Talk 636.

[Guest guest]

Talk 636.

Mrs. Kelly Hack asked if the waking and the dream states might be

imagined to be excursions from the natural state of the Self.

Maharshi.: There must be a place for excursions. The place must also lie

outside oneself. It is not possible in the true nature of the Self.

D.: But I meant that it might be imagined to be so.

M.: One might as well imagine the true nature of the Self

D.: The illustration of the screen is very beautiful.

M.: The cinema screen is not sentient and so requires a seer, whereas

the screen of the Self includes the seer and the seen - rather, it is

full of light.

The pictures of the cinema-show cannot be seen without the help of

darkness, for you cannot have a show in broad daylight. Similarly,

the mind thinks thoughts and sees objects owing to an underlying

ignorance (avidya). The Self is pure knowledge, pure light where

there is no duality. Duality implies ignorance. The Knowledge of the

Self is beyond relative knowledge and ignorance, the Light of the Self

is beyond the ordinary light and darkness. The Self is all alone.