinks into the Heart and experiences the bliss of the Self. When the individual 'I' dies at the end of the quest only the Self remains. That Self is not Hindu, not Christian and not Buddhist because it has no name, no form and no religion.

This path of self-enquiry was taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana. He knew, from his direct experience of the Self, that the 'I' must go back into the Heart and die. He also knew that self-enquiry was the only direct way to make this happen. Actually, the method is not a new one. The sage Vasishta taught it to Rama in the Yoga Vashista, but most people had forgotten about this. Ramana Maharshi was only reviving a technique that had been taught and practised long ago.

How can I be a Hindu or a Christian? Is this body a Hindu? The body is inert, being composed of the five elements; it has no religious beliefs. Is the mind a Hindu? There is no mind and no individual self after Self-realisation, so how can something that does not exist be a Hindu? The Self cannot be a Hindu because it is nameless and formless.

The followers of different religions quarrel about truth because they have never experienced it. Most of them don't even try to experience it; they are much happier quarrelling, fighting and killing each other. The truth is actually very simple; when the individual self dies in the Heart, which is what happens if one successfully follows the quest 'Who am I?', the Self alone remains, one without a second. That Self is truth, that Self is God. What can be simpler than that? But people don't want simplicity, they want something complicated so that they can argue and fight over it.