Question: What are the different stages or levels of the mind that one
passes through before realising the Self?
Sri Lakshmana Swami:
Mind is only thoughts. The more easily you can be without thoughts, the
nearer you are to a direct experience of the Self. To make the mind die
you must deprive it of thoughts. The effortless thought-free state is
the highest level of practice.
There are no states or degrees of realization, there are only stages of
spiritual practice. The final stage of sadhana is this effortless
thought-free state. If this state can be maintained, then the "I" will
sink into the Self and it will experience the bliss of the Self. These
experiences are only temporary; the "I" will continue to reassert itself
until the moment of realization. Realization can only happen in this
effortless thought-free state, for it is only in this state that the
Self can destroy the "I"-thought. The "I"-thought, which is the mind,
must die completely before Self-Realization occurs.
Question: How is one to make the mind die?
Sri Lakshmana Swami:
The mind can never eliminate itself without the grace of the Self. The
mind is afraid of its own death; it will not do anything to endanger its
own existence. It is like the theif who poses as a policement in order
to catch himself because he ultimately wants to escape. SImilarly with
the mind. The mind will engage in sadhana, thinking it wants to destroy
itself, but as soon as the mind starts to sink into the Heart, a great
fear arises which prevents the mind from completely subsiding. This fear
is part of the mind's self-defence mechanism, and you will never
overcome it by effort alone. It is because of this that you need the
grace of the Guru. When you concentrate on the name and form of the
Guru, or try to be without thoughts, the grace of the Guru calms the
mind and helps it to overcome the fear which would otherwise prevent it
from completely subsiding.
Question: Why is it necessary for the mind to die?
Sri Lakshmana Swami:
The mind must die, there is no other way to realize the Self. Some
people say that complete equanimity of mind is Self-Realization, but
this is not true. This is only a stage one passes through on the way to
Self-Realizaiton. Other people say that seeing the Self or God
everywhere is Self-Realization, but this is not true either. To see the
Self everywhere there must be an "I" who sees, and while that "I" exists
the mind will also exist.
The jnani does not see anything because the seeing entity in him has
died. In the Self, there is no seeing, only being. When the mind still
exists one can reach a stage where one can see the whole world as a
manifestation of the Self, but when the mind dies, there is no one who
sees and no world to be seen.
If you have a mind then the earth, the sky, and the stars will exist,
and you will be able to see them. When the mind dies there will be no
earth, no sky, no stars, and no world. The world of objects, names, and
forms is only the mind, and when the mind dies, the world dies with it.
Only the Self then remains.
Seeing everything as the Self gives the impression that the Self is
equally distributed everywhere.
This is also an idea in the mind.
When the mind finally dies you realize that there is no distribution and
no everywhere.
(/And not even a you to realize such)
/
