Gita Rahasya -Tilak 242

Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak

CHAPTER IX THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF The identification of the Brahman with the Atman is described in Marathi by saying "what is in the pind a (Body), is also in the brahmanda (Cosmos); and it logically follows that when once a man has experienced this identity of the Brahman and the Atman, there can no more remain any difference between the jnata or observing Atman, and the jneya or the subject-matter to be seen. But, a doubt is likely to arise that if a man does not escape from his eyes and other organs, so long as he is alive, how can one get over the fact that these organs are different from the objects which are perceptible to the organs ? ; and, if one does not get rid of this difference, how is one to realise the identity of the Brahman and the Atman ? And, if one considers the matter only from the point of view of the organs, these doubts do not at first sight seem improper. But, if you consider the matter deeply, it will be seen that the organs do not perform the function of seeing external objects of their own accord, "caksuh pasyati rupani manasa na tu caksusa" — in order to see anything (and also in order to hear anything etc.), the eyes (as also the ears etc.) require the help of the Mind. It has been stated before that if the Mind is vacant, objects in front of the eyes are not seen. "When one takes into account this common experience, one sees that if the Mind is taken out of the organs, the dualities in the objects of the senses become non- existent to us, though they might exist in the external world, notwithstanding that the organs of eyes etc. are perfectly in order ; and it is easy to draw the inference that the Mind will in this way become steeped in the Atman or in the Atman-formed Brahman, and one will begin to get a visionary experience (saksatkara) of the identity of the Brahman and the Atman. That man who has attained this mental state by meditation, mental isolation, worshipping in solitude, or by intense contemplation of the Brahman, will not perceive the dualities or differences in the visible world, although they may be before his eyes ; and then he realises the form of the sole (advaita) Brahman of his own accord. In this beatific ultimate state, which is the result of the fullest Realisation of the Brahman, the three-fold difference, that is, triputi of Knower, Knowable, and Knowledge, or the dual difference of worshipper and worshipped ceases to exist.