From ~~~ Maharshi’s Gospel, B.II, Ch.I
M:
Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula;
it is more than the repetition of any mantra.
If the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ were a mere mental questioning,
it would not be of much value.
The very purpose of Self-enquiry
is to focus the entire mind at its source.
It is not, therefore, a case of one
‘I’ searching for another ‘I’.
Much less is Self-enquiry an empty formula,
for it involves an intense activity of the entire mind
to keep it steadily poised in pure Self-awareness.
Self-enquiry is the one infallible means,
the only direct one,
to realize the unconditioned,
Absolute Being that you really are.
D:
Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered
the direct means to jnana?
M:
Because every kind of sadhana
except that of atma vichara
presupposes the retention of the mind
as the instrument for carrying on the sadhana,
and without the mind it cannot be practiced.
The ego may take different and subtler forms
at the different stages of one’s practice,
but is itself never destroyed.
~~~~~
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