Why this distress?

Through his gentle smile, radiant Padam joyfully declares, 'Why this distress? Be happy by just remaining still.'

Bhagavan: Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth, the method is summarized in 'Be still'.

And what does this stillness mean? It means 'Destroy yourself'; because, every name and form is the cause of trouble. 'I-I' is the Self. 'I am this' is the ego. When the 'I' is kept up as the 'I' only, it is the Self. When it flies off at a tangent and says 'I am this or that, I am such and such', it is an ego.

Question: Who then is God?

Bhagavan: The Self is God. 'I am' is God. If God be apart from the Self, He must be a selfless God, which is absurd. All that is required to realise the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that? Hence Atma-vidya [Self-knowledge] is the easiest to attain.

~ Padamalai