Great Throughts Treasury

"Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula and it is more than the repetition of any mantra. If the enquiry 'Who am I?' were a mere mental questioning, it would not be of much value. The very purpose of self-enquiry is to focus the entire mind at its source. It is not, therefore, a case of one 'I' searching for another 'I'. Much less is self-enquiry an empty formula, for it involves an intense activity of the entire mind to keep it steadily poised in pure Self-awareness."

"Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute being that you really are."

"Self-realization is cessation of thoughts and of all mental activity. Thoughts are like bubbles upon the surface of the sea."

"Self-reform automatically brings about social reform."

"Setting apart time for meditation is only for the merest spiritual novices. A man who is advancing will begin to enjoy the deeper beatitude whether he is at work or not. While his hands are in society, he keeps his head cool in solitude."

"Should conduct himself always by word, mind and body in such a fashion that it results in help to the society. He should also make his own men understand this."

"Silence is a perennial flow of language, interrupted by words. It is like electricity. When there is resistance to its passage, it glows as a lamp or revolves as a fan. But in the wire it remains as pure energy. In the same way, silence is the eternal flow of language."

"Silence is also conversation."

"Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence."

"Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings."

"Since the Self is the reality of all the gods, the meditation on the Self which is oneself is the greatest of all meditations."

"Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self."

"So long as the feeling 'I am doing' is there, one must experience the result of one's acts, whether they are good or bad. How is it possible to wipe out one act with another? When the feeling that 'I am doing' is lost, nothing affects a man. Unless one realizes the Self, the feeling 'I am doing' will never vanish."

"So long as there is individuality, one is the enjoyer and doer. But if it is lost, the divine Will prevails and guides the course of events."

"So one must find out how to become happy oneself."

"Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind. Such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. Such a man cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desires cannot get solitude wherever he may be, whereas a detached man is always in solitude."

"Speech is always less powerful than silence."

"Spiritual practice consists in withdrawal within the Self every time you are disturbed by thought. It is not concentration or destruction of the mind but withdrawal into the Self."

"Stillness means 'being free from thoughts' and yet aware."

"Surrender appears easy because people imagine that, once they say with their lips ?I surrender? and put their burdens on their Lord, they can be free and do what they like. But the fact is that you can have no likes or dislikes after your surrender; your will should become completely non-existent, the Lord?s will taking its place."

"Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one's being."

"Take refuge in silence. You can be here or there or anywhere. Fixed in silence, established in the inner 'I', you can be as you are. The world will never perturb you if you are well founded upon the tranquility within. Gather your thoughts within. Find out the thought center and discover your Self-equipoise. In storm and turmoil be calm and silent. Watch the events around as a witness. The world is a drama. Be a witness, inturned and introspective."

"That bliss of the Self is always with you, and you will find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly."

"That inner Self, as the primeval Spirit, Eternal, ever effulgent, full and infinite bliss, single, indivisible, whole and living, shines in everyone as the witnessing awareness."

"That inner Self, eternal, ever effulgent, full and infinite Bliss, single, indivisible, whole and living, shines in everyone as the witnessing awareness. That self in its splendour, shining in the cavity of the heart. This self is neither born nor dies, neither grows nor decays, nor does it suffer any change. When a pot is broken, the space within it is not. Similarly, when the body dies the Self in it remains eternal."

"That pure consciousness which is the reality, and which shines without a break, as I AM when the mind becomes calm, is the supreme bliss."

"That self in its splendor, shining in the cavity of the heart. This self is neither born nor dies, neither grows nor decays, nor does it suffer any change."

"That which 'Is' is peace. All that we need do is to keep quiet. Peace is our real nature. We spoil it. What is required is that we cease to spoil it."

"That which is not present in deep dreamless state is not real."

"That, from where all the activities of the embodied beings emerge, is mentioned as the heart. The description of its form is conceptual."

"The ?I? thought is said to be the sum total of all thoughts. The source of the ?I? thought has to be enquired into."

"The activity affected by causes like fainting, sleep, excessive joy, grief, possession by spirits, fear etc goes to the heart, its own place."

"The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind through practices other than atma-vichara(self-inquiry) is just like the thief pretending to be a policeman to catch the thief, that is, himself. Atma-vichara (self-inquiry) alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind really exists, and enable one to realize the pure, undifferentiated being of the Self or the absolute. Having realized the Self, nothing remains to be known, because it is perfect bliss, it is the all."

"The birth of the 'I'-thought is one's own birth, its death is the person's death. After the 'I'-thought has arisen, the wrong identity with the body arises. Get rid of the 'I'-thought. So long as 'I' is alive there is grief. When 'I' ceases to exist there is no grief."

"The body dies, but the spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death."

"The cause of your misery is not in the life outside you, it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them."

"The deeply learned ones know the mind as the directly expressed meaning of the supreme knowledge. The heart is the meaning aimed at. The Supreme is none other than the heart."

"The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress."

"The ego's phenomenal existence is transcended when you dive into the source from where the 'I'-thought rises."

"The end of all wisdom is love, love, love."

"The enlightened one that has become one with the unchanging supreme consciousness, like a river that has become one with the ocean, takes birth no more in a body."

"The experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge. Know that the many objective differences are not real but are superimpositions on Self, which is the form of true knowledge."

"The changefulness is mere thought. All thoughts arise after the "I"-thought. See to whom these thoughts arise. Then you will transcend them and they will subside. That is to say, by tracing the source of the "I"-thought, you will realize that the perfect "I-I-I" is the name of the Self."

"The best way to meditate is through meditation itself."

"The conception that there is a goal and a path to it is wrong. We are the goal or peace always. To get rid of the notion that we are not peace is all that is required."

"The explorers seek happiness in finding curiosities, discovering new lands and undergoing risks in adventures. They are thrilling. But where is pleasure found? Only within. Pleasure is not to be sought in the external world."

"The fact is that you are ignorant of your blissful state. Ignorance draws a veil over the pure Bliss. Direct your attempts only towards removing the ignorance. This ignorance is just wrong knowledge. The wrong lies in the false identification of the Self with the body and mind. This false identity must go by inquiry into the Self."

"The feeling 'I work' is the hindrance. Ask yourself 'Who works?' Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you, it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; it is your effort which is the bondage. What is destined to happen will happen. If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it. If you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it and you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose."

"The final obstacle in meditation is ecstasy; you feel great bliss and happiness and want to stay in that ecstasy. Do not yield to it but pass on to the next stage which is great calm. The calm is higher than ecstasy and it merges into samadhi."

"The enquiry "Who am I?" is the principal means to the removal of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss."