Self-Realisation

Divine Life Society Publication: Self-Realisation, Its Meaning and Method by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Self-Realisation is not an easy thing to achieve, because the notion of the Self is a barrier and a handicap. What do you mean by the Self when you speak of Self-Realisation? Where is this Self situated? “It is within me.” This is a usual glib answer available for any person.

“I seek to know my own Self.” And why do I seek to know my own Self? Because I want to live in peace. What do you mean by peace? No answer can be given. Here, again, we are in a state of confusion.

Why do you want Self-Realisation? To know my own Self. Why do you want to know your own Self? To be in a state of balance in my mind and outlook. What for is this effort? To be peaceful. What is peace? That cannot be answered. We do not know what this peace means, about which people talk so much and which is the theme of the various rostrums in the parliaments of cultural discussion the world over, which are taking place from Peru to China!

But, what is this Self? While you may say, ‘it is within me,’ and this may appear to satisfy the person who has put this question, you will be sure that it does not satisfy even your own selves. There is no use merely saying ‘the Self is within me and that is my God.’ We have a curious notion of Self and God, indeed. It is within you!

When you say, ‘the Self is within me,’ what do you mean by this ‘me’? What is this ‘me’ or the ‘I’? Again, the same question arises. Here, again, we are bodily shackled. We are men and women, we are human, and we cannot be anything else. So this ‘within’ in which the Self seems to be situated is the ‘within’ ‘this body.’

You have confined the notion of yourself to your bodily existence finally, though your intention is to break through the barriers of bodily consciousness in search for the Self. The thief has subtly entered through the back door, while you are keeping police and army at the front door to prevent an entry of the dacoits. They have come through the back door and they have done their work, because the Self which is supposed to be the means to break through the barriers of bodily consciousness has confined itself to the body only, again, for, when the Self is within, it cannot be but within the body. If it is not within the body, within what is it, when you say that it is within? Here is a difficulty before you. Many of the books will not answer this pose. If God is not within, where else is God? And if you say that He is within, within what? Within the body? You are caught again by the very answer that you are giving, which is supposed to be the solution to your problems.

Where is this Atman? What is Self-Realisation? How would I conceive It? And, finally, what for is this Self-Realisation?

We need not be carried away by the complacence common to people that everything is clear to our minds. We will find that while everything seems to be clear now, when we proceed further and further, we will find it gets blurred more and more, until we see an iron hill in front of us, a mountain, a dark curtain which we will not be able to pierce, because the egoism of the individual is already there, which told that everything is clear. Humility is the hallmark of the spiritual seeker, and the guidance of a master is essential.

Excerpts from: Self-Realisation - Self-Realisation, Its Meaning and Method by Sri Swami Krishnananda