A: It is the ego which raises such difficulties, creating obstacles and then suffering from the perplexity of apparent paradoxes. Find out who makes the enquiries and the Self will be found.
Q: Why is this mental bondage so persistent?
A: The nature of bondage is merely the rising, ruinous thought ‘I am different from the reality’.
Since one surely cannot remain separate from the reality, reject that thought whenever it rises.
Q: Why do I never remember that I am the Self?
A: People speak of memory and oblivion of the fullness of the Self. Oblivion and memory are only thought-forms.
They will alternate so long as there are thoughts. But reality lies beyond these.
Memory or oblivion must be dependent on something. That something must be foreign to the Self as well, otherwise there would not be oblivion. That upon which memory and oblivion depend is the idea of the individual self. When one looks for it, this individual ‘I’ is not found because it is not real. Hence this ‘I’ is synonymous with illusion or ignorance (maya, avidya or ajnana]. To know that there never was ignorance is the goal of all the spiritual teachings.
Ignorance must be of one who is aware. Awareness is jnana. Jnana is eternal and natural, ajnana is unnatural and unreal.
Q: Having heard this truth, why does not one remain content?
A: Because samskaras [innate mental tendencies] have not been destroyed. Unless the samskaras cease to exist, there will always be doubt and confusion. All efforts are directed to destroying doubt and confusion. To do so their roots must be cut. Their roots are the samskaras.
These are rendered ineffective by practice as prescribed by the Guru. The Guru leaves it to the seeker to do this much so that he might himself find out that there is no ignorance. Hearing the truth [sravana] is the first stage. If the understanding is not firm one has to practice reflection [manana] and uninterrupted contemplation [nididhyasana] on it. These two processes scorch the seeds of samskaras so that they are rendered ineffective.
Some extraordinary people get unshakable jnana after hearing the truth only once. These are the advanced seekers.
Beginners take longer to gain it.
Q: How did ignorance [avidya] arise at all?
A: Ignorance never arose. It has no real being. That which is, is only vidya [knowledge].
Q: Why then do I not realize it?
A: Because of the samskaras. However, find out who does not realize and what he does not realize. Then it will be clear that there is no avidya?
Q: So, it is wrong to begin with a goal, is it?
A: If there is a goal to be reached it cannot be permanent. The goal must already be there. We seek to reach the goal with the ego, but the goal exists before the ego. What is in the goal is even prior to our birth, that is, to the birth of the ego. Because we exist the ego appears to exist too.
If we look on the Self as the ego then we become the ego, if as the mind we become the mind, if as the body we become the body.
It is the thought which builds up sheaths in so many ways. The shadow on the water is found to be shaking. Can anyone stop the shaking of the shadow? If it would cease to shake you would not notice the water but only the light.
Similarly take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind. The ego is the thought ‘I’. The true ‘I’ is the Self.
Q: If it is just a question of giving up ideas then it is only one step to realization.
A: Realization is already there. The state free from thoughts is the only real state. There is no such action as realization.
7
Self-Enquiry 