Talks mar 11

 204

Talk 226. A visitor from Tirukoilur asked if the study of the sacred books will reveal the truth. 

M.: That will not suffice.

 D.: Why not? 

M.: Samadhi alone can reveal it. 

Thoughts cast a veil over Reality and so it cannot be clear in states other than Samadhi. 

...

D.: Is there thought in Samadhi? Or is there not? 

M.: There will only be the feeling ‘I am’ and no other thoughts. 

.........

D.: Is not ‘I am’ a thought? 

M.: The egoless ‘I am’ is not thought. 

It is realisation.

 The meaning or significance of ‘I’ is God. The experience of ‘I am’ is to Be Still.

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Talk 227. 

The Master observed: “Being of the nature of Bliss why does one continue to crave for happiness? To be rid of that craving is itself salvation. The Scriptures say, ‘You are That’. The imparting of that knowledge is their purpose. The realisation must be by your finding out who you are and abiding as That, i.e. your Self.

  To be repeating, ‘I am that’ or ‘not this’ is only a waste of time. 

For the worthy disciple, the work lies within himself and not without.”

.......

Talk 230. 

A visitor: Can one realise the Truth by learning the scriptures and study of books? 

M.: No. So long as predispositions remain latent in the mind, realisation cannot be achieved. 

Sastra learning is itself a vasana. 

Realisation is only in samadhi.

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Talk 233. 

D.: What is the result of “Rama Japa” (repetition of God Rama’s name)? 

M.: ‘Ra’ is Reality, ‘Ma’ is the mind; their union is the fruit of “Rama Japa”. 

Utterance of words is not enough. 

The elimination of thoughts is wisdom. 

It is the Absolute Existence.

.....

D.: How to get peace? 

M.: That is the natural state. The mind obstructs the innate peace. 

Our investigation is only in the mind. Investigate the mind; it will disappear. 

There is no entity by the name 'mind'.

 Because of the emergence of thoughts we surmise something from which they start. That we term mind. When we probe to see what it is, there is nothing like it. 

After it has vanished, Peace will be found to remain eternal.

...................207...................

D.: Emerson says, “Soul answers soul by itself - not by description or words.”

M.: Quite so. However much you learn, there will be no bounds to knowledge. You ignore the doubter but try to solve the doubts. On the other hand, hold on to the doubter and the doubts will disappear.

...

D.: Then the question resolves itself to knowing the Self. 

M.: Quite so. 

D.: How to know the Self? 

M.: See what the Self is. 

What you consider to be the Self, is really either the mind or the intellect or the ‘I-thought’. 

The other thoughts arise only after the ‘I-thought’. 

So hold on to it. 

The others will vanish leaving the Self as the residuum. 

..............

D.: The difficulty lies in reaching it. 

M.: There is no reaching it at all because it is eternal, here and now. If the Self were to be gained anew, it would not be permanent. 

.......

D.: How to obtain equanimity or peace or equilibrium of mind? What is the best way?

 M.: I have already answered it. 

Investigate the mind. It is eliminated and you remain over. 

Let your standpoint become that of wisdom then the world will be found to be God. 

dristin jnanamayim kritva pasyet Brahmamayam jagat. 

So the question is one of outlook. You pervade all. See yourself and all are understood. But you have now lost hold of your Self and go about doubting other things. 

D.: How to know the Self? 

M.: Are there two ‘I’s? 

How do you know your own existence?

 Do you see yourself with these eyes? 

Question yourself. How does this question arise? Do I remain to ask it or not? 

Can I find my Self as in a mirror? 

Because your outlook has been outward bent, it has lost sight of the Self and your vision is external. 

The Self is not found in external objects. 

Turn your look within and plunge down. 

You will be the Self.

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209

D.: How to check the mind? 

M.: Will a thief betray himself? Will the mind find itself? The mind cannot seek the mind. 

You have ignored what is real

 and are holding on to the mind which is unreal 

and also trying to find what it is. 

Was there mind in your sleep? It was not. 

It is now here. It is therefore impermanent. Can the mind be found by you? The mind is not you. You think you are the mind and therefore ask me how it is checked. If it is there it can be checked. But it is not. 

Understand this truth by search.

 Search for unreality is fruitless. 

Therefore seek the reality, i.e. the Self. That is the way to rule over the mind. There is only one thing Real!

....

D.: What is the one Real thing? 

M.: That is what 'is'. 

The others are only appearances. 

Diversity is not its nature. We are reading the printed characters on paper but ignore the paper which is the background. 

Similarly you are taken up by the manifestations of the mind and let go the background. 

Whose fault is it?

.

D.: Is there a limit to the Self? 

M.: What is the Self? 

D.: The Individual soul is the Self. 

M.: What is the individual soul? Is there any difference between the two or are they identical? Any new appearances are bound to disappear. Anything created will certainly be destroyed. The eternal is not born nor does it die. We are now confounding appearances with reality. Appearance carries its end in itself. What is it that appears newly? If you cannot find it, surrender to the substratum of appearances unreservedly; then, the reality will be left over as the residue.

.

D.: What happens to the man after death? 

M.: Engage yourself in the living present. The future will take care of itself. Do not worry about the future. The state before creation and the process of creation are dealt with in the scriptures in order that you may know the present. Because you say you are born, therefore they say, yes, and add that God created you.

But do you see God or anything else in your sleep? If God be real why does He not shine forth in your sleep also? You are always - now the same as you were in sleep. You are not different from that one in sleep. But why should there be difference in the feelings or experiences of the two states? Did you ask, while asleep, the question regarding your birth? or where do I go after death? Why think of all these now in the wakeful state? Let what is born think of its birth and the remedy, its cause and ultimate results. What is birth? 

Is it of the ‘I-thought’ or of the body? Is ‘I’ separate from the body or identical with it? How did this ‘I-thought’ arise? Is the ‘I-thought’ your nature or is anything else of your nature?

...

D.: Who is to ask these questions? 

M.: Exactly - that is it. There is no end to it all. 

D.: Are we then to keep quiet? 

M.: Doubts cease to afflict when the confusion (moha) is surpassed.

D.: Your statements amount to cessation of vichara - investigation. 

M.: If atma-vichara (self-investigation), ceases, loka vichara (world investigation) takes its place. (Laughter in the hall). 

Engage in Self-investigation, then the non-self will disappear. 

The Self will be left over. This is self-investigation of the Self. The one word Self is equivalent to the mind, body, man, individual. the Supreme and all else.

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211

M.: Whose is the doubt? Who is it that wants a course of action? Find the doubter. 

If you hold the doubter the doubts will disappear. 

Having lost hold of the Self the thoughts afflict you. 

The world is seen, doubts arise, also anxiety for the future. 

Hold fast to the Self, these will disappear.

.......

D.: How to do it? 

M.: This question is relevant to matters of non-self, but not to the Self. Do you doubt the existence of your own Self? 

D.: No. But still, I want to know how the Self could be realised. Is there any method leading to it? 

M.: Make effort. 

Just as water is got by boring a well,

 so also you realise the Self by investigation. 

..............

D.: Yes. But some find water readily and others with difficulty.

 M.: But you already see the moisture on the surface. You are hazily aware of the Self. Pursue it. When the effort ceases the Self shines forth. 

D.: How to train the mind to look within? 

M.: By practice. 

The mind is the intelligent phase leading to its own destruction, for Self to manifest.

D.: How to destroy the mind? 

M.: Water cannot be made dry water. Seek the Self; the mind will be destroyed.

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214

D.: How is God to be seen? 

M.: Within. If the mind is turned inward God manifests as inner consciousness. 

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D.: God is in all - in all the objects we see around us. They say we should see God in all of them. 

M.: God is in all and in the seer. Where else can God be seen? 

He cannot be found outside. He should be felt within. 

To see the objects, mind is necessary. To conceive God in them is a mental operation. But that is not real. 

The consciousness within, purged of the mind, is felt as God.

....

M.: The objects or feelings or thoughts are all mental conceptions. 

The mind rises after the rise of the I-thought or the ego.

 Where from does the ego rise? 

From the abstract consciousness or Pure intelligence.

.......

216

M.: They are not of the soul or of the body. The soul remains always uncontaminated. 

It is the substratum running through all these three states. 

Wakefulness passes off, I am; the dream state passes off, I am; the sleep state passes off, I am. They repeat themselves, and yet I am. They are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show. They do not affect the screen. Similarly also, I remain unaffected although these states pass off. If it is of the body, are you aware of the body in sleep?

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