What remains over, transcending it all, beyond conception, appropriation, or relinquishment — know That to be the Self. That knowledge is final emancipation.

What notions cause hurdle ?

As long as you are contaminated with notions of me or mine (e.g., my home, my body, my mind, my intellect), the Self will not be found, for it lies beyond cognition and cannot be realised as ‘my Self ’.

Should I say, I am God ? along with the inquiry "Who am I ?" Should I not say, "I am not the mind, intellect, body, etc.?"

You should not give anwers to the mind in the course of your inquiry. The reply should be allowed to come from within. The reply of the individual "I" is not real. Continue to inquire until you get the answer by the method of jnana [the path of knowledge]. This inquiry is called meditation. The inactive, peaceful, full-of-knowledge experience that arises from this state is jnana (Wisdom,knowledge).

Who am I? To whom does the question refer ?

The question refers to the Individual 'I'.

Do you mean the Atman is God ?

You see the difficulty. The Inquiry 'to know the self' is different in method from the meditation 'Soham', "Lord Shiva I am" or "He I am". I rather lay stress upon self-knowledge, for you are first concerned with yourself before you proceed to know the world and its lord.

I don't know, but they say that to withdraw from all sense-activity, thoughts, all life-experiences, i.e. to cease to be active, is the highest state.

If so, what is the difference between this state and deep sleep ? Besides, if it is a state, however exalted it be, that appears and disappears and is, therefore, not natural and normal to the self, how can that represent the eternal presence of the supreme self, which persists in all states and indeed survives them ? It is true that there is such a state.

Can a man move about, act and speak as one who has attained the Siddhi, as is now described ?

Why not ? Do you mean to say that realization of self means to be like a stone or to become nothing ?

What is practice ?

To stick to a position unassailed by thoughts is practice, you are watchful. But the condition grows intense and deeper and deeper when your effort and all responsibilities are taken away from you; that is Siddhi State.

Then it is possible to be without effort, without strain ?

Not only that, it is impossible for you to make an effort beyond a certain extent.

Question:I want to be further enlightened. Should I try to make no effort at all ?

Answer: Here it is impossible for you to be without effort. When you go deeper, it is impossible for you to make any effort.

Question: The I can despense with outside help and by my own effort get into the deeper truth by myself ?

Answer: True. But the very fact that you are possessed of the quest of the self is a manifestation of the Divine grace. It is effulgent in the heart, the inner being, the Real Self. It draws you from within. You have to attempt to get in from without. You attempt is Vichara (Inquiry).

Question: Then Vichara (Inquiry) is not intellectual ?

Answer: No, it is inner quest.

Is rejection of thoughts not necessary ?

No. It may be necessary for a time or for some. You fancy that there is no end if one goes on rejecting every thought when it arises. No. There is no end. If you are vigilant, and make a sustained effort to reject every thought when it rises, you will soon find that you are going deeper and deeper into your own inner self, where there is no need for your effort to reject the thoughts.

If I go on rejecting thoughts can I call it Vichara (Enquiry) ?

It may be a stepping stone. But really Vichara (Inquiry) begins when you cling to your self and are already off the mental movement, the thought-waves.

In Self-enquiry to whom is the question 'Who am I' addressed ?

To whatever you are; to you is given the way for finding out your true identity. The ego-self, when it feels the necessity to know its own origin or impelled to rise above itself, takes the suggestion and goes deeper and there discovers the true source and reality of itself. So the ego-self beginning to know itself ends in perceiving the Self.

What is the way to get rid of other thougths ?

They can only be removed through the powerful effect of the enquiry, 'To whom have these thoughts come?"

Whe I do like this and cling to my self, i.e., the I-thought, other thoughts do come and go, but I say to myself 'Who am I?' and there is no answer

Quesiton continued: forthcoming. To be in this condition is the sadhana, Is it so ?

This is a mistake that people often make. What happens when you make a serious quest of the Self is that the I-thought as a thought disappears, something else from the depths takes hold of you and this is not the 'I' which commenced the quest.

Question: What is the something else ?

Answer: That is the real self, the import of I. It is not the ego. It is the supreme being itself.

You say one can realize the self by a search of it. What is the character of this search ?

You are the mind or think that you are the mind. The mind is nothing but thoughts. Now behind every particular thought there is a general thought which is the "I" thought, that is your self. Let us call this "I" the first thought. Stick to this I-thought and question it to find out what it is. When this question takes strong hold on you, you cannot think of other thoughts.