The ‘I’ which rises will also subside. That is the individual ‘I’ or the ‘I’—concept. That which does not rise will not subside. It is and will be for ever. That is the universal ‘I’, the perfect ‘I’, or realisation of the Self.
At 5-30 p.m. the Swiss lady complains to Sri Bhagavan that she gets a headache if meditation be prolonged for some time.
M.: If the meditator and meditation be understood to be the same there will be no headache or similar complaints.
D.: But they are different. How shall we consider them to be the same?
M.: That is due to your outlook. There is only one and there are no differences. On meditation the relative consciousness will vanish. That is not annihilation; for Absolute Consciousness arises. The Bible itself says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you”....If you consider yourself to be the body there is some difficulty in understanding the statement. On the other hand, if you know who you really are, the Kingdom of Heaven and all are included in your true Self. They are concepts arising after the ego has arisen. (Drishtim jnānamayeem krtva pasyet Brahmamayam jagat.) Direct your look within and make it absolute. With that absolute awareness realised, look without and you will realise the universe to be not apart from the realised Absolute.
Because your outlook is externally directed you speak of a without. In that state you are advised to look within. This within is relative to the without you are seeking. In fact, the Self is neither without nor within. Speaking of Heaven one thinks of it as above or below, within or without, since one is accustomed to relative knowledge. One seeks only objective knowledge and hence these ideas.
Really speaking there is neither up nor down, neither in nor out. If they were real they must be present in dreamless sleep also. For what is real must be continuous and permanent. Did you feel “in” or “out” in sleep? Of course not.
D.: I do not remember.
M.: If there was anything there that could be remembered. But you admit your existence then. The same Self is now speaking. The Self who was undifferentiated in sleep is differentiated in the present state, and sees the diversity. The Real Existence is the only One devoid of objective knowledge. That is absolute consciousness. That is the state of happiness, as admitted by all of us. That state must be brought about even in this waking state. It is called . That is .
D.: The ego is the one which reincarnates.
M.: Yes. But what is reincarnation? The ego remains the same. New bodies appear and hold it. The ego does not change. It does not leave one body, seek and find another. Just see what happens even to your gross body. Suppose you go to London. How do you do it? You take a conveyance, go to the docks, board the steamer and reach London in a few days. What has happened? The conveyances had moved, but not your body. Still you say that you travelled from one part of the globe to the other part. The movements of the conveyances have been superimposed on your body. Similarly also with your ego. The reincarnations are superimpositions. For example, what happens in a dream? Do you go to the dream world or does it occur in you? Surely the latter. Just the same with reincarnations. The ego remains changeless all along.
Again, there is no time and space in your sleep. They are concepts which arise after the ‘I’-thought has arisen. Before the rise of the ‘I’-thought the concepts are absent. Therefore you are beyond time and space. The ‘I’-thought is only limited ‘I’. The real ‘I’ is unlimited, universal, beyond time and space. They are absent in sleep. Just on rising up from sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self. That must be known.
D.: But I do not realise it.
M.: It is not an object to be realised. You are that. Who is there to realise and what?