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Aptavani-8
279
Questioner: It would, that is my livelihood there.
Dadashri: Now where did the zero (shunya) go then? Nevertheless, it is a good thing that you can stay calm in this way; it is not a bad thing. But all that, cannot be the path of shunya. For shunya, you have to attain the Atma; you have to know the Atma. After you know the Atma; then comes the state of shunya. The Atma Is Way Beyond the Observer of
Thoughts Questioner: Then what is the best way to experience the Atma?
Dadashri: Do you have any other means (sadhan) to do that? You are trying to become the object to be attained (sadhya), but is there another way (sadhan) according to you?
Questioner: We do atma observing (atma-nirikshan) for half an hour.
Dadashri: Are you doing the observing, after you have known the Atma, or are you doing it without knowing it first?
Questioner: After we have known the Atma, then what else is left?
Dadashri: Then whose observation of the Atma are you doing?
Questioner: Of whatever thoughts that arise.
Dadashri: Goodness, of thoughts! Thoughts arise from the mind, and the mind itself is non-living (jada). It is “completely physical”. So it is the mind's thoughts that you are studying. That, which is doing the study, is egoism. And beyond egoism, lies the Atma.
The Tangled State of Experience
Questioner: I am relating my experience of the Atma; that the joy I feel inside, is like gushing water fountains.
