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CONSIDERATION NUMBER ELEVEN
Sink like a Stone !

As long as latent impulsions to attend to anything other than our self exist in our mind, the investigation "Who am I?" is necessary.

When thoughts arise, then and there it is necessary for us to annihilate them all by investigation in the very place from which they arise.

Being without attention to anything other than our self is dispassion or desirelessness; being without letting go of our real self is true knowledge. In truth these two [desirelessness and true knowledge] are only one.

Just as a pearl diver, tying a stone to her waist and submerging, picks up a pearl which lies in the ocean, so each person, submerging beneath the surface activity of their mind and sinking deep within themselves with freedom from desire or passion for anything other than being, can attain the pearl of self.

If one clings fast to uninterrupted self-remembrance until one attains one's own essential self, that alone will be sufficient.

So long as enemies are within the fort, they will continue coming out from it.

If we continue cutting down all of them when they come, the fort will eventually come into our possession.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER TWELVE
Om Namah Guruya !

God and guru are in truth not different. Just as that prey that has been caught in the jaws of a tiger will not return, so those who have been caught in the glance of guru's grace will surely be saved by him and will never be forsaken.

Nevertheless, it is necessary for them to proceed unfailingly according to the path that guru has shown.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER THIRTEEN
No carry-on bags allowed !

Being completely absorbed in self-abidance [the state of just being as we really are], giving not even the slightest room to the rising of any thought other than self-contemplation, why should we always think, "It is necessary for me to act in this way; it is necessary for me to act in that way" ?

Instead we should be calm, peaceful and happy - having yielded our self together with our entire burden to the supreme controlling power?

Though we know that a train carries all our baggage, why should we who travel in it suffer by carrying our luggage on our head instead of leaving it in the baggage car?

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER FOURTEEN
The dog-door of happiness !

What is called happiness is only the essential nature of atma [self].

Happiness and our own essential self are not different.

The happiness of self alone exists; that alone is real.

Happiness is not obtained from any of the objects of the world.

We think that happiness is obtained from them because of our lack of discrimination.

When our mind comes out, it experiences unhappiness.

In truth, whenever our thoughts or wishes are fulfilled, our mind turns back to its proper place in the core of our being, our real self, which is the source from which it arose and it experiences only the happiness of our real self.

In the same way, at times of deep sleep, samadhi or fainting, or when a desired thing is obtained, or when termination of thought occurs in relation to a disliked thing, our mind becomes introverted and experiences only the happiness of self.

In this way our mind wavers about without rest, going outwards leaving our essential self, and then turning back inwards.

At the foot of a tree the shade is delightful.

Outside the heat of the sun is severe.

A person who is wandering outside is cooled by going into the shade.

Emerging outside after a short while, he is unable to bear the heat, so he again comes to the foot of the tree.

In this way he continues, going from the shade into the sunshine, and going [back] from the sunshine into the shade.

A person who acts in this manner is someone lacking in discrimination.

But a person of discrimination will not leave the shade.

Similarly, the mind of a jñani [a person of true self-knowledge] does not leave brahman [the fundamental and absolute reality, which is our own essential being or self].

But the mind of an ajñani [a person lacking true self-knowledge] continues to undergo misery by roaming about in the world, and obtains happiness by returning to brahman for a short while.

What is called the world is only thought - all that we know about the world is nothing but a series of mental images or thoughts that we have formed in our mind by our power of imagination.

When the world disappears, that is, when thought ceases, our mind experiences happiness; when the world appears, it experiences unhappiness.

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CONSIDERATION NUMBER FIFTEEN
Sunshine Superman !

With the mere presence of the sun, which rises without wish, desire or effort, a crystal or magnifying lens will emit fire, a lotus will blossom, water will evaporate, and people of the world will begin their respective activities, do those activities and then cease being active in accordance with their respective karma.

The supreme controlling power is not a person connected with or possessing volition or intention.

Even one's karma does not adhere to it; that is, it is not bound or affected by any karma or action whatsoever.

This is like the actions happening here on earth not affecting the sun, and like the qualities and defects of the four elements [earth, water, air and fire] not adhering to the all-pervading space (aethyr).

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