From ~~~ Maharshi's Gospel, pp.51-52
D:
Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered the direct means to jnana?
M:
Because every kind of sadhana except that of atma vichara presupposes the retention of the mind as the instrument for carrying on the sadhana, and without the mind it cannot be practised. The ego may take different and subtler forms at the different stages of one’s practice, but is itself never destroyed. When Janaka exclaimed, “Now I have discovered the thief who has been ruining me all along. He shall be dealt with summarily”, the King was really referring to the ego or the mind.
D:
But the thief may well be apprehended by the other sadhanas as well.
M:
The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind through sadhanas other than atma vichara, is just like the thief assuming the guise of a policeman to catch the thief, that is himself. Atma vichara alone can reveal the truth that neither the ego nor the mind really exists, and enables one to realise the pure, undifferentiated being of the Self or the absolute. Having realised the Self, nothing remains to be known, because it is perfect bliss, it is the all.
D:
In this life beset with limitations can I ever realize the bliss of the Self?
M:
That bliss of the Self is always with you, and you will find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly.
The cause of your misery is not in the life without; it is in you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them. All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes all your trouble. What does it avail you to attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery which is really within you? What happiness can you get from things extraneous to yourself? When you get it, how long will it last?
If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it, you would be free. If you accept it, it will impose limitations on you and throw you into a vain struggle to transcend them. That was how the thief sought to ‘ruin’ King Janaka.
To be the Self that you really are is the only means to realize the bliss that is ever yours.
~~~~~~~
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