Part 3

First of all, establish a constant contact with your self, 
be with yourself all the time. 

Into self-awareness all blessings flow. 

Begin as a centre of observation, deliberate cognizance, 
and grow into a centre of love in action. 

'I am' is a tiny seed which will grow into a mighty tree -- 
quite naturally, without a trace of effort. 

Establish yourself firmly in the awareness of 'I am'. 

This is the beginning and also the end of all endeavour. 

Hold onto the sense of 'I am' to the exclusion of everything else. 

When thus the mind becomes completely silent, 

it shines with a new light and vibrates with new knowledge. 

It all comes spontaneously, you need only hold on to the 'I am'. 

Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. 

The mind will rebel in the beginning, 
but with patience and perseverance it will yield and keep quiet. 

Once you are quiet, 
things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally, 
without any interference on your part. 

Just keep in mind the feeling 'I am', 
merge in it till your mind and feeling become one. 

By repeated attempts 
you will stumble on the right balance of attention and affection 
and your mind will be firmly established in the thought-feeling 'I am'. 

Whatever you think, say, or do, 
this sense of immutable and affectionate being 
remains as the ever-present background of the mind. 

To know what you are 
you must first investigate and know what you are not. 
And to know what you are not 
you must watch yourself carefully, 
rejecting all that does not necessarily go with the basic fact: 'I am'. 

Separate consistently and perseveringly 
the 'I am' from 'this' or 'that', 
and try to feel what it means to be, 
just to be, 
without being 'this' or 'that'. 

Give up all questions except one: 'Who am I'? 
After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. 
The 'I am' is certain. 
The 'I am this' is not. 
Struggle to find out what you are in reality. 

Cling to one thing that matters, 
hold on to 'I am' and let go all else. 
This is sadhana. 

cling to one thing that matters

In realization there is nothing to hold on to and nothing to forget. 
Everything is known, nothing is remembered.
Just remember yourself. 
'I am' is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond. 
Just have some trust. 

Stop searching, and see -- it is here and now -- 
it is that 'I am' you know so well. 

You cannot meaningfully say 'this is what I am'. It just makes no sense.

'I am' is first-hand and needs no proofs. Stay with it.

Be content with what you are sure of. 
And the only thing you can be sure of is 'I am'. 
Stay with it, and reject everything else. This is Yoga. 

Go back to that state of pure being, 
where the 'I am' is still in its purity 
before it got contaminated with 'this I am' or 'that I am'. 

Your burden is of false self-identifications -- abandon them all. 

Don't you see that it is your very search for happiness 
that makes you miserable? 

Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, 

neither asking nor refusing, 

give all your attention to the level on which 'I am' is timelessly present. 

Soon you will realize that peace and happiness 
are in your very nature and it is only seeking them 
through some particular channels that disturbs. 

Give your heart and mind to brooding over the 'I am', 
what is it, how is it, what is its source, its life, its meaning. 
It is very much like digging a well. 
You reject all that is not water till you reach the life-giving spring.
The 'I am' that pursues the pleasant and shuns the unpleasant is false; 
the 'I am' that sees pleasure and pain as inseparable sees rightly. 

Those who practise the sadhana of focussing their minds on 'I am' 
may feel related to others who have followed the same sadhana and succeeded.


You need not worry about your worries. 
Just be. 
Do not try to be quiet; 
do not make 'being quiet' into a task to be performed. 
Don't be restless about 'being quiet', miserable about 'being happy'. 
Just be aware that you are and remain aware.
Don't say: 'yes, I am; what next?' 
There is no 'next' in 'I am'. 
It is a timeless state.