I was asked to comment on the following (We will refer to the person being quoted as ‘George’ to protect his confidentiality):
In order really to observe oneself one must first of all remember oneself” (He again emphasized these words.) “Try to remember yourselves when you observe yourselves and later on tell me the results. Only those results will have any value that are accompanied by self-remembering. Otherwise you yourselves do not exist in your observations. In which case what are all your observations worth?”
These words of George’s made me think a great deal. It seemed to me at once that they were the key to what he had said before about consciousness. But I decided to draw no conclusions whatever, but to try to remember myself while observing myself.
The very first attempts showed me how difficult it was. Attempts at self-remembering failed to give any results except to show me that in actual fact we never remember ourselves.
“What else do you want?” said George. “This is a very important realization. People who know this” (he emphasized these words) “already know a great deal. The whole trouble is that nobody knows it. If you ask a man whether he can remember himself, he will of course answer that he can. If you tell him that he cannot remember himself, he will either be angry with you, or he will think you an utter fool. The whole of life is based on this, the whole of human existence, the whole of human blindness. If a man really knows that he cannot remember himself, he is already near to the understanding of his being.”
All that George said, all that I myself thought, and especially all that my attempts at self-remembering had shown me, very soon convinced me that I was faced with an entirely new problem which science and philosophy had not, so far, come across.
This is from George can you give a honest opinion for this text. After that i tell why i send you this. I do not follow his teaching and not attend to but i ask for a reason.
`If a man really knows he can remember himself he already knows he is near to the understanding of his being`.
Please comment on this.
To which I respond:
A difficulty with such quotes is that the essential point is not addressed. It is the understanding of that essential point that is critical and makes all the difference. In the very first sentence, George refers to “remember oneself.” How he means that is entirely unclear. But, in the second sentence, he says, “try to remember yourselves.” That is a big problem. It is not a matter of trying, any more than a brown-eyed person can try to have blue eyes. Remembering one’s Self is a state of consciousness that is not cultivated through trying. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Remembering one’s Self is the result of a natural, effortless evolution, like the blossoming of a bud into a rose. The strongest catalyst is proper meditation. Unfortunately, most meditations are not proper. That is to say they are not natural. That is to say they involve some trying.
Also in the first sentence, he uses the phrase “observe oneself.” Again, just as in remembering oneself, what he means by observe one’s self is critical, but not addressed. To observe one’s self really means to awaken to the Self, i.e., the Transcendental Self. The Transcendental Self then naturally observes the small self. I blog and lecture on this a great deal. It is a very commonly, in fact even generally, misunderstood knowledge. I mean no disrespect, but was asked to comment honestly and have now done so.
Please see: Proper Meditation
Please see: Some Questions and Answers
Please see: What is Enlightenment?
This reminds me of when I was first studying with you. I tried to go deeper in my meditation, tried to not be identified, and tried to evolve. I finally realized that the trying was holding me back.
Thanks for the replay, why i asked is this.
1 morning i was trying to remember myself how i was at 13 or 15,and my conclusion was that it cannot be done!
Absolutely not!
It was no spiritual attend or some teaching i did it by myself why i did i wanted to remember how i was.
And in the same day i saw this article on the internet, the mans teaching had a lot to do with self remembering i geuss
It was just a very coincidence i came on his page, in those days i read alot about spirituality now i keep it mostly at your blogs
So when i read this in that same day
“If a man really knows that he cannot remember himself, he is already near to the understanding of his being.”
You can understand i was absolutely perplexed!
Is that just a coincidence??
I was happy about it actually 😛
Maharishi, I love your response! Barbara’s comment is also great I think. And the whole topic is more relevant than ever with this increasing talk about “mindfulness” that is to be found everywhere these days.
I’m not saying that there may not be any benefits to mindfulness, but for the most part it’s an out-in approach. The line between obtaining its benefits versus the risk of just re-programming the mind with yet another imposed paradigm is very fine in my opinion. I can see how it can help as Band-Aid therapy and possibly facilitate personal process if attempted responsibly, but I don’t see a whole lot of discernment out there.
I was at a loss for understanding the original sentence. I can remember myself at 13 or 15 or. Maharishi’s response allowed me to understand the “question”. Both, Barbara and Marion’s response were great. My first approach was the out-in and efforting method.
Thank you for letting my understand from another angle.
The disadvantage of quotes, like this, is that they keep people stuck in their heads trying to figure out the answers. A far more advantageous option would be to learn the Surya Meditation and find out the answers to questions you, yourself, wonder about and live your life from a depth that these answers unfold in a natural effortless sequence.
As many people have stated before – Thank you, Maharshi, for your guidance and understanding of the many and complicated loops men get caught up in. We so appreciate your effort at teaching the depth of the Veda.
These are all excellent comments. I especially like Betty’s first sentence. It says it all in a nutshell.
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Betty’s comment and all the others are excellent. The spiritual arena is mostly gobbledegook.
I think my comment is not fully understood, and ofcourse its best to do surya meditation, better yet is to visit Micheal.
It was a experience long time ago, what i think was remarkable, maybe my explanation was not so good.
Ohh well thanks for the comments anyway.
Dear Somebody,
I believe you are correct. I do not fully understand your comment. However, I do feel your kind heart and appreciate that and your comment very much.
I am gonna give it 1 more try.
I didn’t knew nothing about “george”.( for the record he is not alive anymore he died many years ago)
I was trying to remember myself how i was mentally at 14 , 15 years old i just was curious, but i couldn’t do it my conclusion was that people couldn’t remember himself fully, just vaguely.
And the same day i was on google reading just because i like it, than by accident i found “George”.
I was reading a bit about him than i found this saying from George.
“If a man really knows that he cannot remember himself, he is already near to the understanding of his being.”
Note i didn’t knew nothing about George until then, so for me it was incredible because i made that conclusion the same day but i didn’t thought nothing about until i saw this saying.
Its was like the divine was saying to me go for it( spiritual path).
I hope you understand now, and i hope you can understand that from my point it was very remarkable.
I wanted to share it with you.
And thank you for your kind words Michealji
When I first joined the ashram, like Barbara, I tried to go deeper, not to have so many thoughts, to focus on the mantra in my meditation… I tied to not to get upset… I tried this and that… Frustrated, I gave it all up. It was useless! Slowly, I began to feel what effortless meant. Intentionally trying is actually doing a disservice! Thank you Maharshi for tirelessly explaining it again and again. You don’t DO… You ALLOW…