Maharshi - The Jnani, #6

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Q: Is there no dehatma buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) for the jnani?

If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan is bitten by an insect, is there

no sensation?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: There is the sensation and there is also

the dehatma buddhi. The latter is common to both jnani and

ajnani with this difference, that the ajnani thinks only the body

is myself, whereas the jnani knows all is of the Self, or all this

is Brahman. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self.

The Self is poorna (perfect).

After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a jnani.

In the absence of that idea there cannot be either kartritva

(doership) or karta (doer). So a jnani has no karma

(that is, a jnani performs no actions). That is his experience.

Otherwise he is not a jnani. However, the ajnani identifies

the jnani with his body, which the jnani does not do.

 

Q: I see you doing things. How can you say that you never perform actions?

 

A: The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you will find no one inside.

Similarly, my existence is like the space; though this body speaks like

the radio, there is no one inside as a doer.

 

Q: I find this hard to understand. Could you please elaborate on this?

 

A: Various illustrations are given in books to enable us to understand how

the jnani can live and act without the mind, although living and acting

require the use of the mind. The potter’s wheel goes on turning round

even after the potter has ceased to turn it because the pot is finished.

In the same way, the electric fan goes on revolving for some minutes

after we switch off the current. Prarabdha (predestined karma) which

created the body will make it go through whatever activities it was

meant for. But the jnani goes through all these activities without the

notion that he is the doer of them. It is hard to understand how this

is possible. The illustration generally given is that the jnani performs

actions in some such way as a child that is roused from sleep to eat

eats but does not remember next morning that it ate. It has to be

remembered that all these explanations are not for the jnani. He

knows and has no doubts. He knows that he is not the body and

he knows that he is not doing anything even though his body may

be engaged in some activity. These explanations are for the

onlookers who think of the jnani as one with a body and cannot

help identifying him with his body.

 

from BE AS YOU ARE, David Godman