From the Garland of Guru's Sayings Translated by Who

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> Section 5. Inferential Knowledge (43)

>

> (43) The state of Deliverance is called

> " Self-Knowledge " ; this phrase is

> misleading; its correct significance is given in the last

> chapter. It must

> suffice here to say that the term " Knowledge "

> does not bear here the

> meaning it bears in worldly affairs. In this section one

> of the

> misconceptions arising from the use of this word is

> disposed of. Knowledge

> of objects is either direct or inferential. Knowledge is

> direct when the

> object is present to the mind or the senses; thus knowledge

> of one's own

> sensations or feelings, as well as knowledge of

> sense-objects that are

> present, is called direct knowledge. Where the object is

> far away or

> otherwise not available for such knowledge, any knowledge

> of it derived

> otherwise is inferential; it is mere opinion. This

> distinction is all

> right in respect of things other than the Self. Strictly

> speaking,

> so-called direct knowledge is itself only inferential,

> because the

> knowledge is never immediate; it arises through a medium,

> the mind or the

> senses. The Self on the other hand is never absent, and

> consequently never

> unknown. As the Sage points out, every one knows that he

> is; this

> knowledge is always immediate and inalienable. Every one

> thinks and says,

> " l am " ; to this he adds a predicate, and says,

> " l am so and so, " implying

> that he is a particular body, physical or mental, or both;

> the addition of

> this predicate is really a subtraction; it reduces the

> infinite

> Self‹expressed as " I am " ‹to a finite being.

> Leaving out this limitation,

> we see that there is no one‹not even a worm‹that knows

> not the Self. This

> is due to the fact that the Self is the Self, and therefore

> never absent.

> The half-philosophers are unaware of this profound but self

> evident fact

> and hence made the mistake of treating the Self as

> something absent and

> therefore capable of being known inferentially, through

> books or otherwise;

> they even get satisfied with such so-called knowledge; the

> truth above

> stated‹that the Self is not the object of such

> knowledge‹is here made

> clear, so that sadhakas (spiritual seekers) may not go

> astray.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> These quotations are from the book,

> Guru--Ramana--Vachana--Mala by " Who, "

> published by Sri Ramanasramam.