CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE JNANI OR JIVANMUKTA
1. "A child and a Jnani [?] are similar in a way. The interest of the child in things ends with the things. These leave no impressions in the child's mind. The same is the case with the Jnani [?]."
Talk 9
Note: Desires are the cause of all our trouble. We look around this magnificent world of diversity and desire the things which impress us most, and so do our best to obtain them.
We sacrifice a lot and suffer any amount of inconvenience for the sake of the desired object till we get it. Yet our trouble does not end with this acquisition, for new aims and objects rise before us and lure us into new desires and what we call new needs, for which we have again to exert and again to suffer; and so on and on endlessly. Thus we remain bound hand and foot to the world without rest and without satisfaction. But the Jnani [?], having cultivated and achieved desirelessness, has not the least interest in the world around him, so that his perceptions do not leave any impression on his mind. Even if he evinces an interest in an object it is only one of curiosity, much like that of a child in its surroundings, which passes away the moment it turns its back on them.
2. "The look of the Jnani [?] has a purifying effect. Purification cannot be visualised. Just as a piece of coal takes long to be ignited, a piece of charcoal takes a short time, and a
mass of gunpowder is instantaneously ignited, so it is with grades of men coming in contact with Mahatmas."
Talk 155
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Note: This is an answer to a question by an English disciple — one of the earliest — who has been staying in the Ashram for three months and has yet been unaware of any spiritual benefit to himself from it. The `grade' of the disciple in question need not be inferred from this question or this answer; for Bhagavan assures us that the process and degree of purification cannot be assessed easily: it goes its own quiet way without the direct knowledge of the disciple concerned or of anyone else. This has been the experience of almost each and everyone in this Ashram. Even on the very thres- hold of the Supreme Experience one is likely to be almost unaware of its imminence. It is small wonder therefore that this disciple's surface consciousness was not aware of what was going on in its depths. The purification incessantly goes on in the presence of the Master, irrespective of the degree of impurity which the disciple brings with him. The difference in time of attaining jnana between one disciple and another naturally lies in the difference in the degrees of impurity which they respectively bring with them.
3. "Is Maharshi's teaching the same as Shankara's?" The
Master answers about himself: "Maharshi's teaching is only an expression of his own experience and realisation.
Others find that it tallies with Sri Shankara's. A realised man uses his own language."
Talk 189
Note: This is an autobiographical answer, which may be applicable to most Jnanis. The peculiarities of Bhagavan's
Realisation consist in the unique fact that Realisation came to him when he was still in the prime of life and had not yet
had any contact with philosophical or metaphysical elements, either through reading or through human guidance. He had been preoccupied with his studies for the Matriculation
Examination, when the Realisation knocked him down and clean out of his studies. The result was that when later he recounted his experiences in the ordinary language, the learned among the listeners found them to be identical with
Shankara's philosophy.
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4. "A Self-realised being cannot help benefiting the world
His very existence is the highest good."
Talk 210
Note: This should satisfy those who criticise the Jnani [?] as a useless ascetic, should they be fortunate enough to read it.
The wisdom that flows from his lips and the purity of his life and conduct stand as shining ideals for humanity to emulate, or aspire for, which no amount of preaching Socialism,
Communism and philanthropy can do. What has all this preaching created except more antagonism, more divisions, more jealousy, and thus more hatred in the world. If these preachers really mean well and are sincere, they should turn into true ascetics and become Saints themselves and see the difference between their old preaching and the good they can do with their holiness and purity by their mere presence.
If they cannot do that, they should mind their own business, and try to bring peace and good to themselves before they can stand before the world and boast of doing good to others.
See text 7 below.
5. Speaking of Jnanis who depart from the world without leaving a body behind, like Manickavasagar, Bhagavan said: "The gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle stuff — the mind. When the mind melts away and blazes forth as light, the body is consumed in that
process. Nandanar is another whose body disappeared in blazing light."
An English disciple pointed out the case of Biblical Elijah whose body disappeared in the same way and wanted to know if Christ's body did the same. The Master replied: "No. Christ's body was left as a corpse, which was at first entombed, whereas the others did not leave corpses behind."
Talk 215
Note: This text should be studied in the light of Bhagavan's general Advaitic teachings.
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"When the mind melts away and blazes forth as light,
the body is consumed in that process," is the rationale of the disappearance of the body of the Siddha Jnani at his Mahasamadhi — so-called death. This helps us to understand the relation of the mind to the body on the one hand and to the light to which the quoted sentence refers on the other.
But first we have to observe that the disintegration of the body takes place only through a process of which some Jnanis known as Siddhas — not all Jnanis, — whose prarabdha entitles them to it, have the `Key'. The benefits of such `miraculous' performances by some Siddhas consist of creating tremendous psychological effects on the common people, increasing their faith. But most Jnanis do not approve of them, because, while they increase the people's devotion, they tend to encourage credulity, superstitions, witchcraft and magic, which they are out to combat by teaching the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
6. "Is there no `I-am-the-body' idea for the Jnani [?]? If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan is bitten by an insect, is there no sensation?"
Bhagavan: "There is the sensation and there is also the `I-am-the-body' idea. The latter is common to both the Jnani [?] and the ajnani with this difference, that the ajnani
thinks `only the body is myself ', whereas the Jnani [?] knows `all this is the Self ', or `all this is Brahman; if there be pain, let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is perfect'. "Now with regards to the actions of the Jnanis, they are only so-called because they are ineffective. Generally the actions get embedded as samskaras (impressions) in the individual. That can be only so long as the mind is fertile, as is the case of the ajnani. With a Jnani [?] the mind is only surmised; he has already transcended the mind. Because of his apparent activity the mind has to be inferred in his case, and that mind is not fertile like that of an ajnani.
Hence it is said that the Jnani's mind is Brahman.
Brahman is certainly no other than the Jnani's mind. Vasanas cannot bear fruit in that soil. His mind is barren, free from the vasanas, etc. "However, since prarabdha is conceded in his case, vasanas also must be supposed to exist. But they are only vasanas for enjoyment, leaving no impressions to be the seeds for future karma."
Talk 383
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Note: In this text we have a full view of the Jnani's state: in pains, in action, in the working out of an old, and the generation of a new, karma, etc. It all amounts to this: his perceptions of pain and pleasure and of the world are exactly like those of the ajnani, as we have discussed in Note 45 of the last chapter. He sees other bodies and his own exactly as others see them, but, unlike others, he knows the truth about them. A peasant who, for the first time goes to a cinema- show and sees fierce fire raging on the screen, starts screaming and tries to run out of the theatre, taking the fire to be real; whereas the others sit back in their chairs unconcerned. This is the exact difference between the Jnani and the ajnani in their perceptions. Both see the very same sights, yet their knowledge of them vastly differs.
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As for the actions of the Jnani [?] they are equally productive — often even more so — as those of the ajnani (the word `ineffective' in the text is likely to be misinterpreted as qualifying actions, whereas it qualifies the production of samskaras), but they are without vasanas, although they appear as if they were. They resemble Coleridge's wonderful pen-picture of "a painted ship on a painted ocean", though ship and ocean are real. The actual ship is there, the actual ocean is also there, but there is no movement in either on account of the curse. The same are the vasanas of the Jnani which leave no impressions on his mind. The driving force in an action which produces Karma is its motive, which is absent in the Jnani's; hence there is no creation of a new karma for him. The actor is there, the action is also there, but the driving force of the action is, in his case, automatic, being impersonal, vasana-less. The Srutis [?] compare it to the fried seed which can no longer sprout. That is why the action of the Jnani [?] is viewed as inaction. The Jnani [?] appears to act, and efficiently too, but he is not acting at all. This is the significance of inaction in action and action in inaction. The motiveless mind is Brahman Itself. This is one of the most revealing statements of Bhagavan.
7. "The Sage is characterised by eternal and intense activity.
His stillness is like the apparent stillness of a fast-rotating top. Its very speed cannot be followed by the eye, and so it appears to be still. So is the apparent inaction of the
Sage. This must be explained because the people generally mistake his stillness to be inertness. It is not so."
Talk 599
Note: Bhagavan has reasons to explain this truth about the Jnani [?] to the critics of his "inactive" life. There is no activity under the sun which is more intense than that of the Jnani [?], because he is the plenum, the pure chaitanya which is the
storehouse of all the energy in the universe. Thus the critics will do well to reflect before they pass a sentence on the Jnani's activity or inactivity.
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8. "The Jnani [?] is fully aware that the true state of Being remains fixed and stationary and that all actions go around him. His nature does not change and his state is not affected in the least. He looks on everything with unconcern and remains blissful. His is the true state, the primal, natural state of Being. There is no difference between the Jnani [?] and the ajnani in their conduct: the difference lies only in their angles of vision."
Talk 607
Note: The previous text speaks of the intense activity of the Jnani [?], and the first part of this text says that the Being is "fixed".
Action appears as such only in the context of sense- perceptions. In order to perceive, energy is needed, more so if it is followed by thinking and physical acting. Where does this energy come from? Certainly not from outside the perceiver, thinker and actor, but from inside himself, from his very be-ing. Thus the Being is the source of all energy, the fullness of energy, nay, Energy itself. Therefore the Jnani who is ever aware of this Being, ever merged in the Being, is himself this massive Energy. The Being is said to be inactive, because it is ever changeless, though ever full. And it is because it is ever full as the Eternal Consciousness-
Energy that the last text compares it to the intensely spinning top which appears to be standing stark still. Thus the Jnani is inactive as the changeless Being, and active as the Infinite
Energy itself. The paradox is thus resolved. The activity of sense-perceptions in the Jnani [?] remains as an appearance in him, as we have already studied.
Therefore the Jnani [?] is literally Brahman in a physical
body, the "mind is only surmised in a Jnani [?]" (text above). He enjoys the senses without being imprisoned by them — his being only "vasanas for enjoyment". His life is pure light to his disciples, an inspiring ideal to the ordinary admirers, a focus of wisdom and peace to the wisdom and peace seekers, and a silent blessing to the whole world. Of Him Sri Krishna spoke the lines:
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"Flee unto Him for shelter with all thy being, O Bharata.
By His Grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace, the everlasting home."
ending with:
"Thus hath wisdom, more secret than secrecy itself, been declared unto thee by Me. Having reflected on it fully, then act thou as thou listeth."
(Bhagavad Gita, XVIII, 62-63)
