The experience of the Self #7

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The experience of the Self #7

 

 

In one of the earlier quotations in this chapter Saradamma stated

that emotions such as anger and sorrow do not really affect her; she

said that they are only images that come and go on the screen of the

Self. What holds true for emotions applies equally to her behavior

and her actions. She is the Self and not the body and she is

therefore not touched by any action that the body may appear to

perform. The following words were spoken as a rejoinder to some

devotees who claimed that jnanis ought to behave in a way that is

recognizably saintly or spiritual.

 

Saradamma: I am not obliged to conform to other peoples' opinions and

prejudices. A Self-realized person is one whose `I' is dead, not one

who behaves in a prescribed way. My experience of the Self is

unchanging and it is not affected by any of the activities that I may

indulge in. I am not seeking approval for my actions, not do I care

if people disapprove.

The Self is not the body and it is not touched by other peoples'

thoughts.

You can never tell a jnani by what he says and does. There is an

old story, which illustrates this. Krishna and Arjuna were traveling

together and they visited the house of a very bad man who had managed

to accumulate a lot of money. They were treated very badly there but

when they left Krishna blessed the man and said that his fortune

would increase even more. Next they visited a poor man whose only

possession was a cow. He treated them very hospitably but when they

left Krishna blessed the man by saying that the cow would die. Arjuna

was mystified by this behavior and he asked Krishna for an

explanation. Krishna replied that the rich man was very attracted to

his money and that by giving him more money he was really cursing him

because he was strengthening his attachments. The poor man had only

one attachment, his cow, and so Krishna blessed him by taking his cow

away from him.

Jnanis often behave in unpredictable or unexpected ways, but you

should never judge them by the standards of ordinary human behavior.

 

>From No Mind I Am The Self. David Godman

 

More to follow in the concept of time.

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