Self: Eternal and Immanent

Sri Annamalai Swami

Q: What should be the right attitude when one is in the presence of a jnani?

AS: Just keep quiet. Make contact with the silence of the Self within. This is the way of making contact with your Guru, and it is also the best attitude to have when you are sitting in his presence.

Q: I understand. This is also my inner feeling, my own belief of what I need to do. But knowing it does not produce the desired results. I know that I can make contact with my real Guru by abiding as the Self within, but it rarely happens. I cannot abide in that state all the time. And when I am out of that state, I am acutely aware of the separation. Then when I feel that separation, I feel a need to be in the Guru's physical presence. These advice, 'Go back to the Self within' is not so attractive then, because I know I can't do it.

AS: Who is feeling separation? Who is separate from whom? Ask yourself this question whenever these thoughts arise. I remember a devotee who got very attached to Bhagava's feet. He would touch his feet and then try to hold on to them for a long time. 

One day Bhagavan said to him: "Don't get attached to the feel because one day they will disappear. If you are so attached to physical things, when they go, you will be depressed and you will feel miserable. Hold onto the Self within. That is the Guru's true feet. It will never go away because it is eternal. The Self abides within you as your Guru. It is up to you to find him there and to stay with him."

The light of the Self cannot be extinguished. It is eternal and immanent. It is not like ordinary lights that can be switched on and off.  Once it is discovered within, it will be on all the time.