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Self-Knowledge and the Prerequisites of Self-Knowlegde
We all want to know what we are, but the knowledge of our true being cannot come from outside, from philosophy, from religion, or from science. It is always with us, within our reach, within the reach of thought. Every act of perception contains within itself the eternity of Being. It is the essence of our enjoyment of art, music, and poetry. It is the root of our love for God and pity for man. . .
In order to attain to the consciousness of the Supreme Self, the disciple must approach a teacher versed in Brahma-Wisdom. To be a worthy disciple it is necessary to possess four qualifications, viz. (1) a discriminative intellect, (2) controlled will, (3) purified emotions, and (4) a longing for liberation. Without devotion to Brahman, progress is not possible.
I will endeavour to explain in what these four qualifications consist.
(1) The disciple should constantly meditate on Brahman as the only Truth to be attained, and all else as untruth.
(2) He is then to train his will. The will is to be directed, not towards the appropriation of what is agreeable to the senses and desires, but towards the realization of the highest knowledge. He is to desire nought of earth or of heaven, but the very soul of Brahman. This means the renunciation of all work.
(3) Renunciation of work will conduce to the quieting of the emotions. Thus he will cease to desire name, fame, or worldly happiness; he will learn to uproot from his heart all passions; in a word, he will turn his eyes for ever from the phenomenal and psychical world. This will help him to practice forgiveness, equanimity, and same-sightedness.
(4) He will then be able to uproot the very idea of the ego; for the notion of this “I,” this narrow, mean self, is the greatest stumbling-block to the attainment of Divine Wisdom.
When the disciple becomes free from the pride of rank, birth, and ego, he learns to value the teachings of his Guru. Gradually his inner eye opens and he gets an insight into the secret of the eternal Consciousness, and then only he obtains a foretaste of liberation.
That is so grand, so sublime, so wonderful an experience, that the disciple cannot help longing to be emancipated from the bondage of this Avidyā state. The consciousness of the Absolute is the crown and glory of religious consciousness; here we are to seek for peace, for beauty, and for truth. The dream of life ends and the soul awakes to its eternity, conscious of a surpassing restfulness, born of the very Being of Truth.
Swami Ananda Acharya, Brahmadarsanam: Intuition of the Absolute, Being an Introduction to the Study of Hindu Philosophy (London: Macmillan & Co., 1917), pp. 182-184