Question and answer 37

Suppose all this practice destroys every obstacle in the mind — ignorance, doubt, wrong notions — and the mind falls perfectly still. One doubt still remains. Once the mind has been placed in the Heart, it's pure knowledge alone that shines there. But if the mind has become the very form of the Self, then who is left to do the enquiring? Since it all comes down to worshipping yourself — doesn't that just turn into the old story of the shepherd who slung the goat over his own shoulder and went around asking, 'Where's my goat, where's my goat?'

The soul is Śiva; Śiva is the soul. That soul is nothing else but Śiva. As long as it is wrapped in its husk, it stays paddy; strip the husk away, and it becomes rice. It's the same with the soul: as long as it's bound by the rope of karma, it stays a soul; once the rope of ignorance falls away, it shines out as the god Śiva himself — so scripture says. The soul, which is the mind in that form, only ever came to be bound under that name, 'soul', by forgetting that it was never anything but the Self to begin with — and yes, going looking for the Self, which was always right there as yourself anyway, really is the shepherd's story. But can a soul that has forgotten itself become the Self, that very god, just by having once known that it is the Self? Isn't it the case that, again and again, old impressions from former births get in the way, and it forgets it is the Self, and mistakes the body for 'I'? Does a man become a high official just by having looked at one? Isn't it only by making the effort, step by step, that he actually becomes one? It's the same here: the soul, bound in the form of the mind that takes the body for 'I', can become the Self only by making that same step-by-step effort, sustained attention on the Self, until the mind itself is destroyed. This age-old habit of thinking 'I am the body' will only be undone by an equally sustained habit of thinking 'I am not the body, I am the Self' — Śivoham, Śivoham. And since that is how the supremely cool state of Śiva, the quieting of the mind, can be reached, the mind — the soul wearing the shape of the ego — must go on worshipping nothing but itself, as that very deity who is the Self and the substance of every other god, until it has overcome the bond called mind — which is nothing but old habits wearing a shape — and won the supreme aloneness that is direct realisation of the Self. Kept up without a break, this sustained attention on the Self ends the mind, and, at the very end, like the stick used to burn a corpse, it too disappears. This, and nothing less, is liberation.

Even once, by the disciplines described above, every obstacle in the mind — ignorance, doubt, misapprehension and the rest — has been destroyed and the stilling of the mind has been attained, one doubt still remains: namely, that once the mind has been placed in the Heart, it is knowledge alone that shines forth in its fullness. If the mind has thus attained the form of the Self, who then is left to enquire? Since this ends in one's worshipping none but oneself, does this not end up as nothing but the story of the shepherd who put the goat on his own shoulder and went about asking, 'Where's the goat, where's the goat?'

The soul is Śiva; Śiva is the soul. That soul is nothing but Śiva. As long as it is bound by its husk, it remains paddy; when the husk departs, it becomes rice. In the same way, as long as it is bound by the fetter of karma, it remains the soul; when the fetter of ignorance departs, it shines forth as the deity Śiva — so runs the scripture. Since the soul, which is of the form of the mind, comes to be bound, in that apparent form, under the name 'soul', precisely through forgetting that it is, in reality, nothing but the Self's own nature — even though seeking the Self, which is always oneself in any case, does seem to be exactly the shepherd's story — can the soul, having forgotten itself, become the Self that is God merely by having once known that it is the Self? Is it not the case that, again and again, through the obstruction of impressions carried over from former births, it forgets that it is the Self and mistakes the body and the rest for 'I'? Does a man become a great officer merely by having looked at one? Is it not only by making, step by step, the effort proper to that, that he can become such an officer? In just the same way, the soul, bound in the form of the mind that says 'the body and the rest are I', can become the Self only by making, step by step, the effort called sustained attention on the Self, and thereby attaining the destruction of the mind. Since this long-standing impression, 'I am the body', can be destroyed, and that supremely cool Śiva-state which is the quieting of the mind can be reached, only through the equally long-sustained attention 'I am not the body; I am the Self' (Śivoham, Śivoham), the mind — the ego-formed soul — must, by worshipping for a long time none other than itself as the very deity of the Self, present as the substance of every deity, overcome the fetter called mind (which has taken the very shape of these impressions) and attain the supreme aloneness called direct realisation of the Self. Practised unceasingly in this way, this sustained attention on the Self brings about the destruction of the mind, and, in the end, like the stick used to burn a corpse, itself also departs. This alone is liberation.