Lucy Cornelssen - Investigation (2)

[Guest guest]

Investigation

 

 

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Let us consider the body. It cannot be ‘I’, because everybody

talks about ‘his’ body. Apart from that, it has been born without

having asked its ‘I’ beforehand, and it shall die without asking

its ‘I’ whether it agrees to it or not. And in between it is living

upto its appointed hour without any consideration for its ‘I’, a

mere biological phenomenon, a product of this planet, and it

seems rather presumptuous to say even ‘my’ body. Moreover

‘my’ body does not at all obey me, its ‘I’. Does ‘my’ thinking

mind do that? The answer is: ‘No, on the contrary.’

Thus it seems that thinking, feeling and willing are

functions of the body, or, to be more specific, of its brain, a

biologically reacting mechanism which serves the body properly

without needing an ‘I’ for that purpose.

 

But still there seems to be an ‘I’, because we are conscious

of it vividly even now, at this moment, when it appears to lose

its last foothold! Hold it!

 

Keep very quiet and observe: This ‘I’ does neither think nor

will; it has no qualities, is neither man nor woman, has neither

body nor mind; it has no trace of the ‘Person’ which you had in

mind during your previous questions about the ‘I’. It simply is

conscious of itself as ‘I am’. Not ‘I am this’, ‘I am that’; only ‘I

am’.

 

But beware: It’s not you who has this ‘I’...Consciousness

as an object, but this Consciousness is your real ‘I’!

This pure be-ing ‘I am’ is the first glimpse of the real ‘I’,

the Self, which is by nature Pure Consciousness.

When your attention is keen, then you will discover

simultaneously that there is not now and never has been a wrong

‘I’. It has always been the same ‘real I’, only your mind has

covered it up with the idea which it has about your ‘person’.

 

There are other opportunities, when we could experience

this pure ‘I’ consciously. One such is during the tiny gap between

two thoughts, when the attention has given up its hold on one

thought and not yet caught the next one. But since we never

tried our attention is not trained this way, and we will hardly

succeed in the attempt.

 

There is a better chance to catch it between sleeping and

awaking. It is very important to try it, if you are serious in your

hunting the ‘I’. Take care of a few conditions: Try at night just

before you fall asleep to keep as the last thought your intention

to catch as the first thing of all on waking in the morning the

experience of your true ‘I’.

 

Another condition: You should take care not to awaken

too abruptly such as by an alarm clock, and also not to jump

headlong into your daily morning routine. The moment you

awake, don’t stir, but remember your intention from last night.

You will succeed after a few attempts. And what is possible

once even for a moment can be extended by practice.

This experiment gives you the advantage that you now

know the aim of your endeavour. It will help you in your further

sadhana like leavening in the dough.

 

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HUNTING THE ‘I’

 

according to Sri Ramana Maharshi

LUCY CORNELSSEN