The Self

By the time I went to the Ashram this morning, a devotee was asking something and Bhagavan was replying by saying, “First find out who you are.

By the time I went to the Ashram this morning, a devotee was asking something and Bhagavan was replying by saying, “First find out who you are.”

Devotee: “Before beginning the Self-enquiry, ‘Who am I?’, is it necessary to give up all actions (Karma Sannyasa)?”

Bhagavan (with a smile): “What is your idea of sannyasa? Sitting, getting up, going about, and eating, are karmas (actions). Of these which are you going to give up? That is why ancients say, when they talk of Karma Sannyasa , ‘First give up the feeling that you are the doer’.”

Devotee: “Sankaracharya gave prominence to Karma Sannyasa.”

Bhagavan: “Yes, he did. But then, even he did karma (action). He went from one place to another and from village to village and established the doctrine of Advaita (non-duality). At that time, there were no railways. He went on foot. Is not all that karma? The meaning is, when a person becomes a Jnani, nothing affects him, whatever he may do. He does everything for the welfare of the world. He, the Jnani, gives up only the feeling of ego namely that he is doing everything. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna Bhagavan said:

%TsIdeyuirme laeka> n k…ya¡ kmR cedhm!,

s<krSy c ktaRSyamuphNyaimma> àja>. If I do not perform action, these worlds will perish; nay, I should be the author of confusion of castes and of the destruction of these people.

Gita, III: 24

su´a> kmR{yivÖa<sae ywa k…vRiNt Éart,

k…yaRiÖÖa<Stwas´> ickae;RulaeRks<¢hm!. Arjuna, as the unwise act with attachment, so should the wise man, seeking maintenance of the world order, act without attachment.

Gita, III: 25

“That means, if I do not perform action, no one else will perform actions. There will be confusion of castes. Why should

I be the cause of that? That is why I am doing all actions. While ignorant people do actions with desires, I do them without desires. That is the meaning. Hence Karma Sannyasa means, one should know the difference between attributes of the senses and the attributes of karma, and with that knowledge remain desireless and, at the same time unattached to all actions and conduct oneself as only a witness. That is Karma Sannyasa. There is not much use in mere outward sannyasa.”

Devotee: “But then Lord Krishna has said that He is the karta (doer) and He is the bhokta (enjoyer.)”

Bhagavan: “Yes. He did say so. But when Mahatmas talk of kartrutvam (doership) and bhoktrutvam (enjoyership), it is different. For them Aham means Self (Swarupa). It is not the ‘I’ which says, ‘I am the body’.

AhmaTma gufakez svRÉUtazyiSwt>,

Ahmaidí mXy< c ÉUtanamNt @v c. Arjuna, I am the Self seated in the heart of all beings. I am the beginning and the middle and also the end of all beings.

Gita, X: 20

“The thing called ‘I’ is the all-pervading Self (Atma). That which the sages speak about as ‘I’ is the functioning of the Self only and of the body. The ‘I’ which ignorant people talk of is about the body, and this is Asura Vasana. They say, ‘I am Ishwara. I should be worshipped.’ When they say that, they are in for trouble. About this Asura Vasana, three slokas have been written briefly in the 16th chapter of the Gita. In the Vasudeva Mananam, a whole chapter has been devoted to this subject. When the ancients claim to be Ishwara, they do not talk of this body. Self itself is Ishwara. That is Brahman, Atman and all the rest. That which is always present is Aham. To be is Brahman according to Brahma Gita. That which is

NOT is maya. If you look at that which is NOT, that which IS remains as it is. If you realise that which is, which is your SELF, there will not be so many questions.”