The Muslim Professor asked: “It is said that one should give up desire. But there are the needs of the body which are irrepressible. What is to be done?”
M. An aspirant must be equipped with three requisites: (1) Ichcha; (2) ; and (3) Sraddha. Ichcha means satisfaction of bodily wants without attachment to the body (such as hunger and thirst and evacuation of excreta). Unless it is done meditation cannot progress. Bhakti and sraddha are already known.
D.: There are two kinds of desire—the baser and the nobler. Is it not our duty to transmute the baser one to the nobler?
M.: Yes.
D.: Well, Bhagavan, you said there are three requisites of which ichcha is the satisfaction of natural wants without attachment to the body, etc. I take food three or four times a day and attend to bodily wants so much so that I am oppressed by the body. Is there a state when I shall be disembodied so that I might be free from the scourge of bodily wants?
M.: It is the attachments (rāga, dwesha) which are injurious. The action is not bad in itself. There is no harm in eating three or four times. But only do not say, “I want this kind of food and not that kind,” and so on.
Moreover you take those meals in twelve hours of wakeful state whereas you are not eating in the hours of sleep. Does sleep lead you to ? It is wrong to suppose that simple inactivity leads one to mukti.
D.: There are said to be sadeha mukta (liberated in body) and (liberated without body).
M.: There is no liberation, and where are ?
D.: Do not Hindu sāstras speak of ?
M.: is synonymous with the Self. (liberation while alive) and (liberation after the body falls) are all for the ignorant. The is not conscious of mukti or bandha (bondage). Bondage, liberation and orders of mukti are all said for an in order that ignorance might be shaken off. There is only mukti and nothing else.
D.: It is all right from the standpoint of Bhagavan. But what about us?
M.: The difference “He” and “I” are the obstacles to .
D.: But it cannot be denied that Bhagavan is of a high order whereas we are limited. Will Bhagavan make me one with Him?
M.: Were you aware of limitations in your sleep?
D.: I cannot bring down the state of my sleep in the present state and speak of it.
M.: You need not. These three states alternate before the unchanging Self. You can remember your state of sleep. That is your real state. There were no limitations then. After the rise of the ‘I’-thought the limitations arose.
D.: How to attain the Self?
M.: Self is not to be attained because you are the Self.
D.: Yes. There is an unchanging Self and a changing one in me. There are two selves.
M.: The changefulness is mere thought. All thoughts arise after the arising of the ‘I’-thought. See to whom the thoughts arise. Then you transcend them and they subside. That is to say, tracing the source of the ‘I’-thought, you realise the perfect ‘I’—‘I’. ‘I’ is the name of the Self.
D.: Shall I meditate on “I am Brahman” ()?
M.: The text is not meant for thinking “I am Brahman”. (‘I’) is known to every one. Brahma abides as Aham in every one. Find out the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is already Brahman. You need not think so. Simply find out the ‘I’.
D.: Is not discarding of the sheaths mentioned in the Sastras?
M.: After the rise of the ‘I’-thought there is the false identification of the ‘I’ with the body, the senses, the mind, etc. ‘I’ is wrongly associated with them and the true ‘I’ is lost sight of. In order to sift the pure ‘I’ from the contaminated ‘I’ this discarding is mentioned. But it does not mean exactly discarding of the non-self, but it means the finding of the real Self.
The real Self is the Infinite ‘I’—‘I’, i.e. ‘I’ in perfection. It is eternal. It has no origin and no end. The other ‘I’ is born and also dies. It is impermanent. See to whom are the changing thoughts. They will be found to arise after the ‘I’-thought. Hold the ‘I’-thought. They subside. Trace back the source of the ‘I’-thought. The Self alone will remain.
D.: It is difficult to follow. I understand the theory. But what is the practice?
M.: The other methods are meant for those who cannot take to the investigation of the Self. Even to repeat or think of it, a doer is necessary. Who is it? It is ‘I’. Be that ‘I’. It is the direct method. The other methods also will ultimately lead everyone to this method of the investigation of the Self.
D.: I am aware of the ‘I’. Yet my troubles are not ended.
M.: This ‘I’-thought is not pure. It is contaminated with the association of the body and senses. See to whom the trouble is. It is to the ‘I’-thought. Hold it. Then the other thoughts vanish.
D.: Yes. How to do it? That is the whole trouble.
M.: Think ‘I’ ‘I’ ‘I’ and hold to that one thought to the exclusion of all others.