Affection towards the good, kindness towards the helpless, happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness towards the wicked, all such things are natural characteristics of the jnani (Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 1:37).
You ask about jnanis: they are the same in any state or condition, as they know the reality, the truth. In their daily routine of taking food, moving about and all the rest, they, the jnanis, act only for others. Not a single action is done for themselves. I have already told you many times that just as there are people whose profession is to mourn for a fee,
so also the jnanis do things for the sake of others with detachment, without themselves being affected by them.
The jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing, plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure, transparent mirror. It reflects the image exactly as it is. But the jnani, who is only a mirror, is unaffected by actions. How can a mirror, or the stand on which it is mounted, be affected by the reflections? Nothing affects them as they are mere supports. On the other hand, the actors in the world – the doers of all acts, the ajnanis – must decide for themselves what song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in accordance with the sastras, and what is practicable.
Q: There are said to be sadeha mukta [liberated while still in the body] and videha mukta [liberated at the time of death].
A: There is no liberation, and where are muktas?
Q: Do not Hindu sastras speak of mukti?
A: Mukti is synonymous with the Self. Jivan mukti [liberated while still in the body] and videha mukti are all for the ignorant. The jnani is not conscious of mukti or bandha [bondage]. Bondage, liberation and orders of mukti are all said for an ajnani in order that ignorance might be shaken off.
There is only mukti and nothing else.
Q: It is all right from the standpoint of Bhagavan. But what about us?
A: The difference ‘he’ and ‘I’ are the obstacles to jnana.
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 Vive-kachudamani 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 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 eye-sight is all this, in the jnani’s or yours? He sees only the Self and all in the Self.
Q: Are there not illustrations given in our books to explain this sahaja [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?
You ask about jnanis: they are the same in any state or condition, as they know the reality, the truth. In their daily routine of taking food, moving about and all the rest, they, the jnanis, act only for others. Not a single action is done for themselves. I have already told you many times that just as there are people whose profession is to mourn for a fee,
so also the jnanis do things for the sake of others with detachment, without themselves being affected by them.
The jnani weeps with the weeping, laughs with the laughing, plays with the playful, sings with those who sing, keeping time to the song. What does he lose? His presence is like a pure, transparent mirror. It reflects the image exactly as it is. But the jnani, who is only a mirror, is unaffected by actions. How can a mirror, or the stand on which it is mounted, be affected by the reflections? Nothing affects them as they are mere supports. On the other hand, the actors in the world – the doers of all acts, the ajnanis – must decide for themselves what song and what action is for the welfare of the world, what is in accordance with the sastras, and what is practicable.
Q: There are said to be sadeha mukta [liberated while still in the body] and videha mukta [liberated at the time of death].
A: There is no liberation, and where are muktas?
Q: Do not Hindu sastras speak of mukti?
A: Mukti is synonymous with the Self. Jivan mukti [liberated while still in the body] and videha mukti are all for the ignorant. The jnani is not conscious of mukti or bandha [bondage]. Bondage, liberation and orders of mukti are all said for an ajnani in order that ignorance might be shaken off.
There is only mukti and nothing else.
Q: It is all right from the standpoint of Bhagavan. But what about us?
A: The difference ‘he’ and ‘I’ are the obstacles to jnana.
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 Vive-kachudamani 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 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 eye-sight is all this, in the jnani’s or yours? He sees only the Self and all in the Self.
Q: Are there not illustrations given in our books to explain this sahaja [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?
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Self-Enquiry 