Maharshi - The Jnani, #8

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Q: Is a jnani capable of or likely to commit sins?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

An ajnani sees someone as a jnani and identifies him with the body.

Because he does not know the Self and mistakes his body for the

Self, he extends the same mistake to the state of the jnani. The jnani

is therefore considered to be the physical frame.

 

Again, since the ajnani, though he is not the doer, imagines himself to be

the doer and considers the actions of the body his own, he thinks the ajnani

to be similarly acting when the body is active. But the jnani himself knows the

truth and is not confounded. The state of a jnani cannot be determined by

the ajnani and therefore the question troubles only the ajnani and never

arises for the jnani. If he is a doer he must determine the nature of the actions.

The Self cannot be the doer. Find out who is the doer and the Self is revealed.

 

Q: So it amounts to this. To see a jnani is not to understand him. You see

the jnani’s body and not his jnana. One must therefore be a jnani to

know a jnani.

 

A: The jnani sees no one as an ajnani. All are only jnanis in his sight. In the

ignorant state one superimposes one’s ignorance on a jnani and mistakes

him for a doer. In the state of jnana, the jnani sees nothing separate from

the Self. The Self is all shining and only pure jnana. So there is no ajnana

in his sight. There is an illustration for this kind of illusion or superimposition.

 

Two friends went to sleep side by side. One of them dreamt that both of them

had gone on a long journey and that they had had strange experiences. On

waking up he recapitulated them and asked his friend if it was not so.

The other one simply ridiculed him saying that it was only his dream and

could not affect the other. So it is with the ajnani who superimposes his

illusory ideas on others.

 

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