~~~ From: Conscious Immortality, Ch.6.
Q.: Why is it sometimes I find concentration on the Self so easy,
and at other times hopelessly difficult?
M.: Because of vasanas.
But really it is easy, since we are the Self.
All we have to do is to remember that.
We keep on forgetting it,
and thus think we are this body, or this ego.
If the will and desire to remember Self are strong enough,
they will eventually overcome vasanas.
There must be a great battle going on inwardly all the time
until Self is realised.
This battle is symbolically spoken of in scriptural writings
as the fight between God and Satan.
In our sruti [revealed scripture] it is a Mahabharata war,
where the asuras represent our bad thoughts
and the devas our elevating ones.
Q.: How can one quicken this coming of realisation?
M.: As one strives to know the true ‘I’ the attachment to objects,
the bad and degrading thoughts gradually drop off.
The more one does not forget the Self,
the more do elevating qualities become ours.
Realisation will come eventually.
Q.: Why does an Upanishad say,
“He whom the Atman chooses,
to him alone does It reveal Itself, not to others”.
Does not this seem arbitrary?
M.: No. It is correct.
It chooses those only who devote themselves to It,
who become Its devotees.
Such It draws them inwards to Itself.
One must turn inward to find the Atman.
He who thinks of It, It will draw to Itself.
All such thoughts as ‘Attainment is hard’
or ‘Self realisation is far from me’,
or ‘I have got many difficulties to overcome to know the Reality’,
should be given up, as they are obstacles;
they are created by this false self, ego.
They are untrue.
Do not doubt that you are the Reality;
live in that understanding.
Never question it by referring your realisation of it to some future time.
It is because people are victimized and hypnotised
by such false thoughts that the Gita says
that few out of millions realise the Self.
The order of asramas [four stages of life]
was established as a general principle,
i.e. to regulate the gradual development of the ordinary run of humanity.
But in the case of one highly mature and fully ripe for Atma vichara
there is no graduated development.
In this case jnana vichara,
i.e. the Self enquiry and the blooming of jnana,
are immediate and quick.