"I" shines through between all thoughts

Let us examine our own casual statements regarding our daily experiences. For example, we say: ‘ He comes’, ‘ He sits’, ‘ He goes’, and so on. In these statements, ‘coming’, "sitting" and "going" are somehow extraneous to ‘ Him’. As such, they do not at all go into the make of ‘ Him’.

‘ He ’ alone stands unqualified through all time, continuing without a break. So it is this pure ‘ he ’ or "I" (or Consciousness) which shines through and in between all thoughts, feelings, perceptions and states. During this interval (between mentations), one has no thought of the state in which one happens to be. So here, one is Peace itself; and that is the "I" , in its pure state.

Suppose you see a beautiful picture, painted on white paper. On closely examining the picture, you will be able to discover some parts of it where the original colour of the paper appears, unaffected by the shades of the picture. This proves to you the existence of the paper behind the picture, as its background. On further examination, you will see that the picture is nothing but the paper.

So also, if you succeed in discovering yourself between two mentations, you easily come to the conclusion that you are in the mentations as well.

-- Sri Atmananda