We do wonder at one time or other whether our body, our house, our relatives and our world are real or unreal. They are absolutely unreal like a dream. When we look back at the happenings of past of our life, we really wonder whether they were real or incidents occurring in a dream and then they vanish for ever. Everything including our body changes but there is something in us and in the universe which does not undergo any change. We are to discover that within all of us which is everlasting. That is the journey in Self-Discovery. That journey is the Inner Joy – ever peaceful and ever peaceful.

Divinity dwells within all of us but is hidden under the layers of mind. Inner realm exists beyond mind. Self-Discovery is dethroning in the mind and awakening of one’s True Self into its rightful state of mastership. The Self within is your real nature. The adjunct of mind is His first subtle covering and the body is His second gross covering.

The indivisible, changeless Self, effulgent Self is being hidden under these veils. Therefore our real nature is not known to us. We have to make a journey in Self-Discovery. The direction of mind which always runs after the senses has to be turned within which is just like killing it because it is used to go outside in the world. The more we try to bring the mind within, the more aggressive it becomes.

We are to go beyond mind to discover ourselves. No strenuous efforts or long penances are required for that. The spontaneous way to get our mastership over mind is Meditation where you watch and watch the mind and become a witness. We do not interfere with the intricacies and activities of mind. We make no effort to control it and let it go where it goes. We just watch it wakefully and persistently. Thus mind starts losing its mastership and we realize our true nature.

By meditation, we discover ourselves and connect the little joy of soul with the vast joy of spirit. We should remember that the longer we practice meditation with intensity, the nearer we will be to joyous contact with the silent Self – our true Self. Intensity consists in making every today’s meditation deeper than yesterday’s and every tomorrow’s meditation deeper than today’s.

The most destructive Shaft of maya – delusion is unwillingness to meditate and obstructing the journey in Self-Discovery, for by this attitude we prevent ourselves from tuning with Self. We must not say, “tomorrow I will meditate longer.”

We will suddenly find that a year has passed without fulfillment of our good intensions. Instead we should say; “this can wait and that can wait but search for my own self can’t wait.” No matter what happens to our body, we must meditate. If we don’t discover ourselves, we must remember that we are not making enough effort in meditation. Should we not find the pearl after one or two diving, we must not blame the ocean. We must blame our diving. We are not going deep enough. If we dive really deep, we will find the pearl of His presence.

A god and a demon went to a Sage to learn about the Self. The sage said, “thou art that”. The demon took the Self to be his body. “Eat, drink and be merry.” The demon was ignorant by nature, so he never inquired any further but was perfectly contended with the idea that he was Self and that by the Self he meant body.

The god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking. “I, this body, is Self, so let me keep it strong and healthy and well dressed.” But soon he found out that this body that could not be the meaning of Sage. So he came back and said, “Sir, did you teach me that this body was Self? If so, the bodies die; the Self cannot. The Sage said, “Find it out yourself -Thou art that”.

Then the god thought that vital forces which work in the body were what the Sage meant. They also change – become strong or weak. Then the god thought that it was the mind that was Self. Every time the Sage said “No, Thou art That. Find out for yourself. The god at last found through Meditation that he was the Self, beyond all thought, one, without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce, or fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or water melt, the beginningless and endless, the omniscient and omnipotent Being, that it was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied but the poor demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for body.

So that is Self-Discovery that “I am neither the body nor intellect nor mind.” The journey in that Self-Discovery is an Inner Journey through MEDITATION which takes us beyond mind.