Soham: I Am

Sadhu Om: "To dwell upon ‘I am’ in whatever way is possible is good contemplation (manana). It is the practice that will root out all interest in other things (second and third persons) and make self-abidance easy.

"Good and bad are based on the limiting concept ‘I am the body’. The experience of the jnani is simply ‘I am’. Though it may seem that the jnani sees differences, he never actually experiences any distinctions such as good or bad. He is ever contented with the knowledge ‘I am’. ‘lam’ is both the way and the goal (as Bhagavan teaches us in verse 579 of Guru Vachaka Kovai).

"Bhagavan [Ramana Maharshi] is the greatest siddha. He knows well what work need be done on us and how to do it. Though we do not know it, he is doing his work all the time.

"Erratic behaviour only occurs if a disciple has a profound change of outlook while still retaining some individuality. Bhagavan will always bring about the required change of outlook (the experience of true self-knowledge) together with the loss of individuality, so no outward changes will be seen in those whom he liberates, and no ‘I’ will rise in them to say ‘I have had this change of outlook’, nor will he say anything (that is, he will not say that they have been liberated).

"He used to give the example of a hard-shelled fruit which an elephant swallows whole and excretes unbroken, but when the shell is broken open the contents are found to have been digested. Likewise, when Bhagavan consumes anyone’s ego, they will outwardly appear unchanged. No one can say how many egos Bhagavan has thus consumed‘.

"In one of his verses Muruganar sang to Bhagavan, ‘You have given me sahaja [my natural state] without letting me experience nirvikalpa sama'dhi, close my eyes, or do any sa'dhana’. Such is Bhagavan’s guruship, but if he were asked how he does it, he would say, ‘I don’t know; I just know that I am’.

"There is only a thin line between jnana [knowledge] and ajnana [ignorance or lack of knowledge]. At the right time, a shock may enable one to cross the line and have that small change of outlook.

"'I am’ is neither inside nor outside. Dwell on the fact that ‘lam’ is devoid of limitations. Dwell on the feeling of being. That is self, and it alone exists.

"The karma theory is riddled with loopholes, ambiguities and dubious assumptions. Firstly it presupposes that the ever non-existent ego exists as a doer, and on top of this false assumption it piles up one false assumption over another: the existence of God, a"ga'mya, San‘ciza, pra’rabdha [types of karma], their functions and so on. Do not merely doubt the theory; doubt whether you exist as a doer."

(Recorded by Michael James on 5th December 1977, and appearing in an unpublished work called The Paramount Importance of Self Attention)