A Puzzling Statement by Jnaneshwar

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imageoneus wrote:

In his Haripatha the 13th century saint Jnaneshwar says:

"When one receives the grace of a saint,

His ego-consciousness dissolves;

Ego-consciousness, or ideas like:

"I am (not) the body"

"I am (not) the doer"

"I (don't) have"

"I am"

Eventually, even God-consciousness will dissolve.

If you light a piece of camphor,

It produces a bright flame;

But after a while, both camphor and flame disappear.

The poetry classic to describe how the

"inner fire" eliminates

any sense of separation and finally, itself. The same has been

worded as "the hungry serpent, on finding no more nourishment,

starts eating its tail and ultimately vanishes altogether".

In the same way, God-consciousness

Supplants ego-consciousness at first;

But eventually,

Even the awareness 'I am He' dissolves."

God Consciousness dissolves? Compared to most of the stuff Jnaneshwar

has written I wonder if the above statement was actually written by

him. Does anyone know what it means? Thanks--Kris

A sense like "I am He" implies a distinction

between the two,

given by the relationship.

The potential for such distinction absent, neither "I" nor "He"

have a meaning, nor have terms like "in" and "out" of samadhi,

as the potential for that has dissolved as well. Ultimately the

sense of physical pain dissolves and then in a literary sense,

the vicissitudes of the body are of no concern.

IOW, the above excerpt regards a few notes on the issue of

"liberation".

BTW a classic on the "I am He" issue is from Ibn Arabi:

Know that He is never in anything, nor is

anything in Him. He

is neither inside nor outside of anything. None can see Him,

whether with the eyes of the head or with the inner eye; nor

can any conceive Him with senses, knowledge, mind,

intelligence or imagination. Only He can see Himself; only He

can conceive Himself. None can know Him; only He can know

Himself. He sees Himself by Himself; He conceives Himself by

Himself; He knows Himself by Himself. None other than He

can see Him. None other than He can know Him. That which

hides Him is His oneness. None but Himself can hide Him. The

veil that hides Him is His own being.

He is not within you; nor are you in Him. He does not exclude

you, nor are you excluded from Him. When you are addressed

as you, do not think that you exist, with an essence and

qualities and attributes; for you never existed, nor do exist, nor

ever will exist. You have not entered into Him, nor He into

you. Without being, your essence is with Him and in Him.

Without having any identity, you are Him and He is you. If you

know yourself as nothing, then you truly know your Lord.

Otherwise, you truly know Him not.