Who is thinking? Very interesting conversation.

[Guest guest]

Dear Thinkers in TBP,

 

Love and Love alone...

 

Hereunder I am reproducing a few question and answers between a seeker

and Papaji (the realised soul and disciple of Bhagawan Sri Ramana

Maharshi). While reading, kindly pay more attention not only on the

simple expressions, but also on the clarity and ease and at the same

time intense and deep meaning of the words and its impact on the

reader. I am sure, you all will enjoy reading these few questions and

answers, as I have.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna.

 

===

 

Question: I'm not clear how to make the best use of you as my teacher.

I want to make the best use of my time here, but I'm not clear how I

should use my time. What should I be doing that I am not doing at home?

 

Papaji: Take care of the purpose for which you have come. First,

clarify your purpose. A relationship is not really necessary. That we

can look after later. Purpose is the foremost, the most important

thing.

 

When you are thirsty, you go to the river. Your purpose is to quench

your thirst. It is not to ask the river what kind of relationship you

have with it. You don't need a relationship; you only need a purpose.

 

You came here the day before yesterday and your purpose is to find out

who you are. Find this out. Know who you are. If you first know who you

are, then you will automatically know who I am. So, your first priority

is the question " Who am I? " Once you have discovered that, you will

know the real nature of all the other things and people that you see.

First start with this question 'Who am I?' We started on this question

the day before yesterday. You need to recognise yourself. Now, what was

that question I asked you to ask?

 

Question: Who?

 

Papaji: Yes, what was the full question?

 

Question: Who is thinking?

 

Papaji: Yes, this was the question I gave you. I told you to find the

answer to this question. I asked you to return home to the Self through

asking this question, and then to come back and tell me what you say

there.

 

Question: What do I see there?

 

Papaji: Yes, what do you see there? (There was a pause while Papaji

wrote 'who' on a piece of paper and showed it to the questioner.) What

do you see here?

 

Question: I see a word on a piece of paper.

 

Papaji: This simple word is your question.

 

Question: What do I see in here?

 

Papaji: Anywhere. Wherever the 'who' is. Your question is, 'Who is

thinking?'

 

Question: I can see the question.

 

Papaji: Can you see where the question comes from? Focus on this

question and look to see where it arises from. Return back to

the 'who'. What do you see there?

 

Question: I see arising. I see things arising, one from another.

 

Papaji: Something arose that is the predicate. Now, what is the

subject? Who is thinking? Return from this predicate of thinking and

focus on the 'who'. This is the finish. Now you are at the root, aren't

you? Find out who this 'who' is. What is its shape? What is the shape

of this 'who'? What is its form? How is it? What does it look like?

 

( Long pause )

 

What is happening?

 

Question: The question just arises out of nothing, out of emptiness,

and disappears back into emptiness.

 

Papaji: That's right. You say this question disappeared into the

emptiness. The question was, 'Who is thinking?' For thinking you need a

mind, don't you? Now, the process of thinking has been arrested. It

happened when you put the question, 'Who is thinking?' Now the process

has been arrested. Then you said, very correctly, that the question

disappears. That's what you said. 'There's emptiness.' What else do you

say?

 

Question: It's emptiness; just space.

 

Papaji: OK, it's emptiness; it's space. Emptiness is there, space is

there. This is your inherent nature. You can call it presence or space

or anything else. It is obstructed by desire and by thinking. It is

always obstructed by desire. Emptiness is just the lack, the absence of

thoughts and desires. When you have a burden on your shoulder, you are

restless. Let us say that you are holding onto two hundred pounds and

that you want to get rid of this trouble, this burden. When you drop

it, you have not gained anything. You have not attained some new state

that was never there before. You have simply thrown something away that

was troubling you and returned to your inherent nature, the inherent

state that was there before you loaded yourself up with this weight.

 

This thinking process, this burden, is a desire that we always carry

with us. I am showing you how to drop this unwanted burden. When you

ask the question, 'Who is thinking?' you arrest the process of thinking

and return back to your true nature, your inherent nature, your

spontaneous nature, the pure source that is empty. This is your own

nature, and this is what you are always. The mind does not enter there.

Time does not enter. Death does not enter. Fear does not enter. This is

your inherent, eternal nature. If you stay there, there will be no

fear. If you step out of it, you step into samsara, manifestation, and

there you are in trouble all the time.