THE REAL SELF | PART 01 OF 14 | IWGR I RAMA राम

" . . . Just reflect a little more , think a little more and you will be immediately brought face to face with GOD . . . "

RAMA राम

The All-Powerful GOD in the Form of People ,

In a German folklore we hear about a person who lost the shadow . That is a very strange thing . The person lost the shadow and had to suffer for it . All friends deserted , all prosperity left , and the person was in a very sorry plight for it . What will you think of one who instead of losing one's shadow loses the substance ? There may be hope for one who loses only the shadow , but what hope can there be for one who loses the substance , the body ?

Such is the case of the majority of people in this world . Most have lost not their shadow but their substance , the Reality . Wonder of wonders ! The body is simply the shadow , and the real Self is the Reality . Everybody will tell us about the shadow , everybody will tell us anything and everything about the body , but how few are there who will tell us anything and everything about their real Self , the real Soul , the real Atman .

What are you ? What is the use of gaining the whole world and losing your own soul ? People are trying to gain the whole world but they miss the Soul , they miss the Self . Lost , lost , lost . What is lost ? The horse or the rider ? The horse person is lost . The body is like the horse , and the Atman , the true Self , the Soul is like the rider . The rider is lost , the horse is there . Everybody will tell us anything and everything about the horse , but we want to know something about the rider , the horseperson , the owner of the horse .

Tonight we propose to know what the horseperson or the rider , the true Self is . That is a deep subject ; that is a subject upon which the philosophers of the world have been racking their brains , upon which each and all have been trying their best . It is a deep subject , and it is hard to do justice to this subject within this short space of one hour or so . Still we shall try to make it as easy as possible by means of an illustration or story .

This subject was explained once to a youth of the age of about 15 or 16 , who understood it thoroughly in a short time . If that youth of the age of 15 or 16 could understand it , each and all of you will be able to understand the subject thoroughly , provided you pay close , undivided attention . The method of exposition will be the same as was adopted in the case of that youth .