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CONSIDERATION NUMBER SIX
The Voice of the Silence !

Only by investigating "Who am I ?" will our mind subside, become still and disappear. The thought "Who am I ?" that is, the effort we make to attend to our essential being, having destroyed all other thoughts, will itself in the end be destroyed like a burned up match.

If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them we must investigate to whom they have occurred.

However many thoughts rise, what does it matter? As soon as each thought appears, if we vigilantly investigate to whom it has occurred, "to me" will be clear - that is, we will be clearly reminded of our self, to whom each thought occurs.

If we thus investigate "Who am I ?" - that is, if we turn our attention back towards our self and keep it fixed firmly upon our own essential self-conscious being in order to discover what this "me" really is, our mind will return to its birthplace in the innermost core of our being, which is the source from which it arose.

And since we thereby refrain from attending to it, the thought which had risen will also subside.

When we repeatedly practice in this manner, the power to stand firmly in its birthplace will increase.

When our subtle mind goes out through the portal of our brain, the sense organs and the objects that constitute the world appear. When it remains in our heart, names and forms disappear.

This state of "retaining our mind in our heart without letting it go outwards" is called "introversion." The state of "letting it go outwards" is called "extroversion."

Only when our mind remains firmly established in our heart, will the primal thought "I", which is the root of all thoughts, disappear and our ever-existing real self alone will shine.

The place that is devoid of even a little trace of our primal thought "I" is our "own form" or essential self. That alone is called "silence."

Only to this state of simply "being" is the name "knowledge-seeing" [jñana] truly applicable - this is the experience of true knowledge.

That state which is simply "being" is only the state of making our mind subside in our own essential self.

The states of dualistic knowledge that are knowing the thoughts of others, knowing the three times (what happened in the past, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future), and knowing what is happening in a distant place cannot be the experience of true knowledge.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER SEVEN
Deus est Homo !

That which actually exists is only our own essential self. The world, soul and God are imaginations or mental creations in our essential self, like the imaginary silver that we see in a shell. These three [world, soul and God] appear at the same time and disappear at the same time.

Our "own form" or essential self alone is the world. Our self alone is the "I" of our mind or individual self. Our self alone is God. Everything is our essential self, which is the absolute and only truly existing reality.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER EIGHT
Breathing and Thinking go together !

To make the mind permanently subside, there are no adequate means other than investigation; that is, the art of self-attentive being.

If restrained by other means, the mind will remain as if subsided, but will emerge again.

By pranayama [breath-control] the mind will subside, but though the mind remains subsided as long as the breath remains controlled, when the breathing becomes automatic again, the mind will also emerge and wander under the sway of its inclinations or desires.

The birthplace of both the mind and of the prana [the chi, the breath or life-force] is one.

Thought alone is the "own form" of the mind.

The thought "I" alone is the first [or basic] thought of the mind. It alone is the ego. From the place where the ego arises, from there alone the breath also arises. Therefore, when the mind subsides, the prana also subsides, and when the prana subsides the mind also subsides.

However in deep sleep, even though the mind has subsided, the breath does not subside. It is arranged thus for the purpose of protecting the body, and provides that other people do not wonder whether that body has died.

When the mind subsides in waking and in dhyana or samadhi, the prana subsides. The prana is said to be the gross form of the mind.

Until the time of death the mind keeps the prana in the body, and at the moment the body dies it [the mind] grabs and takes it [the prana] away.

Therefore, pranayama is just an aid to restrain the mind, but will not bring about the annihilation of the mind.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER NINE
There is help in other spells !

Just like pranayama, dhyana [meditation], mantra-yoga [repetition of sacred words] and restriction of diet, particularly the restriction of consuming only vegetarian food, are just aids that restrain the mind but will not bring about its annihilation.

By dhyana and mantra-yoga the mind gains one-pointedness [concentration].

Just as if someone gives a chain to the trunk of an elephant, which is always moving and swinging about trying to catch hold of something or other, the elephant will proceed to hold the chain fast without grabbing and holding fast to anything else. So indeed, the mind, which is always moving and wandering about thinking of something or another, will, if trained in the practice of dhyana, remain holding it fast without thinking unnecessary thoughts about anything else.

Because the mind spreads out, scattering its energy as innumerable thoughts, each thought becomes extremely weak.

For the mind that has developed one-pointedness when thoughts shrink, and which has thereby gained strength, self-investigation will be easily accomplished.

By the restraint of consuming only a moderate quantity of pure food, which is the best among all restrictions, the quality of calm "being-ness" of the mind will increase and thereby help will arise for self-investigation.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER TEN
Neither ponder nor lament !

Even though our latent impulsions or desires to attend to things other than our self, which come from time immemorial, arise as thoughts in countless numbers like ocean waves, they will all be destroyed when self-attentiveness increases.

Without pondering, "Is it possible to dissolve so many passions and remain only as self ?" we should cling tenaciously to self-attentiveness.

However great a sinner a person may be, instead of lamenting, "I am a sinner ! How am I going to be saved ?" they must completely reject the thought that they are a sinner and become steadfast in self-attentiveness, and thus they will certainly be transformed into thought-free self-conscious being.

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