Arunachala. अरुणाचल- 12.

~~~~~Arunachala. अरुणाचल -12. ~~~~~
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WHAT IS MY SELF NOW ?

Devotee. - I want to know what the Heart is and where it
is and so forth. But I want to have this doubt cleared first.
I am ignorant of my own truth, my knowledge is limited,
imperfect. You say "I" means the sel, Atman (आत्मा). But
the Atman (आत्मा) is said to be always self-aware whereas
I am unaware..............
Maharshi. - People always fall in this confusion. What you 
call your 'self' is not the real Self which is neither born nor
dies.
Devotee. - Then you admit that what I call my self is the 
body or part of the body.
Maharshi. - But the body is matter (Jada, जड), it never
knows, it is always the known.
Devotee. - Then, if I am neither the Atman (आत्मा), the
Self nor the Anatman (अनात्म), the not-self.......
Maharshi. - I am coming to the rescue. Between spirit and
matter, the self and the body, there is born something which
is called the Ahamkaara (अहंकार), the ego-self, Jeeva (जीव),
the living being. Now what you call your self is this ego-self
which is different from the ever-conscious Self (आत्मा) and
from unconscious matter (जड Jada), but which at the same
time partakes of the character of both spirit and the matter;
Chetana and Jada (जड) .
Devotee. -Then when you say : "know thyself" you want
me to know this ego-self ?
Maharshi. - But the moment the ego-self tried to know itself,
it changes its character; it begins to partake less and less of
the Jada (जड), in which it is absorbed, and more and more
of the Consciousness of the Self, the Atman (आत्मा). 

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Continued................