Think A Thought That Will Annihilate All Thought

This article by Sirshree was first published in Speaking Tree on Sep 20 2006.

Why should we engage in self-enquiry? Behind everything that you do, isn’t it happiness that you seek? Every action you perform is for this happiness. But that bliss is lost in the hurricane of thoughts that cloud the radiance of the Self.

When you are in deep sleep, there are no thoughts. There is only pure consciousness. The way a spider weaves a web out of itself and then takes back everything into itself, thoughts arise from the ocean of the Self and manifest our world.

They disappear during deep sleep and along with them the world, too, disappears. This illusory game goes on uninterrupted. To clear the cobwebs of illusion, you have to go to the source of these thoughts.

When you do rigorous self-enquiry and see all the facets of the mind and its colours, then the mind weakens and finally disappears; it never truly existed. This mind is ego, the false ‘I’.

Enquiry is for the death of the mind. It is also called the ‘contrast mind’, which keeps coming between the seeker and the sought. The meaning of God is love and love can never be unhappy.

What has observation or seeing got to do with transformation? Lots. With correct observation, the wrong automatically ends. You cannot get angry, or kill in awareness. You can only harm others when you lack awareness.

We can be selfish only when we are not aware; when we are unable to feel the other person’s unhappiness. If you start seeing yourself in every situation, then soon you will be transformed.

For the first time you will begin to understand the mind. How can the mind be thoughtless? Mind means thoughts. Being thoughtless means being in a no-mind state.

Why does the mind fall off on self-enquiry?

To quieten the mind, self-enquiry is the best method which is the means as well as the end. When you ask, “Who am I?” this thought in the form of a question will cut off other thoughts.

After ending all other thoughts this last thought of ‘Who am I?’ will also end. Then Self-realisation takes place. This will break the concept of form, the concept of body.

You are boundless and boundary-less. Those who meditate generally do so by uttering a word, visualising an image, or repeating a mantra.

But, these repetitions are not effective enough to enhance your awareness about yourself. You cannot be in a hazy state when you ask the question “Who am I”?

This question pierces you like a sharp instrument and drives you to your centre. With persistence you will gradually start recognising the deep silence, a stillness, which is your true self.

Later the question itself becomes the answer. However advanced a meditator is, thoughts continue to crowd the mind. We need a potent thought to annihilate these thoughts; a thought that will annihilate all thought.

You require steel to cut steel. An antidote for poison is another poison. In the same way, let one thought annihilate all other thoughts. Why does the mind fall off on self-enquiry?

Let us say that the mind is asking a question: “What will happen when I die?” At that moment, if you ask: “Who is it that will die?” then the mind is forced to go within.

You find out for the first time that there is nothing that can be called as the mind. Mind is just a bundle of thoughts. When thoughts sink into absolute silence then the death of the mind happens.

How to do Self Enquiry

Q&A with Sirshree 

First ask - "Who I am not?"

Seeker: How does one begin Self Enquiry?

Sirshree: For the right start, first understand a little more about the body. Then about the mind, intellect and the Real Self (Sakshi). Understanding this will help.

Seeker: Should I directly begin by asking “Who am I?”

Sirshree: No. First ask – “Who I am not?”. I am not this body because the moment I say that this is my body, then it is something external. Not me. I am not “my car”. “My house” possibly cannot be me. I say : “Please come to my house”, and not “Please come in to me”.

• Name given to this body is not me.
•  The five elements of this gross body – earth, fire, water, wind and space is not me.
• The astral body within the body is not me.
• The five senses of the body -eyes, ears , nose, tongue, and skin is not me.
• I am not those things that are related to the senses sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
• I am also not the breath due to which this body-mind mechanism functions.
• Neither I am the mind that thinks about what I should be.
• Nor am I the intellect that is absent along with the body during deep sleep.

Seeker: If I am not all these, then who am I?

Sirshree: You are the only one who remains. It was you who were using the five layers of the body. It was you who were the master of the intellect. Now it is you who is the witnessing of the mind.

You are beyond every label

• Now, if you no longer are the body and intellect, how can you be an engineer or a doctor or a leader or a student?
• How can you be a brother or a sister, a father, a mother, a friend, a husband, a wife, a disciple or a Guru?
• How can you be American, Indian, British, Chinese, etc.?
• How can you be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew?
• How can you be cheerful, intelligent, foolish, positive, active, honest, pious, lazy? Now it is just you who remains – pure, non-state , without any imagination of name or form. Accept your true form as it is. And remain that. You have become something that you aren’t. Now is the time to be established in your consciousness. To be who you really are – the bright witnessing.

Also read:

1. Who am I
2. Self Enquiry with Honesty
3. Thoughts and Self Enquiry
4. Tejam: Bright Witnessing