Arunachala. अरुणाचल -6.

~~~Arunachala. अरुणाचल -6.~~~
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~~The Self within waits for you !~~


Devotee.- You often say, :
'The whole world exists not without you',
'Everything depends upon you',
'What isthere without you?'.
This is really baffling.
The world was there before my birth. It will
be there after my death, even as it has survived
the deaths of so many who once lived as I am
living now.
Maharshi.- Did I ever say that the world is there
because of you ? But I have put to you the question,
'What is there without your self ?'
You must know that by the self the body, subtle or
gross, was not meant.
Besides, the idea is put to you that if you once know
the Self in which  all the ideas move, of others like
yourself and of the world, you can realize the truth
that there IS a Reality, a supreme Truth, which is the
Self of all the world you now see, the Self of all the
selves, the one Real, which is the Param Atman, the
supreme Eternal, as distinguished from the Jeeva, the
ego-self which is impermanent. You must not mistake
the ego-self or the bodily idea for the Atman (आत्मा).
Devotee.- Then you mean the Atman is God ? 
Maharshi.- You see the difficulty. The 'Vichaaara' to
know the self' is different in method from the meditation
"Shivoham"  (शिवोऽहम्‌) or "Soham" (सोऽहम्‌), "Lord
Shiva I am", or "He I am". I rather lay stress upon self
-knowledge, for, you are first concerned with yourself
before you proceed to know the world and its Lord.
The "Soham" meditation or 'I am Brahman' (अहं ब्रह्मास्मि)
meditation is more or less a mental thought. But the quest
for the self I speak of is a direct method, indeed superior
to the other meditation; for, the moment you get into a
movement of quest for the self and go deeper, the real
Self is waiting there to take you in and then whatever is
done, is done by something else and you have no hand in
it. In this process, all doubts and discussions are automa-
tically given up just as one who sleeps forgets, for the time
being, all his cares.
Devotee.- What certainty is there that something else waits
there to welcome me ?
Maharshi.- When one is a sufficiently developed soul 
-"Pakvi", (पक्व), he becomes naturally convinced.
Devotee.- How is this development possible ?
Maharshi.- Various answers are given. But whatever the
pevious development, Vichaara (earnest quest) quickens
the development.
Devotee.- That is arguing in a circle. I am developed and so
am strong for the quest. (And on the other hand,)The quest
itself gives my development !
Maharshi.- The mind has always this sort of difficulty. It
wants a certain theory to satisfy itself. Really, no theory is
necessary for the man who seriously desires to approach God
or to realise his own true being.
Various means are enjoined in the Shastras... ...(शास्त्र ) ( the
Spiritual scriptures). It is true that contact with great man, -
exalted souls, is one effective means.
"सहवासेन महतां सतामारूढ़ चेतसां " (-रमण गीता 6 :12 )


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(To be continued.......)