Maharshi - The Jnani, #11

[Guest guest]

Q: You once said: "The liberated man is free indeed to act as he pleases,

and when he leaves the mortal coil, he attains absolution, but returns not

to this birth which is actually death."

 

This statement gives the impression that although the jnani takes no

birth again on this plane, he may continue to work on subtler planes, if he

so chooses. Is there any desire left in him to choose?

 

A: No, that was not my intention.

 

Q: Further, an Indian philosopher, in one of his books, interpreting Sankara,

says that there is no such thing as videha mukti, for after his death, the

mukta takes a body of light in which he remains till the whole of humanity

becomes liberated.

 

A: That cannot be Sankara’s view. In verse 566 of Vivekachudamani he says

that after the dissolution of the physical sheath the liberated man

becomes like "water poured into water and oil into oil". It is a state in

which there is neither bondage nor liberation. Taking another body

means throwing a veil, however subtle, upon reality, which is bondage.

Liberation is absolute and irrevocable.

 

Q: How can we say that the jnani is not in two planes? He moves about with

us in the world and sees the various objects we see. It is not as if he

does not see them. For instance he walks along. He sees the path he is

treading. Suppose there is a chair or table placed across that path; he

sees it, avoids it and goes round. So, have we not to admit he sees the

world and the objects there, while of course he sees the Self?

 

A: You say the jnani sees the path, treads it, comes across obstacles,

avoids them, etc. In whose eyesight is all this, in the jnani’s or in yours?

He sees only the Self and all in the Self.

 

Q: Are there no illustrations given in our books to explain this sahaj (natural)

state clearly to us?

 

A: There are. For instance you see a reflection in the mirror and the mirror.

You know the mirror to be the reality and the picture in it a mere

reflection. Is it necessary that to see the mirror we should cease to see

the reflection in it?

 

from BE AS YOU ARE, David Godman