My first spiritual question to Bhagavan...

 About ten days after my arrival I asked Bhagavan, ‘How to avoid misery? This was the first spiritual question I ever asked him.

Bhagavan replied, ‘Know and always hold on to the Self. Disregard the body and the mind. To identify with them is misery. Dive deep into the Heart, the source of being and peace, and establish yourself there.’

I then asked him how I could attain Self-Realisation and he gave me a similar answer:

‘If you give up identifying with the body and meditate on the Self, which you already are, you can attain Self-realisation.

As I was pondering on these remarks Bhagavan surprised me by saying, ‘I was waiting for you. I was wondering when you would come.