Talk 78

29th September, 1935
Talk 78.

A man from Masulla asked the Master: "How to realise the Self?"

Maharshi: Everyone has experience of the Self every moment of his life.
D.: But the Self is not realised as one would like.

Maharshi: Yes. The present experience is viparita ^[?] - different from real. What is not is confounded with what is.
D.: How to find the Atman?

Maharshi: There is no investigation into the Atman. The investigation can only be into the non-self. Elimination of the non-self is alone possible. The Self being always self evident will shine forth of itself. The Self is called by different names - Atman, God, Kundalini, mantra ^[?], etc. Hold any one of them and the Self becomes manifest. God is no other than the Self. Kundalini ^[?] is now showing forth as the mind. When the mind is traced to its source it is Kundalini. Mantra ^[?] japa ^[?] leads to elimination of other thoughts and to concentration on the mantra. The mantra finally merges into the Self and shines forth as the Self.

Tenamma (back row), Annamalai Swami (standing), Yogi Ramaiah (sitting), Ganapati Sastri (behind Chinnaswamy), Mudaliar Patti (obscuring Santamma)

D.: How long is a Guru necessary for Self-Realisation?

Maharshi: Guru is necessary so long as there is the laghu ^[?]. (Pun on Guru = heavy; laghu = light). Laghu ^[?] is due to the self-imposed but wrong limitation of the Self. God, on being worshipped, bestows steadiness in devotion which leads to surrender. On the devotee surrendering, God shows His mercy by manifesting as the Guru. The Guru, otherwise God, guides the devotee, saying that God is in you and He is the Self. This leads to introversion of the mind and finally to realisation. Effort is necessary up to the state of realisation. Even then the Self should spontaneously become evident. Otherwise happiness will not be complete. Up to that state of spontaneity there must be effort in some form or another.

D.: Our work-a-day life is not compatible with such efforts.

Maharshi: Why do you think that you are active? Take the gross example of your arrival here. You left home in a cart, took train, alighted at the Railway Station here, got into a cart there and found yourself in this Asramam. When asked, you say that you travelled here all the way from your town. Is it true? Is it not a fact that you remained as you were and there were movements of conveyances all along the way. Just as those movements are confounded with your own, so also the other activities. They are not your own. They are God's activities.

D.: Such idea will lead to blankness of mind and the work will not progress well.

Maharshi: Go up to that blankness and tell me afterwards.

D.: They say that a visit to Sages helps Self-Realisation?

Maharshi: Yes. So it does.

D.: Will not my present visit to you bring it about?

Maharshi: (After a short pause) What is to be brought about? To whom?
Consider; investigate. To whom is this doubt. If the source is traced the doubt will disappear.

Talk 77 Talk 79