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.