The Self is the only sentient object. There is nothing apart from the Self.

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6. As the Self shines fully of its own accord why is it not generally

recognised like the other objects of the world by all persons?

 

Wherever particular objects are known it is the Self which has known

itself in the form of those objects. For what is known as knowledge or

awareness is only the potency of the Self (atma sakti). The Self is

the only sentient object. There is nothing apart from the Self. If

there are such objects they are all insentient and therefore cannot

either know themselves or mutually know one another. It is because the

Self does not know its true nature in this manner that it seems to be

immersed and struggling in the ocean of birth (and death) in the form

of the individual soul.

 

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