Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
If it is the inner that is ultimately responsible for man's spiritual development, why is the outer so much exhorted and encouraged?
The outer can help by keeping quiet and free from desire and fear. You would have noticed that all advice to the outer is in the form of negations: don't, stop, refrain, forego, give up, sacrifice, surrender, see the false as false. Even the little description of reality that is given is through denials - neti, neti (not this, not this). All positives belong to the inner self, as all absolutes - to Reality.
How are we to distinguish the inner from the outer in actual experience?
The inner is the source of inspiration, the outer is moved by memory. The source is untraceable, while all memory begins somewhere. Thus the outer is always determined, while the inner cannot be held in words. The mistake of students consist in imagining the inner to be something to get hold of, and forgetting that all perceivables are transient and, therefore, unreal. Only that which makes perception possible, call it Life or Brahman, or what you like, is real.
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