Gems From Bhagavan

[Guest guest]

Bhagavan pointed to his towel and said, "We call this a white cloth, but the

cloth and its whiteness cannot be separated; and it is the same with the

illumination and the mind that unite to form the ego. The following

illustration is given in the books:

 

The lamp in the theatre is ParaBraham or illumination. It illuminates

itself, the stage and the actors. We see the stage and the actors by its

light, but the light still continues when there is no more play. Another

illustration is an iron rod that is compared to the mind. Fire joins it and

it becomes red hot. Like fire, it glows and can burn things, but still it

has a definite shape unlike fire. If we hammer it, it is the rod that

receives the blow, not the fire. The rod is the jivatman, the fire the Self

or Paramatman. The mind can do nothing by itself. It emerges only with the

illumination and can do no action good or bad, except with the illumination.

But while the illumination is always there, enabling the mind to act well or

ill, the pleasure or pain resulting from such action is not felt by the

illumination, just as when you hammer a red hot iron it is not the fire but

the iron that gets the hammering.

 

I

 

(Gems from Bhagavan, selected by A. Devaraja Mudaliar)