CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Continuous inhalation and exhalation are necessary for the continuance of life.
Continuous meditation is necessary for all those who want to stay in the Self.
You divide your life up into different activities: 'I am eating,' 'I am meditati
ng, 'I am working , etc. If you have ideas like these you are still identifying wit
h the body. Get rid of all these ideas and replace them with the single thought
'I am the Self.
Hold on to that idea and don't let go. Don't give these I-am-the-body ideas any
attention. 'I must eat now'; 'I will go to sleep now'; 'I will have a bath now':
all thoughts like these are I-am-the-body thoughts. Learn to recognize them whe
n they arise and learn to ignore them or deny them. Stay firmly in the Self and
don't allow the mind to identify with anything that the body does.
Q: What is the correct way to pursue self-enquiry?
AS: Bhagavan has said: 'When thoughts arise stop them from
developing by enquiring: "To whom is this thought coming?" as soon as soon as th
e thought appears. What does it matter if many thoughts keep coming up? Enquire
into their origin or find out who has the thoughts and sooner or later the flow
of thoughts will stop.'
This is how self-enquiry should be practiced.
When Bhagavan spoke like this he sometimes used the analogy of a besieged fort.
If one systematically closes off all the entrances to such a fort and then picks
off the occupants one by one as they try to come out, sooner or later the fort
will be empty. Bhagavan said that we should apply these same tactics to the mind
.
How to go about doing this? Seal off the entrances and exits to the mind by not
reacting to rising thoughts or sense impressions. Don't let new ideas, judgments
, likes, dislikes, etc. enter the mind, and don't let rising thoughts flourish a
nd escape your attention.
When you have sealed off the mind in this way, challenge each emerging thought a
s it appears by asking, 'Where have you come from?' or 'Who is the person who is
having this thought?9 If you can do this continuously, with full attention, new
thoughts will appear momentarily and then disappear. If you can maintain the si
ege for long enough, a time will come when no more thoughts arise; or if they do
, they will only be fleeting, undistracting images on the periphery of conscious
ness. In that thought-free state you will begin to experience yourself as consci
ousness, not as mind or
body.
However, if you relax your vigilance even for a few seconds and allow new though
ts to escape and develop unchallenged, the siege will be lifted and the mind wil
l regain some or all of it former strength.
The brain transmits it does not produce
consciousness.... [M]ind is not a proper
ty of the brain but a user of the brain....
Consciousness preexists the brain; it does not emerge from the brain. There is a
transpersonal mind, i.e., a mind at large, a cosmic consciousness, James s mothersea of consciousness.... [There is an] ever-fluctuating threshold that separates
subliminal from supraliminal mental life.
...A crude analysis with radio and radio waves: the radio does not produce the r
adio waves; it detects, transmits, and filters them. If your radio breaks down,
it doesn t follow that the sounds you re listening to have ceased to exist. They jus
t cease to be detectable. An analogy is possible between this and the mind-brain
relationship.
- Philosopher Michael Grosso
Q: Should we think 'I am not the ego'?
M: In deep sleep, we do not think whether we are or not so
in the waking state we can live without thought. Our reality
- and our being in that state
is the absolute happiness.
It is the thinking that makes the ego. The ego is only a thought for us

WE are w

ithout thoughts.
The source of thoughts is within us. If we begin to examine ourselves, we discov
er our real nature.
It is not by mere thought that you get rid of ego, it is by experience. Do not c
onceive of the thought-less state as being deep sleep or trance. There is no suc
h thin as realization, there is only the warding off of thoughts.
BE the reality and do not waste time keeping on repeating 'I am Brahman' a thous
and times over. The ego must go on trying to see the source of its own reality.
- Conscious Immortality
The intellect and learning
The intellect always seeks to have external knowledge, rejecting knowledge of it
s own origin. The mind is only the identification of the Self with the body.
It is a false ego that is created; it creates false phenomena in its turn and ap
pears to move in them. If the false identity vanishes the Reality becomes appare
nt.
This does not mean that Reality is not present now. It is always there and etern
ally the same.
------Q: I begin to ask myself 'Who am I?'
and eliminate the body as not 'I',
the prana as not I ,
the mind as not I
and I am not able to proceed further.
M: Well, that is as far as the intellect goes. Your process is only intellectual
. Indeed all the scriptures mention the process only to guide the seeker to know
the truth.
The truth cannot be directly pointed out, hence this intellectual process. You s
ee, the one who eliminates all the 'not-I' cannot eliminate the I .
To say I am not this , or I am that, thee must be an I .
This I is only the ego or the I - thought.
Once the I thought has arisen, all other thoughts follow.
The I -thought is therefore the root-thought.
If the root is eliminated all others are uprooted.
Ask yourself 'Who am I? Find its source.
Then all these will vanish and the pure Self will remain. The I is always there
ere is always the feeling of I , otherwise could you deny your existence?
- Conscious Immortality
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: Three or four times in my life great spiritual ecstasies have come and gone.
I want them permanently.
M: They have come and gone, but you have not gone. Your real Self is still there
!
There is a unity really but intellect creates differences. Even
so, intellect is a power (faculty) of the Self, but the principle which lies beh
ind the intellect cannot be known by the intellect.
However much you learn, there will be no bounds to knowledge. You ignore the dou
bter but try to solve the doubts. Instead, hold onto the doubter and the doubts
will disappear. Yoga and meditation are for ordinary people.
Vichara (enquiry) is for the wise. Vichara is the means of gaining realization.
There are people of giant intellect who spend their lives dis covering knowledge
about many things; but all this intellect is
being turned outwards. What is the use of knowing about every thing else when you
do not yet know yourself? Ask these people if they know who they are, and they
will hang their heads in shame.
11. At all times keep moving
back to the I am , your source,
and don't let anything divert

th

or distract you from this.

12. The I am in its absolute purity
is the infinite and formless,
so when you abide in it
you discover
the infinite eye of the Self.
13. If you can hold on
to the knowledge I am at all times,
no further practice
or initiation will be necessary.
- LWB
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Bhagavan: The root of thoughts is ego, ahamkara. The ego pertains to all waking
activities, the consciousness, the intellect. In deep sleep where is the 'I'? Th
e intellect.js still, the body is still, and yet the Self is there. It is the wa
king activities that veil the real Self by making, the ego, .. the false self
appe
ar as the real Self.
To say 'I am not the body' but 'I am-the Self is still not correct. There is no t
hought of 'I' in true Being.
The personality (antahkarana) is a medium. It is what we call the sukshma (subtl
e body) and acts as a medium between the body and the Self. It can turn to the b
ody or to the Self, merging into either.
Let us discover if all thoughts can be traced to one thought as their base of op
erations. Do you not see that the thought or idea of I
the idea of personality
is
that root thought?
The I -thought is not pure: it is contaminated by association with the body and sen
ses. See to whom the trouble is, then the other thoughts will cease.
Q: Yes, but how to do it, that is the whole problem?
M: Think 'I-I-I' and hold onto that one thought to the exclusion, of all others.
The ego has its source in the Self and is not separate from it. Hence the ego mu
st be retraced in order to merge in its source. The core of the ego is called th
e Heart.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Self-Enquiry
91-Q: Is the analytic process merely intellectual or does feeling predominate?
M: The latter. The personal I is a reflection of the real Self in the mind.
Ask yourself the question, 'Who am I?'. The body and its functions are not 'I'.
Enquire further. The senses and their functions are not 'I'.
Going deeper, the mind and its functions are not 'I'.
The next step is the question, 'From where do these thoughts arise?
Thoughts are spontaneous, superficial or analytical. Who is aware of them? Their
existence and operations become evident to the individual.
Analysis leads to the conclusion that individuality operates as awareness of the
existence of thoughts. This is ego. Enquire further, 'Who is this I ? and where do
es it come from?' Do sleep analysis.
'I am' underlies the three states sleep, waking and dreaming.
After discarding all that is not-Self, we find the residue
the Self Absolute.
Both world and ego are objective and must be eliminated in the analysis. Elimina
ting the unreal the Real survives. To accomplish this eliminate the mind, which
is the creator of the dualistic idea and of ego. Mind is one form of lifemanifest
ation. The individual cannot exist without the Self, but the Self can exist with
out the individual.
Q: Is this method quicker than developing qualities thought to be necessary for
salvation?
M: All bad qualities are tied up in the ego. When the ego is gone, realization i
s self-evident.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: What is the object of one's life?

M: The object is to understand who is that 'I' contained in your 'my'.

Q: I realize intellectually that I am part of the great I , the Universe.
M: Then are there two 'I's? Realize that you are not part, but the whole.
Q: What is the reason of this apparent duality of selves which exists?
M: When you are sound asleep, do you think of duality, part or whole? Duality, e
xists only when you are awake. What became of the world when you were asleep? Th
at 'I' existed in all three state's and it is that which you want to know. The t
houghts about life's purpose or purposelessness do not arise and trouble you dur
ing sleep.
As soon as your idea of enlightenment becomes time-bound, it s always about the ne
xt moment. You may have a deep spiritual experience and then ask, "How long will
I sustain this experience?"
As long as you insist on the question, you remain time-bound. If you are still i
nterested in time and the spiritual accumulations you can have in time, you will
get a time-bound experience. The mind is acting as if what you are looking for
isn t already present right now. Now is outside of time.
There is no time, and the paradox is that the only thing that keeps you from see
ing the eternal is that your mind is stuck in time. So you miss what s actually he
re.
- Adyashant
I AM QUOTES OF ANNAMALAI SWAMI
It is enough to never forget I am , your real Self which is
everything and all inclusive.
In every moment you only have one real choice: to be aware I am or to identify wit
h the body and mind.
Your responsibility in this life is only to abide as I am and not worry about the
outer events over which you have no control.
The I am is present in all and not confined only to those who follow this particul
ar teaching and Guru.
21. The intensity with which you meditate I am will take you to your real Self as
there is nothing else other than it.
- LWB
Don t study.
But don t be
Be dedicated
With such an
~ Mooji

If it happens, let it happen.

dedicated to study.
to drown yourself, to disappear, to vanish in the Absolute Self.
attitude one moves from death to everlasting life.

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: Is the waking state independent of existing objects?
M: If it were, the objects would have to exist without the seer, that is, the ob
ject must tell you that it exists. And does it? For example, does a cow moving i
n front of you tell you that she is moving, or do you say of your own accord, 'T
here goes a cow'? The objects exist because the seer is cognizing them.
Q: Why is there no meditation during dream? Is it possible?
M: Ask it in the dream! You are told to meditate now and to ask who you are. Ins
tead of doing it you ask such a question. It is the same person who dreams, slee
ps and awakens.
You are the witness of both
they pass before you. Because you are out of meditat
ion now, such questions arise.
CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI
Q: Swami kept mauna [silence] for at least a year in the those days it must have
been very peaceful and quiet here.
Nowadays the area is filled with the noise of loudspeakers, buses.
trucks, radios, etc. I feel that I would also like to keep mauna for some time.

But is there any point in keeping silent when there is much noise around?
AS: Mauna means inner silence, not outer silence. If there are a
lot of noises and disturbances outside, we should take them as manifestations of
God. If we take the attitude that they are
disturbances, we are resisting what IS. This will only create anxiety within us.
If we see all that is as divine, nothing will ever disturb
us.
You should not make judgements about the world. You are
thinking, 'A quiet environment is good; a noisy one is bad'. If you
have thoughts like these you will inevitably get caught up in the workings of th
e mind. There is nothing wrong with the world or with the environment you live i
n. The only defects are in the mind which is looking at the world. If you change
the outlook of the mind, the world automatically changes. Alternatively, you ca
n give your whole mind to God.
The saint Jnanasambandhar said: 'There is a way that we can
live happily in this miserable world. That way is to give our minds
to God.'
Bhagavan said: Surrender your mind to God and see all forms as God. Have imparti
al love towards all beings. One who lives like
this, he alone can be happy.'
Living by the Words of Bhagavan
ONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: Is it possible to be conscious without thought?
M: Yes. There is only one Consciousness. In sleep there is no 'I'. The I -thought a
rises on waking and then the world appears. Where was this I in sleep? Was it ther
e or not? It must have been there, yet not in the way you feel now.
The present is only the 'I'-thought, whereas the sleeping I is the real 'I'. That
subsists throughout. That is Consciousness. If that is known you will see that i
t is beyond thoughts. Thoughts can be like other activities, not disturbing the
supreme Consciousness
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: Is it the body that goes to sleep when tired?
But does the body sleep or wake up? You yourself said
before that the mind is quiet in sleep. The three states are of the mind. The Se
lf is always uncontaminated. It is the substance running through all these three
states.
The waking state passes away, 'I am' remains; the dream-state passes away, I am re
mains, the sleep state passes away, 'I am' remains; they repeat, still I AM.
the states are like pictures moving on the screen in a cinema show they do not a
ffect the screen.
Similarly here: I am unaffected though these states come and go.
As for the body, are you aware of it in sleep? Without knowing the body to be th
ere, how can it be said to exist in sleep?
The sense of body is a thought, the thought is of the mind, the mind rises after
e I -thought; the I -thought is the root-thought. If that is held the other thoughts
will disappear.
There will then be no body, no mind, not even the ego, only the Self in its puri
ty.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: Can the soul remain without a body?
M: It will do so during the next deep sleep. The Self is then bodiless. But even
now it is so.
In deep sleep you exist without ego; then you are free of doubts. Only now, in t
he waking state, ego rises and you have doubts. ln deep sleep you are happy, in

the waking state you are unhappy. Find out what that state of deep sleep is, fro
m which you have come.
Q: How can I remove ignorance?
M: While lying asleep in Tiruvannamalai, you dream of finding yourself in anothe
r town. Can another town enter your room? Or could you have left home and gone e
lsewhere?
No, both are impossible. Both are unreal, but they appear real to the mind. On w
aking, the I of the dream vanIshes and another 'I' speaks of the dream. Both are u
nreal; it is the substratum of the mind which continues all along that gives ris
e to so many scenes.
Many I's are born and die every moment. The subsisting mind is the real trouble.
Find that and you will be happy.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
A woman wanted to renounce the world after the death of her son.
M: Recall the state of sleep. Were you aware of anything happening? If the son o
r the world were real, wouldn't they be present with you in sleep?
You cannot deny your existence in sleep, nor can you deny that you were happy th
ere. Yet you are the same person now speaking and raising doubts. You say you ar
e not happy. But you were happy m sleep. What has transpired in the meantime tha
t the happiness of sleep has broken down.?
It is the ego. And that arises with the waking state. There was no ego in sleep.
The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other birth
.
Whatever is born, is bound to die.
Kill the ego!
There is no fear of death for that which is already dead.
The Self remains after the death of the ego.
That is Bliss

that is immortality.

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: What is illusion?
M: Find out to whom the illusion occurs and it will vanish. It is foolish to tal
k about it, for it is outside us and unknown whereas the seeker is inside and to
be known. Find out the immediate and intimate instead of what is distant and un
known.
Q: 'Brahman is real, world is illusion,' is Sankara's stock phrase. Others say t
he world is real. Which is true?
M: Both. They refer to different stages of development. The aspirant starts with
the definition that the Real always exists, and then eliminates the world as un
real because it is changing, and hence cannot be the ReaL Ultimately he reaches
the Self and there finds unity. Then that which was originally rejected as being
unreal, is found to be part of the unity.
Being absorbed in the Reality, the world is also real. In realization there is on
ly existence, and nothing but That.
There is no difference between matter and spirit, Modern
science admits that all matter is energy. Energy is shakti. There fore all are re
solved into Siva and shakti, i.e. Self and mind. The bodies are mere appearances
. There is no reality in them as such.

The world is not real, apart from the hidden reality. Hence it is really the spi
ritual reality itself in another way. Ananda lives in
every being.
I AM QUOTES OF ANNAMALAI SWAMI
from 'Living by the Words of Bhagavan'
29. To be continuously aware
as I am .

I am

is the Sadhana. You are always the Self, abiding

30. Abiding as I am you will visualize everything as I am . Having this vision, no pr

oblems will occur as all is I am .
31. I am

all, so where is the question of liking or disliking?

CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
We read the articles in a newspaper, but do not care to know anything about the
paper itself. We take the chaff but not the substance. The substratum on which a
ll this is printed is the paper, and if we know the substratum all else will be
known.
The One only is the sat, the existence, it is the paper, whereas the world, the
things that we see and we ourselves are the printed words.
This external universe is a cinema show to the realized one. It is free and the
performance goes on day and night! The realized one lives and works in it knowin
g that its objects and bodies (people) are illusory appearances just as an ordin
ary person knows the scenes and characters on the cinema screen at a theatre are
illusions, and do not exist in real life.
But the ordinary person takes the external objects of daily life as real, wherea
s the realized one sees them only as illusory cinema pictures.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: I do not understand your reference to dream and mental illusion.
M: Our experience of the world is evoked and dissolved by the mind. When you tra
vel from India to London does your body really move? No! It is the conveyance wh
ich moves and your body remains inside it without itself traveling. It is the sh
ip and the train which travel.
Just as these movements are superimposed on your body, so visions, dream-states
and even reincarnations are superimposed on your real Self. The latter does not
move and is not affected by all these outward changes, remaining still in its ow
n place even as the body remains still in the ship's cabin. You are always the s
ame and hence beyond time and beyond space.
In deep sleep you have no sense of time. The concept of time and space arises on
ly when there is the limitation of I .
Even now the I -thought is both limitless and limited. So long as you think it to b
e the body, it is limited. At the time of waking up and before one actually beco
mes fully aware of the external world, that interval, timeless, spaceless, is th
e state of the true I'.
Why do your questions not arise in deep sleep?
The fact is that you have no limitations in sleep and no question arises. Wherea

s now, you identify with the body and questions of this kind arise. Deep sleep i
s always present even in the waking state.
What we have to do is to bring deep sleep into the waking state to get 'consciou
s sleep'. Realization can only take place in the waking state. Deep sleep is rel
ative to the waking state. Can that one Consciousness divide itself into two?
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
Q: But I do not know the sleep consciousness!
M: Who is not aware of it? You admit 'I am'. You admit 'I was' in sleep. The sta
te of being is your Self.
Q: Do you mean to say that sleep is Self-realization?
M: It is Self, why do you talk of realization? Is there a moment when the Self i
s not realized? Why pick out sleep for it? Even now you are Self-realized.
Q: But I don't understand it!
M: Because you are identifying the Self with the body. Give up. this wrong ident
ification and the Self is revealed.
Q: But this does not answer my question to help me get rid of maya, i.e. attachm
ent.
M: This attachment to the world is not found in sleep. It is perceived and felt
now, It is not your real nature. To whom is this accretion?
It does not exist once the real nature is known.
Maya is not an object that can be got rid of in any other way
CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI
This waking life is just a long dream which keeps our attention away from what w
e really are. If you take the attitude that all the happenings in the world are
dream events, your mind becomes tranquil. It is only when you take the dream wor
ld to be real that you get agitated.
Q: I feel strongly that life is a long dream but I cannot see through the dream.
For many years it has been like this.
AS: If you really believed that all life was a dream, nothing in the world would
ever trouble you. If you still have problems and worries, like not being able t
o see through the dream, it means that you have still not completely ceased to i
dentify with what temporarily appears in your consciousness.
You should enquire, 'Who is not able to penetrate through the
dream?
The true I is not identified with the dream. If you don't forget your real Self, w
aking, dreaming and sleeping do not affect you.
The things around you are always changing, but what we really ARE remains change
less.
Living by the Words of Bhagavan
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY

Q: Can the soul remain without a body?

M: It will do so during the next deep sleep. The Self is then bodiless. But even
now it is so.
In deep sleep you exist without ego; then you are free of doubts. Only now, in t
he waking state, ego rises and you have doubts. ln deep sleep you are happy, in
the waking state you are unhappy. Find out what that state of deep sleep is, fro
m which you have come.
Q: How can I remove ignorance?
M: While lying asleep in Tiruvannamalai, you dream of finding yourself in anothe
r town. Can another town enter your room? Or could you have left home and gone e
lsewhere?
No, both are impossible. Both are unreal, but they appear real to the mind. On w
aking, the I of the dream vanIshes and another 'I' speaks of the dream. Both are u
nreal; it is the substratum of the mind which continues all along that gives ris
e to so many scenes.
Many I's are born and die every moment. The subsisting mind is the real trouble.
Find that and you will be happy.
CONSCIOUS IMMORTALITY
A woman wanted to renounce the world after the death of her son.
M: Recall the state of sleep. Were you aware of anything happening? If the son o
r the world were real, wouldn't they be present with you in sleep?
You cannot deny your existence in sleep, nor can you deny that you were happy th
ere. Yet you are the same person now speaking and raising doubts. You say you ar
e not happy. But you were happy m sleep. What has transpired in the meantime tha
t the happiness of sleep has broken down.?
It is the ego. And that arises with the waking state. There was no ego in sleep.
The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other birth
.
Whatever is born, is bound to die.
Kill the ego!
There is no fear of death for that which is already dead.
The Self remains after the death of the ego.
That is Bliss

that is immortality.

Whenever clouds gather, the nature of the sky is not corrupted, and when they di
sperse, it is not ameliorated. The sky does not become less or more vast. It doe
s not change.
It is the same with the nature of mind: it is not spoiled by the arrival of thou
ghts; nor improved by their disappearance. The nature of the mind is emptiness;
its expression is clarity.
These two aspects are essentially one's simple images designed to indicate the d
iverse modalities of the mind. It would be useless to attach oneself in turn to
the notion of emptiness , and then to that of clarity, as if they were independe
nt entities. The ultimate nature of mind is beyond all concepts, all definition
and all fragmentation

The mind always wants to do something.

It is not interested in hearing that nothing needs to be done.
And that s not the same as saying don t do anything .
Things will be done.
In fact, everything that needs to be done is already being done.
Right now, thoughts are coming in and out.
Are you doing that?
If you were doing that,
you would be able to stop those thoughts right now! You see?
Everything just happens, and this is the last thing the mind wants to hear!
The whole thing is all spontaneous!
.
~ Mooji smile emoticon
Instructions
The quintessence of Ramana Maharshi s teaching is found in a small booklet called W
ho am I? This little booklet contains the first set of instructions given by Rama
na Maharshi. They are direct from his unique experience of self-realization. The
original set of questions was asked by Sivaprakasam Pillai which was later pres
ented by Ramana Maharshi in prose form.
The power of the teaching can be realized by anyone who puts it into practice. I
n Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi 80 we read Let him find out to whom are the thou
ghts. Where from do they arise? They must spring up from the conscious Self. App
rehending it even vaguely helps the extinction of the ego. Thereafter the realis
ation of the one Infinite Existence becomes possible. In that state there are no
individuals other than the Eternal Existence. Hence there is no thought of deat
h or suffering. The full teaching may be downloaded here Who Am I? . Here is an adap
ted version for easy reference.
Click to Download
Click to Download
Who am I?
Every living being longs to be happy, untainted by sorrow; and everyone has the
greatest love for himself, which is solely due to the fact that happiness is his
real nature. Hence, in order to realise that inherent and untainted happiness,
which indeed he daily experiences when the mind is subdued in deep sleep, it is
essential that he should know himself. For obtaining such knowledge the enquiry,
Who am I? in quest of the Self is the best means.
Who Am I? I am pure Awareness. This Awareness is by its very nature Being-Consciou
sness-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda).
If the mind, which is the instrument of knowledge and is the basis of all activi
ty, subsides, the perception of the world as an objective reality ceases. Unless
the illusory perception of the serpent in the rope ceases, the rope on which th
e illusion is formed is not perceived as such. (This analogy is based on a tradi
tional story of a man who sees a rope at twilight and mistaking it for a serpent
is afraid without cause.) Similarly, unless the illusory nature of the percepti
on of the world as an objective reality ceases, the vision of the true nature of
the Self, on which the illusion is formed, is not obtained.
The mind is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to ari
se. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is t
he nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called th
e world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the stat
es of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also.
Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdra

ws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again
resolves it into itself. When the mind leaves the Self, the world appears. There
fore, when the world appears, the Self does not appear; and when the Self appear
s (shines) the world does not appear.
When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will subsid
e leaving the Self (as residue). The mind always exists only by depending on som
ething gross (physical body); it cannot exist independently. It is the mind that
is called the subtle body or the soul.
That which rises as I in the body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the
body the thought I rises first, one would discover that it rises in the Heart. Tha
t is the place of the mind s origin. Even if one thinks constantly I , I , one will be l
ed to that place. Of all the thoughts that arise in the mind, the I thought is the
first. It is only after the rise of the I-thought that other thoughts occur.
The thought who am I? will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for
stirring the funeral pyre, it will itself be burnt up in the end. Then, there w
ill be Self-realization. When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them b
ut should diligently inquire: To whom do they occur? It does not matter how many t
houghts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquire with alertness, To whom
has this thought arisen? The answer that would emerge would be to me . Thereupon if
one inquires Who am I? the mind will go back to its source; and the thought that
arose will subside.
With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the power to stay i
n its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the se
nse organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the na
mes and forms disappear. Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the He
art is what is called inwardness . Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as
externalisation . Thus, when the mind stays in the Heart, the I which is the source
of all thoughts will go, and the Self which ever exists will shine.
Other than inquiry, there are no adequate means to make the mind permanently sub
side. If the mind is controlled through other means, it will appear to be contro
lled, but will rise again. Through regulation of breath, the mind will become ca
lm; but it will remain calm only as long as the breath remains controlled. When
the breath is no longer regulated, the mind will become active and start wanderi
ng.
Like the practice of breath-control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition
of mantras, and restriction on diet, are temporary aids for stilling the mind. T
hrough practice of meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mant
ras, the mind attains one-pointedness. For such a focused mind self-inquiry will
become easy. By observing diet-restriction, the quality of mind improves, which
helps self-inquiry.
However sinful a person may be, if he would zealously carry on meditation on the
Self, how would most assuredly get reformed.
The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what concer
ns other people.
However bad other people may be, one should bear no hatred for them.
All that one gives to others one gives to one s self. If this truth is understood
who will not give to others?
When one s self arises all arises; when one s self becomes calm all becomes calm.

To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent good will result.
If the mind becomes still, one may live anywhere.
What exists in truth is the Self alone. The world, the individual soul, and God
are appearances in it like silver in mother-of-pearl. These three appear at the
same time, and disappear at the same time. The Self is that where there is absol
utely no I thought. That is called Silence . The Self itself is the world; the Self i
tself is I ; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.
He who gives himself up to the Self that is God is the most excellent devotee. G
iving one self up to God, means constantly remembering the Self. Whatever burden
s are thrown on God, He bears them all. Since the supreme power of God makes all
things move, why should we, without submitting ourselves to it, constantly worr
y ourselves with thoughts as to what should be done and how, and what should not
be done and how not? We know that the train carries all loads, so after getting
on it why should we carry our small luggage on our head to our discomfort, inst
ead of putting it down in the train and feeling at ease?
In the Supreme the witness appears. The witness creates the person and thinks it
self as separate from it. The witness sees that the person appears in consciousn
ess which again appears in the witness. This realisation of the basic unity is t
he working of the Supreme. It is the power behind the witness, the source from w
hich all flows. It cannot be contacted, unless there is unity and love and mutua
l help between the person and the witness, unless the doing is in harmony with t
he being and the knowing. The Supreme is both the source and the fruit of such h
armony. As I talk to you, I am in the state of detached but affectionate awarene
ss (turiya). When this awareness turns upon itself, you may call it the Supreme
State, (turiyatita). But the fundamental reality is beyond awareness, beyond the
three states of becoming, being and not-being.
Nisargadatta
What is the root of pain? Ignorance of yourself. What is the root of desire? The
urge to find yourself. All creation toils for its self and will not rest until
it returns to it. You are really in search of yourself, without knowing it. You
are love, longing for the love-worthy, the perfectly lovable. Due to ignorance y
ou are looking for it in the world of opposites and contradictions. When you fin
d it within, your search will be over.
Nisargadatta, I Am That, Chapters 36 + 79
ll problems have to be personal. There are no impersonal problems.
Reflect. You can only suffer when you imagine yourself to be a person.
In the state of personhood, you feel you are or can become a unique entity with
unique qualities:
that you can be loved or not loved, worthy or unworthy, a success or a failure.
'You are on my team,' or, 'I don't want you!'
Such words can only be uttered in duality and impact on the 'person'.
The state of ego identity is fundamentally insecure.
And it is good it is this way, because if it were not,
your chance to be free would be almost impossible.
In this life, you have the greatest opportunity to move beyond this limited iden
tity of personhood.
Those who suffer from the ego's attacks are in some way fortunate, for they are
nearer to discovering the distanceless Truth. Why?
Because at a certain point, their egos become so unbearable that they run out of
moves and then everything has to collapse back into the Source.
If your ego was so wonderful and everything was going great and all your project
ions were fulfilled, there would be no attraction to the real Self.
The Self will not allow this.

It always gives you, the 'presence', the advantage.

Even if you were in hell, you would have the advantage,
because the seed of being in you is the eternal seed of the Real.
~ Mooji, Monte Sahaja 2015
Q: Why do desires arise at all?
M: Because you imagine that you were born, and that you will die if you do not t
ake care of your
body. Desire for embodied existence is the root-cause of trouble.
My Guru told me: ...Go back to that state of pure being, where the I am is still in
its purity before it got contaminated with I am this or I am that. Your burden is o
f false self-identifications abandon them all. My guru told me, Trust me, I tell you
: you are Divine. Take it as the absolute truth. Your joy is divine, your suffer
ing is divine too. All comes from God. Remember it always. You are God, your wil
l alone is done. I did believe him and soon realized how wonderfully true and acc
urate were his words. I did not condition my mind by thinking, I am God, I am won
derful, I am beyond. I simply followed his instruction, which was to focus the mi
nd on pure being, I am, and stay in it. I used to sit for hours together, with not
hing but the I am in my mind and soon the peace and joy and deep all-embracing lov
e became my normal state. In it all disappeared myself, my guru, the life I lived,
the world around me. Only peace remained, and unfathomable silence. (I Am That,
Dialogue 51, April 16, 1971).[web 7
The life force [prana] and the mind are operating [of their own accord], but the
mind will tempt you to believe that it is "you". Therefore understand always th
at you are the timeless spaceless witness. And even if the mind tells you that y
ou are the one who is acting, don't believe the mind. [...] The apparatus [mind,
body] which is functioning has come upon your original essence, but you are not
that apparatus.[8]
"The final truth, as Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj and all the sages
before them have clearly stated, is that there is neither creation nor destructi
on, neither birth nor death, neither destiny nor free will, neither any path nor
any achievement. All there is is Consciousness."
"What is generally understood to be prayer is nothing more than one fictitious e
ntity called 'me' begging for something from another fictitious entity called 'G
od'"
"What is the significance of the statement 'No one can get enlightenment'? This
is the very root of the teaching. It means that it's stupid for any so-called ma
ster to ask anyone to do anything to achieve or get enlightenment. The core of t
his simple statement means, according to my concept, that enlightenment is the a
nnihilation of the "one" who "wants" enlightenment. If there is enlightenment which can only happen because it is the will of God - then it means the "one" wh
o had earlier wanted enlightenment has been annihilated. So no "one" can achieve
enlightenment and therefore no "one" can enjoy enlightenment."
"The joke is even the surrendering is not in your control. Why? Because so long
as there is an individual who says "I surrender" there is a surrenderer, an indi
vidual ego... What I'm saying is that even the surrendering is not in [your] han
ds."
("Who cares?", pp. 6 - 22)
"Where is the "me"? The "me" is always associated with the body and the body as
seen through the microscope is nothing but a play of cells being created and des
troyed."
"Truth or Reality is itself a concept. When you are in the truth or in deep slee
p, which is only a pale reflection of the real, in that state of deep sleep is t
he Truth. And in that Truth there is no experience. In the waking state, the sta

te of deep sleep is a concept. In deep sleep it is the Truth. But the moment you
think of Reality, the moment you think Subject, the moment you think of the Abs
olute, the moment you think of the Truth, it is a concept. It is only when the t
hinking totally stops that Truth exists."
"When we talk of time and space, we say infinite space and eternal time. It is s
till a mental concept of total space and total time. But the mind cannot conceiv
e of that state prior to the arising of the space-time. The moment you think of
Reality, the reality is a concept. You are the Reality of which the split-mind m
akes a concept. You are the Reality, but not as the "me"
"It's very simple. Don't think about what you have heard here. Just don't think
about what you think you've understood. And then that understanding will have a
chance to flower. But the more you think about what you have understood, the mor
e it's wasted."
"All there is, is Consciousness. And the mind is merely a reflection of that Con
sciousness."
Peace is always present.
Get rid of the disturbances to Peace.
This Peace is the Self.
The thoughts are the disturbances.
When free from them,
you are Infinite Intelligence,
i.e., the Self.
There is Perfection and Peace.
You are too much concerned with the past and future. It is all due to your longi
ng to continue, to protect yourself against extinction. And you want to continue
, you want others to keep you company, hence your concern with their survival. B
ut what you call survival is but the survival of a dream***