For all thoughts the source is the “I” thought.

The mind will merge only by Self- enquiry Who am I?, the thought who am I will destroy all other thoughts and finally kill itself also. If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them, one must enquire to whom this thought arises. What does it matter how many thoughts arise? As each thought arises one must be watchful and ask to whom this thought is occurring. The answer will be “to me”. If you enquire Who am I?, the mind will return to its source (on where it issued from). The thought which arose will also submerge. As you practice like this more and more, the power of the mind to remain as its source is increased.

By means of a moderate quantity of sattwik (pure) food (which is superior to all other rules and regulations of self-discipline) the sattwik or the pure quantity of the mind will grow and Self-enquiry will be helped.

Though ancient and timeless sense attachments in the shape of vasanas (subtle tendencies) may rise countless like the waves of the sea, they will all be destroyed as dhyana of the Self. However great a sinner one may be, instead of lamenting I am a great sinner, how can I make any progress? one must completely forget the fact of being a sinner and earnestly pursue meditation of Self. He is then sure to succeed.

If the ego is present, all else will also exist. If it is absent, all else will also vanish. As ego is all this, to enquire what this ego is, is to give up all attachment.

Controlling speech and breath, and diving deep within oneself as a man dives into water to recover there from something that has fallen there, one must find out the source whence the ego rises, by means of keen insight.

Enquiry, which constitutes the path of jnana, consists not in orally repeating “I”, “I”, but in searching by means of a deeply introverted mind wherefrom the “I” springs. To think I am not this or I am that may be of help in the enquiry but cannot be the true enquiry.

When we quest within our mind Who am I and reach the Heart, “I” topples down and immediately another entity will reveal itself proclaiming “I”-“I”. Even though it also emerges saying “I” it does connote the ego, but the one perfect existence.

If we unceasingly investigate the form of the mind, we find there is not such thing as the mind. This is the direct path for all.

Thoughts alone constitute the mind; and for all thoughts the base or source is “I” thought. “I” is the mind. If we go inward questing for the source of the “I”, the “I” topples down. This is the jnana enquiry.

Where the “I” merges, another entity emerges as “I”-“I” of its own accord. That is the perfect Self.

There is no use removing doubts. If we clear one doubt another rises and there will be no end of doubts. All doubts will cease only when the doubter and his source have been found. Seek for the source of the doubter, and you will find he is really non-existent. Doubter ceasing, doubts will cease.

Reality being yourself, there is nothing for you to realize. All that is required is that you should give up regarding the unreal as real, which is what all are doing. The object of meditation, dhyana or japa is only that, to give up all thoughts regarding the non-self, to give up many thoughts and to keep to the one thought. The object of all sadhana is to make the mind one-pointed, to concentrate it on one thought and thus exclude our many thoughts and if we do this, eventually even the one thought will go and mind will get extinguished in its source.

When we require within who am I? The “I” concerned is the ego. It is that which makes vichara (enquiry) also. The Self has no vichara. That which makes the enquiry is the ego. The “I” about which the enquiry is made is also the ego. As a result of the enquiry, the ego ceases to exist and only the Self is found to exist. (When we face our ego it will dissolve).

What is the best way to kill the ego? To each person that way is the best which appears easiest or appeals most. All the ways are equally good, as they lead to the same goal, which is the merging of the ego in the Self. What the bhakta calls surrender, the man who does vichara calls jnana. Both are trying to take the ego back to the source from which it sprang and make it merge there.

To ask the mind to kill itself is like making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch the thief, but nothing will be gained. So you must turn inward, and see where the mind rises from and then it will cease to exist.

Breath and mind arise from the same source and when one of them controls the other, the other is also controlled. As a matter of the fact, in the quest method- which is more correctly whence am I? and not merely Who am I? - we are not simply trying to eliminate, saying: We are not the body, nor the senses and so on, to reach what remains as the ultimate reality, but we are trying to find out whence the “I” thought or the ego arises within us. The method contains within it, though implicitly and not expressly, the watching of the breath. When we watch wherefrom the “I” thought arises we are necessarily watching the source of breath also, as the “I” thought and the breath arise from the same source.

Breath control may do as an aid but can never by itself lead to the goal. While doing it mechanically, take care to be alert in mind and to remember the “I” thought and the quest for its source. Then you will find that where the breath sinks there the “I” thought arises. They sink and arise together. The “I” thought will also sink along with a breath. Simultaneously another luminous and infinite “I”-“I” will emerge and it will be continuous and unbroken. That is the goal. It goes by different names – God, Self, Kundalini, Shakti, Consciousness etc. (MEDITATION)

Who am I? Is not a mantra. It means that you must find out where the “I” thought (which is the source of all other thoughts) arises in you. But if you find that vichara marga (path of enquiry) is too hard for you, go on repeating “I”-“I” and that will lead you to the same goal. There is no harm in using “I” as a mantra. It is the first name of God.

I ask you to see where the “I” arises in your body; but it is not quite correct to say that the “I” rises from and merges in the Heart on the right side of the chest. The Heart is another name for the Reality and it is neither inside nor outside the body. There can be no in or out for it, since it alone is. By heart I do not mean the any physiological organ or any plexus of nerves or anything like that, but so long as one identifies oneself with the body and thinks he is the body, he is advised to see in the body where the “I” thought rises and merges again. It must be the Heart on the right side of the chest since every man of whatever race and religion and in whatever language he may be saying “I” points to the right side of his chest to indicate himself. This is so all over the world. So that must be the place. And by keenly watching the daily emergence of the “I” thought on walking and subsiding in sleep, one can see that it is in the heart on the right side.

Learn first what you are. This requires no sastras (scripture) or scholarship. This is simple experience. The state of being is now and here all along. You have lost hold of yourself and are asking others for guidance. The purpose of philosophy is to turn the mind inward. “If you know thyself, no evil can come to you. Because you asked me I have told you this” ( Kaivalya Navaneeta). The ego comes up only holding you (the Self). Hold yourself and the ego will vanish. Until then the sage will be happy saying: “There is”. The ignorant will be asking “Where?”

Regulation of life, such as getting up at a fixed hour, bathing, doing mantra- japa etc., all this is for people who do not feel drawn to Self-enquiry or are not capable of it. But for those who can practice this method, all rules and disciplines are unnecessary.

It is no doubt said in some books that one should go on cultivating one good quality after another and thus prepare for moksha; but for those who follow the jnana or vichana marga, their daivic qualities; they need not do anything else.

TRANSPERSONAL WORK:

Transpersonal work is very deep because it is life, but you cannot be interested in it for wrong reasons.

Do not be interested in transpersonal for wrong reasons and then you will not be fighting to become transpersonal. Then it will be transforming.

You cannot be transpersonal while you are still attached to your comfort zone. To be whole you will have to put all of you in this state. 20% or 30% cannot buy all of you. You must know your 100% value – only then you will be able to justify paying 100%.

You are giving only 20-30% because you do not know that you are whole – your 70% is interested in object relation and is outside of you – your attachment. By taking responsibility your object relation dissolves and you unite with your “Self”- you become more of you (inside).

To travel on this path means to reduce your attachment to object relation. This mission becomes your only priority and you are able to sacrifice any object or material gain, you refuse to compromise with temptations. You can do that only when you KNOW that you are whole. Then you do not want to settle with 20-30% - you want to claim the rest of you.

Right now you are the matter (gross) and unless you understand that matter you cannot become spirit.

To be transpersonal, it is important to be “personal” in totality; in that understanding itself transpersonal will grow. You cannot understand it before you know your “Self”.

Theories will never help – only KNOWING YOURSELF will bring transformation, so you are “the central subject matter” of transpersonal.

Because you are in 70% dark, transpersonal starts with you as you are - by enlightening. Be mindful that it is the ‘Basic’ things in life which can not be denied or if you try to deny them, it is at your own cost.

By:  Meera Sharma

© 2007 Meera Sharma

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