D: If the jnani and the ajnani perceive the world in like manner, where is the difference between them?
M: Seeing the world, the jnani sees the Self which is the substratum of
all that is seen; the ajnani, whether he sees the world or not, is
ignorant of his true Being, the Self.
Take the instance of moving
pictures on the screen in the cinema-show. What is there in front of you
before the play begins? Merely the screen. On that screen you see the
entire show, and for all appearances the pictures are real. But go and
try to take hold of them. What do you take hold of? Merely the screen on
which the pictures appeared so real. After the play, when the pictures
disappear, what remains? The screen again!
So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures come and go. If you
hold on to the Self, you will not be deceived by the appearance of the
pictures. Nor does it matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.
Ignoring the Self the ajnani thinks the world is real, just as ignoring
the screen he sees merely the pictures, as if they existed apart from
it. If one knows that without the seer there is nothing to be seen, just
as there are no pictures without the screen, one is not deluded. The
jnani knows that the screen, the pictures and the sight thereof are but
the Self. With the pictures the Self is in its manifest form; without
the pictures It remains in the unmanifest form. To the jnani it is quite
immaterial if the Self is in the one form or the other. He is always
the Self. But the ajnani seeing the jnani active gets confounded.
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