Is there anyone who is not realising the Self? Does anyone deny his own existence? Speaking of realization, it implies two selves – the one to realize, the other to be realized.
What is not already realized is sought to be realized. Once we admit our existence, how is it that we do not know our Self?
Q: Because of the thoughts, the mind.
A: Quite so. It is the mind that veils our happiness. How do we know that we exist? If you say because of the world around us, then how do you know that you existed in deep sleep?
Q: How to get rid of the mind?
A: Is it the mind that wants to kill itself? The mind cannot kill itself. So your business is to find the real nature of the mind. Then you will know that there is no mind. When the Self is sought, the mind is nowhere. Abiding in the Self, one need not worry about the mind.
Q: Is mukti the same as realization?
A: Mukti or liberation is our nature. It is another name for us. Our wanting mukti is a very funny thing. It is like a man who is in the shade, voluntarily leaving the shade, going into the sun, feeling the severity of the heat there, making great efforts to get back into the shade and then rejoicing, ‘How sweet is the shade! I have reached the shade at last!’ We are all doing exactly the same. We are not different from the reality. We imagine we are different, that is we create the bheda bhava [the feeling of difference] and then undergo great sadhana [spiritual practices] to get rid of the bheda bhava and realize the oneness. Why imagine or create bheda bhava and then destroy it?
Q: This can be realized only by the grace of the master. I was reading Sri Bhagavata. It says that bliss can be had only by the dust of the master’s feet. I pray for grace.
A: What is bliss but your own being? You are not apart from being which is the same as bliss.
You are now thinking that you are the mind or the body which are both changing and transient. But you are unchanging and eternal. That is what you should know.
Q: It is darkness and I am ignorant.
A: This ignorance must go. Again, who says ‘I am ignorant’? He must be the witness of ignorance. That is what you are. Socrates said, ‘I know that I do not know.’ Can it be ignorance? It is wisdom.
Q: Why then do I feel unhappy when I am in Vellore and feel peace in your presence?
A: Can the feeling in this place be bliss? When you leave this place you say you are unhappy.
Therefore this peace is not permanent, it is mixed with unhappiness which is felt in another place.
Therefore you cannot find bliss in places and in periods of time. It must be permanent in order that it may be useful. It is your own being which is permanent. Be the Self and that is bliss. You are always that.
The Self is always realized. It is not necessary to seek to realize what is already and always realized. For you cannot deny your own existence. That existence is consciousness, the Self.
Unless you exist you cannot ask questions. So you must admit your own existence. That existence is the Self. It is already realized. Therefore the effort to realize results only in your realising your present mistake – that you have not realized your Self. There is no fresh realization.
The Self becomes revealed.
Q: That will take some years.
A: Why years? The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. But you are the Self beyond time and space.
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Self-Enquiry 