Whenever I was collecting courage to tell Bhagavan about my desire to leave, he would seem to read my thoughts and forestall me by giving me something special to do. I felt I had too much to do and that my life was being wasted.
One day Bhagavan was looking at me intently and said:

"It looks as if you are still hankering after meditation." I replied: "What have I got except endless work in the kitchen?"

Bhagavan said with deep feeling: "Your hands may do the work but your mind can remain still. You are that which never moves. Realize that and you will find that work is not a strain. But as long as you think that you are the body and that the work is done by you, you will feel your life to be an endless toil. In fact, it is the mind that toils, not the body. Even if your body keeps quiet, will your mind keep quiet too? Even in sleep the mind is busy with its dreams."

I replied: "Yes, Swami, it is as natural for you to know that you are not your body as it is for us to think that we are the body. I had a dream recently in which you were explaining this very point. I was dreaming that I was working in the kitchen and you were having your bath in your usual place behind the bamboo mat partition.

You asked: 'Who is it?' I replied:

'Who shall I say I am?'

You said: 'Exactly so, you are nothing of which something can be said.'

Now, just remember that was my dream and it was quite clear. Why can't I remember always that I am not the body?"

"Because you haven't had enough of it," he smiled.

- Varanasi Subbalakshmi, 'Face to Face with Bhagavan'