Never mind neti neti

CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Bhagavan once told a story about a man who wanted to bury his own shadow in a deep pit. He dug the pit and stood in such a position that his shadow was on the bottom of it. The man then tried to bury it by covering it with earth. Each time he threw some soil in the hole the shadow appeared on top of it. Of course, he never succeeded in burying the shadow.

Many people behave like this when they meditate. They take the mind to be real, try to fight it and kill it, and always fail. These fights against the mind are all mental activities which strengthen the mind instead of weakening it.

If you want to get rid of the mind, all you have to do is understand that it is 'not me’. Cultivate the awareness 'I am the immanent consciousness’.

When that understanding becomes firm, the non-existent mind will not trouble you.

- LWB, p. 266

Self is beloved by all

D.: How will the sexual impulse cease to be?

M.: When differentiation ceases.

D.: How can it be effected?

M.: The other sex and its relation are only mental concepts. The Upanishad says that all are dear because the Self is beloved of all. One’s happiness is within; the love is of the Self only. It is only within; do not think it to be without: then differentiation ceases to operate.

('Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi', Talk 335)