Question and answer 31

So how, then, should one meditate on the Self?

The Self is self-luminous — neither darkness nor light — shining by its own substance, to itself, on its own. So it must never be pictured as this or as that; the very act of picturing it turns into its own bondage. The whole point of 'meditating on the Self' is simply this: turning the mind into the very shape of the Self. Is there any greater ignorance than this — not knowing that, right in the middle of the cave called the Heart, sheer Brahman itself is shining, directly, in the form of the Self, as 'I, I' — and, for lack of that knowing, going off to picture the Self in one fancied shape after another?

How is one to meditate upon the Self?

Since the Self is a self-luminous entity, neither darkness nor light, shining of its own substance, to itself, by itself — it must not be imagined as this or as that. The very thought that imagines ends up itself as bondage. Making the mind take the form of the Self is the whole purport of 'meditating on the Self'. Is there any ignorance other than this: not knowing that, in the middle of the cave called the Heart, sheer Brahman itself is directly shining, in the form of the Self, as 'I, I' — and, for want of knowing this, imagining the Self in various [other] ways?