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CONSIDERATION NUMBER ONE
I just want to be happy !

All living beings want to be happy and without misery, and everyone has the greatest love only for themselves.

This happiness is one's own true nature that is experienced daily in dreamless sleep - a common condition that is devoid of the mind.

Knowing one's own real self [atma] is necessary, and the examination of consciousness itself is required in order to realize "Who am I?"

This is the principal method of attaining happiness.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER TWO
I am not my body ! I am not my mind !

Who am I? The physical body, composed of the seven constituents, namely lymph, blood, flesh, fat, marrow, bone and semen, is not "I".

The five sense organs, namely the ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose, which perceive the five types of sense, namely sound, touch, sight, taste and smell, are also not "I".

The five organs of action, namely the vocal cords, feet, hands, anus and genitals, which perform the five actions, namely speaking, walking, holding, defecation and sexual enjoyment, are also not "I".

The five metabolic forces, beginning with prana [breath], which perform the five metabolic functions, are also not "I".

The mind, which thinks, is also not "I".

The absence of all dualistic knowledge that is combined with inclinations, impulsions, desires, likings, aversions or sense enjoyments, when all sense perceptions and all actions have been severed [as in sleep], is also not "I".

Having performed negation, elimination or denial of whatever is not our self by thinking that all the above things are not "I", the knowledge that then stands alone is "I".

The nature of this knowledge ["I am"] is sat-chit-ananda [being-consciousness-bliss].

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER THREE
Stop the world !

If our mind, which is the cause of all dualistic, relative or objective knowledge and of all activity, becomes still, our perception of the world will cease.

True perception of our own essential nature or real self [atma], which is the basis that underlies and supports the appearance of the world, will not arise unless our perception of the world, which is an imagination or fabrication, ceases.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER FOUR
I think - Therefore I am !

That which is called "mind" is an extraordinary or wonderful power that exists in our essential self. It projects or causes all thoughts to appear. After removing all our thoughts, we see what remains, and we discover that there is no such thing as "mind."

Therefore, thought alone is the basic nature of our mind. Having removed all our thoughts, we will discover that there is no such thing as a "'world" existing separately or independently other than in our thoughts.

In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and consequently there is also no "world." In waking and in dreams there are thoughts, and consequently there is also a "world."

Our mind projects this, that or some other world from within itself and again dissolves it back into itself.

When our mind comes out from our essential self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears, our essential self does not appear as it really is; that is, as the absolute and infinite non-dual consciousness of just being.

When our essential self appears as it really is, the world does not appear. If we go on investigating the nature of our mind, the essential self alone will finally appear as the one underlying reality that we mistake to be our mind.

Our] mind stands only by attaching itself to a gross or physical object. Alone, it does not stand.

Our mind is spoken of as our "subtle body," that is, the subtle form or seed of all the imaginary physical bodies that our mind creates and mistakes to be itself or our "soul" or individual self.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER FIVE
As a man thinks in his Heart - so shall it be !

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What rises in this body as "I" is our mind.

If we investigate in what place the thought "I" arises first in our body, we will come to know that it rises first in our heart - the innermost core of our being.

That alone is the birthplace of our mind.

If we remain thinking "I", it will take us and leave us in that place.

Of all the thoughts that arise in our mind, the thought "I" is the first thought.

Only after this rises do other thoughts arise.

Only after the first person appears do the second and third persons appear …

… for without the first person, the second and third persons do not exist.

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