Four questions for the truth of Self

I open the doors to the truth of Self.

It is a two-step process:

First — to look within (Antarmukha),

Then — to inquire, to explore the Self.

I sit and close my eyes.

I allow the mind to be silent.

Now, I encounter the body —

this structure occupying space.

I see the body’s limitation:

It is bound by space.

I see another limitation:

It is held within birth and death.

I ask — without seeking answers.

For the question itself has value;

Answers arise from memory,

and memory is conditioned.

As I am aware of the body’s limitations,

am I not free from them?

Unless I am free from space,

how could I understand its boundaries?

As I understand the limitations of space,

Am I not spaceless?

Unless I am free from birth and death,

how could I know their confines?

As I understand the limitations of birth and death,

Am I not free from them?

Now, I encounter the mind.

Mind is thought.

Mind is movement.

Mind is time.

Mind lives within opposites —

pleasure and pain.

Mind is memory — the past,

mind is imagination — the future.

Mind is time.

And time is limitation

As I understand the limitation of time,

Am I not timeless?

The mind oscillates —

between pleasure and pain.

This is the fundamental rhythm of life.

The mind seeks pleasure,

yet lands in pain.

I do not make this a concept.

I simply observe — moment to moment,

hour to hour, day to day —

the swing of pleasure and pain.

As I understand the limitations of pleasure and pain

Am I not free from them?

These four questions,

I mull over— not for answers,

but for discovery

of the truth of the Self.

Based on Swami Tattvavidananda meditation - Aitereya Upanishad

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