Believe That You Are The Self

Sri Ramana Maharshi

D.: Is loss of body-consciousness a perquisite to the attainment of sahaja samadhi? 

M.: What is body-consciousness? Analyse it. There must be a body and consciousness limited to it which together make up bodyconsciousness. These must lie in another Consciousness which is absolute and unaffected. Hold it. That is samadhi. It exists when there is no body-consciousness because it transcends the latter, it also exists when there is the body-consciousness. So it is always there. What does it matter whether body-consciousness is lost or retained? When lost it is internal samadhi: when retained, it is external samadhi. That is all. A person must remain in any of the six samadhis so that sahaja samadhi may be easy for him. 

D.: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second. 

M.: A strong conviction is necessary that I am the Self, transcending the mind and the phenomena. 

D.: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be a cord against attempts to sink it. 

M.: What does it matter if the mind is active? It is so only on the substratum of the Self. Hold the Self even during mental activities. 

D.: I cannot go within sufficiently deep. 

M.: It is wrong to say so. Where are you now if not in the Self? Where should you go? All that is necessary is the stern belief that you are the Self. Say rather that the other activities throw a veil on you. 

D.: Yes, it is so. 

M.: That means that the conviction is weak. 

D.: I understand that the ‘I’ is only artificial (krtrima), my attempts at realising the real ‘I’ are unavailing because the artificial ‘I’ is brought into action for realising the other. 

M.: Viveka Chudamani makes it clear that the artificial ‘I’ of the vijnana kosa is a projection and through it one must look to the significance (vachya) of ‘I’, the true principle.