Ego is non-existent, otherwise you would be two instead of one – you the ego and you the Self. You are a single, indivisible whole. Enquire into yourself, and the apparent ego and ignorance will disappear.
So long as there is the sense of doership, there is the sense of enjoyment and of individual will. But if this sense is lost through the practice of vichara, the Divine will, will act and guide the course of events. Fate is overcome by Jnana, Self-knowledge, which is beyond Will and Fate. What we should be concerned with is the true nature of the ‘I’, which is the pivot of all these sheaths and worlds. The true ‘I’ is the Supreme Reality.
“It is every intelligent man’s experience that evil-doing recoils on the doer sooner or later. Why is this so? Because the Self is one in all. When seeing others you are only seeing yourself in their shapes. ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself ‘ means that you should love him, because he is your Self.”
Creation is neither good nor bad; it is as it is. It is the human mind which puts all sorts of constructions on it, as it sees things from its own angle and as it suits its own interests. Men love women, hate snakes, and are indifferent to the grass and stones by the roadside. These connections are the causes of all the misery in the world. It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help. In creation there is room for everything, but man refuses to see the good, the healthy and the beautiful, and goes on whining, like the hungry man who sits beside a tasty dish and, instead of stretching out his hand to satisfy his hunger, he goes on lamenting.
“You must distinguish between the ‘I’, pure in itself, and the ‘I’- thought. The latter, being merely a thought, sees subject and object, sleeps, wakes up, eats and thinks, dies and is reborn. But the pure ‘I’ is the pure Being, eternal existence, free from ignorance and thought-illusion. If you stay as the ‘I’, your being alone, without thought, the I-thought will disappear and the delusion will vanish forever. In a cinema-show you can see pictures only in a very dim light or in darkness. But when all lights are switched on, all pictures disappear. So also in the flood-light of the Supreme Atman all objects disappear.”
Visitor: I have read all the Western philosophers from Descartes to Bertrand Russell – they are all useless. But our Rishis differ among themselves. Shankara says, “Go on repeating ‘I am Brahman’ and you become Brahman.” Madhvacharya says that the Soul is ever separated from Brahman. You say “Enquire ‘who am I’ and you will arrive.” Many other teachers gave many other solutions. Is this not puzzling? Which of you is right? Swami, which way am I to go?
Bhagavan: (with a gentle wave of the hand) Go the way you came.