Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-23

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Help on the Quest for Self-realization-Reminders-23

 

>From Surging Joy

By Dr Sarada Nataragan

 

The "I"-thought (the ego) holds the key, knows the clue to reach the

Self, knows the pathway home to the Self. It carries the scent of

consciousness. That is, the "I"-thought reflects the consciousness

of the Self, which, however, it wrongly identifies with the limited

name and form.. But using this scent, if attention is paid to the

source from which this scent of "I", this consciousness of "I"

arises, then Self-abidance results. That is to say, one must isolate

the sense of existence in the "I"-thought and observe that alone.

Normally, the "I"-thought exists only identified with some other

thought as "I work?, "I talk", "I think". This constant

identification of the "I"-thought must be cut away and attention

paid to the sense of "I' by itself, for that alone is the pure scent

of consciousness which can be tracked back to the source…Attention

should wholly be given to the "I"-thought, to the existence aspect

of the "I"-thought minus the identity aspect, in order that it may

lead one directly back to the source. For this one must have that

deep yearning to return to the Truth. (134)

 

If one is struck so deeply by the fact that one has lost one's own

true nature and is overpowered by the desire to reach it once more,

somehow, then attention will automatically focus itself on the "I"-

thought without any distraction from its myriad associations. Then

the "I"-thought will dip back into the source from which it derives

consciousness.

 

"The "I'does not rise in the real state,

Search for the source of "I" dissolves it,

How else can one attain the supreme state

Of one's own Self?"

 

-Forty Verses on Reality, V. 27,

Sri Ramana Maharshi