The highest realization was described by Bhagavan in terms of the Ajata doctrine of Advaita Vedanta: there is only pure Selfhood as a Totality, no creation, no being separate, no seeker, and no enlightenment. His life is testimony to the fact that it is not an unworldly abstraction.
We can only perceive objects and also the subject consists, as far as perceptible, only of objective components. The pure I is not objectifiable, in so far Neti is the giving away of the recognized objects, also those hidden in the subject.
But in order to cross the 'watershed', there must be a complete letting go. Samadhi is non-dual. For this, the intensive collection, which I brought into the discussion at the beginning, is the best option - although we cannot manufacture this. Only 'there'
R: Of course is the Self the most intimate consciousness there is, far more than any indirect experience of senses, body, and mind. And IT is already ours while sensory experience involves a lot of desire, pain, and frustrations. The term SELF was used by Bhagavan to indicate this. He used many other words as well like adhistana, essence, hridayam, heart.
Even in speech, behavior, modes of eating etc., his state is like that of a child. While engaged in activities his introverted state fixed on the Self remains steady. One never notices languor, unsteadiness or any defects in his speech mind and body. Just as the lion, the king of the jungle, always lives in his forest-abode, enjoying full freedom with fearlessness and at ease, in the same way, Sri Maharshi is fearless and free from all restrictions ...
All sadhana attempts to 'enliven' this basic awareness and thereby shift our identity from the ever turbulent personality patterns into that rocklike peace.
A beautiful document of Bhagavan's own experience:
"You can feel yourself one with the One that exists: the whole body becomes a mere power, a force- current:
your life becomes a needle drawn to a huge mass of magnet and as you go deeper and deeper, you become a mere center and then not even that, for you become a mere consciousness, there are no thoughts or cares any longer they were shattered at the threshold.
'The root of the illusion is the thought which ignores the Self and which thinks instead, 'I am this body'. After this thought rises it expands in a moment into several thousand thoughts and conceals the Self. The reality of the Self will only shine if all these thoughts are removed. Afterwards, what remains is only Brahmananda [the bliss of Brahman].'
"If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one’s way through before regaining one’s original primal state."