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Chapter 18
CONCLUSION: RENUNCIATION OF THE FRUIT OF ACTIONS LEADS TO THE GRACE OF THE LORD
107. The Triple State Of The Realised One
26. This final state is three-dimensional. One of them is the state in which we find sage Vamadeva. His declaration is famous: ‘All that is there in this universe, that am I.’ A jnani becomes completely ego less. He loses any sense of identification with the body. His activities cease. Then he attains a special state of consciousness. In this state he is no more confined to a single body. This state is not a state of activity. It is a state marked with intense and pervasive emotions and feelings. All of us can have experience of this state on a small scale. A mother takes upon herself the virtues as well as vices of her child. The child’s sorrow makes her sad and his happiness makes her happy. But this state, this experience of identity in the case of a mother is limited to her child. She takes upon herself the child’s faults. A jnani takes upon himself the faults of the whole world. He becomes a sinner by the sins of the world and the virtues of the world make him virtuous. And yet he is absolutely untouched by the merits and the sins of the world. 27. In the Rudra Sukta in the Veda, the sage says, ‘'यवाशच में तिलाशच में गोधूमाशच में' ‘Give me barley, give me sesame, give me wheat.’) He is continually demanding something or the other. How big is his stomach? But then he, who was demanding all this, was not one contained in a single physical body measuring three cubits and a half; his Self had become one with the whole universe. I call this ‘Vedic vishwatmabhava’ (The Vedic attitude of identification with the whole universe) as we find this sense of identity at its height in the Vedas. 28. Narsi Mehta, the Gujarati saint, says, while singing the Lord’s praise,‘बापजी पाप में कवण कीधां हशे, नाम लेतां तारऊं निद्रा आवे' ‘O Lord! What sin have I committed, that I should feel sleepy while chanting your Name?’). Was Narsi Mehta feeling sleepy? No, it was those who had assembled to listen to him who were sleepy. But Narsi Mehta had identified himself with them; he was in a particular state of consciousness. This is the state of the jnani. The jnani, inthis state, may be seen doing all conceivable virtuous and sinful acts, and he would himself concede it. Does not the Vedic sage say, “I have done a lot of things that should not have been done, I am doing such things, and willcontinue doing them.” When such a state of consciousness is attained, the Self begins to soar high in the sky like a bird. It transcends the limitations of earthly existence. |
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