Look at Your Own Self

Nobody ever told me, ‘Look at your “I”. Look at the source of your thought.’

If you look for spiritual advice in this country, somebody will tell you, ‘Go to the Hanuman temple and tell him what you want. If you make him a nice offering, he may fulfil your desire.’

This is how people think they have to deal with God. Nobody ever speaks about the ‘I’. In this century it was the Maharshi alone who proclaimed this message. He said, ‘Look at your own Self and have the direct experience of who you really are’. That is why so many people went to see him.

Other teachers were saying, ‘Shun your household life. Become a yogi. Go to the Himalayas. Change the colour of your clothes, sit in a cave and perform arduous tapas for a few years’.

Maharshi, on the other hand, said, ‘Carry on with your usual occupation because giving it up and going to a cave will not help you. If you want to accomplish something spiritual, ask yourself “Who am I?” Find out who you are by finding out where this ‘I’ you think you are comes from.’