Change and the changeless

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Govind Rengarajan wrote:

> On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:
>
> > The SELF pervades all, here, there, everywhere, you, me and everyone.
> > SELF is the rock, the animal, the plant, the human. SELF does not
> > speak. SELF does not act. But it is the SELF that powers you to speak.
>
>         If I may ask, how do you know this? Through scriptures
>         or ... ? Hypothetically speaking, if it were possible
>         for you to completely erase everything you have learned
>         so far from your memory - everything from giitaa to
>         upanishads, statements of sages, etc., will you still
>         be able to make the above statement?
>

I am most surprised at this question. I think the question raised is the
most hypothetical I have ever heard and I cannot see how it can be
answered. We are what we are based on what we were. One cannot erase
everything or anything. To try to figure out what the intellectual self
would be if and if something had happened or not happened is the most
futile exercise.

If my understanding of the SELF is wrong, I would like Shri Rengarajan
to explain to me what his understanding of the SELF is. Does he think,
contrary to what I said, that SELF is confined only to a small space,
only to one individual or to one particular species ? What is his concept
of the SELF, if it is different from what I have given ?

Shri Rengarajan further asks how do I know what the SELF is ?

My answer to the question is: I recognize that the human intellect
cannot comprehend the SELF. But, whatever concepts I have of the
SELF are by sAdhana, by contemplation of the SELF continuously, by
meditation on the SELF and above all by Shri Lalitha's grace.


> > What is spoken is the intellectual self's understanding of the SELF.
> >
>         Can the intellect truly understand/comprehend the Self?
>

No, that is why it is put as the intellectual self's understanding of
the SELF. If only the intellectual self can understand and comprehend
the SELF .....


>         namO nArAyanA,
>         govindarajan
>

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Yadaa sarve pramucyante kaamaa ye'sya hr^di shritaah
atha martyo'mr^to bhavatyatra brahma samashnute   Katha Upanishhad II.3.14

When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal
becomes immortal, and attains Brahman even here.
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