[Part Six]

 

 

Now as to your question - 'self' and what it is? The inner man sitting in you, the unseen power or the spirit that supplies the motor-power to all the senses and the sense-organs of perception and locomotion activating all for the benefit of the real I you I in you, the 'indweller' in the body as apart from the body, is the I self. I When once you realize that 'self' by a regular process of self-analysis, then alone you will see that very 'self' of yours reflected in others around you. Your first and foremost duty therefore is to know and realize the essential 'self' as distinct from  its trappings. With this first-hand realization alone, you will be in a position to render any real and useful service to your fellow-beings, in the strict sense of the term. You will know more and more of the exact and intrinsic nature of 'service'  in proportion to the degree you are able to extricate  your 'self' first from the body and the bodily adjuncts and then from the astral and the causal raiments and stand apart as a Pure Spirit embracing the totality of existence itself. All these matters besides many another will then stand revealed of themselves and by themselves. The reasoning is of help to just a little extent in understanding the theory side only; but if it is carried on beyond proper bounds, it becomes a bar to further progress, as mind and intellect have both to be transcended for revelation of this 'self.' You should therefore, for the present, try to be content with the practices assigned to you, with loving devotion, leaving everything else to the care of the Master-power  that will do for you all you desire, in a way unpredictable by the human understanding.   

 

The highest service and devotion one can offer to the  Master is to live a life full of sublime dedication and piety, and remain attuned with holy Naam by regular, faithful and accurate meditations. Love is the panacea for all ills of life -- physical, moral and intellectual. The divine love of the Master surpasses all disciplines and austerities undertaken at the intellectual level. It is a rare subject concerning more with the heart than head. Loving devotion and dedication to the Master is the  stepping stone to progress on the spiritual way. When you step over the intellect by complete mergence of your will with His Divine Will, you taste the real elixir of life.