"I" - the mind or the Self???

[Govind Rengarajan]

On Wed, 8 Oct 1997, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

> If we keep on saying that we are ignorant, this life will be over in that
> same stage. The boundary between being a realized person and one being
> ignorant is very thin.

        This is perhaps true as far as the realized person is
        concerned! At the lowkika level some of us live in (in
        ignorance no doubt!), the boundary seems far from thin.

>There is no discontinuous jump from one to the
> other. Then, is there any advantage in repeating to ourselves ad infinitum
> that we are in bondage of our miseries. On the contrary, I would argue
> that we should repeat ad infinitum that we are ever free and that we are
> paramatma.
>
        Of all the dangerous things, the ego assuming the role of
        paramAtmA is the most dangerous. If we *need* to repeat
        ad infinitum "we are paramatma", then the "we" is
        being identified with body/mind/ego, and this situation
        is dangerous. However, seeking the source of "we" or "i"
        is quite different.

        I would simply learn  (with a lot of patience, thought, and
        training) to see paramAtmA everywhere. Then this, as Sri
        Ramana Maharshi points out, will lead one naturally to see
        God in oneself, or God as oneself, or one as a part of God
        (he says why bother about the end result?). It reminds me of
        a short story about a porter and a pandit that Giri once
        posted (must be in the archives).

        govind rengarajan