SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL, PERFECTION

He is truly an Atma-Jnani, knower of the Self, who is dead even in this life; that is, whose passions and desires have been destroyed as in a dead body.

1 There is a pun on the word Siddha, which means both ' a perfect man, and ‘well-cooked’.

Sri Ramakrishna once said to Keshab Chandra Sen: " If you advance further, and preach higher and higher things, your sect will fall to pieces. In the state of Jnana, forming sects becomes meaningless—false as a dream.

When man attains true Jnana, he does not perceive God as a far-off being. He is no more felt thereafter as ' He , but as This, 'here within'—as within one s own soul. He is within all; whoever seeks Him, meets Him there.

A jar kept in water is full of water inside and outside. Thus the soul immersed in God sees the all-pervading Spirit within and without.

After the attainment of God-realisation, one sees Him everywhere, in everything. But greater is His mani« festation in man; and greatest of all, is He manifest in devotees full of Sattva-guna—in those who have not the slightest passion for woman and gold .

It is true, however, that when the devotee has realised God, he wishes to witness His sport (Lila). When Ramachandra entered the city of the Rakshasas (demons) after the destruction of Ravana, the old Nikasha began to run away. Lakshmana said, " How is this, Rama ? This Nikasha is so aged and has suffered so much from the loss of her sons, and yet she is afraid of losing her life, and is running away ! Rama bade her have no fear, and called her near him to learn why she was flying. Nikasha replied, " O Rama, it is because I have lived so long that I could witness so much of your sport'. I, therefore, desire to live longer so that I shall see more of your sport Y

Can ^here be Maya in the emancipated soul ? Ornaments cannot be made of pure gold; some alloy must be mixed with it. As long as man has a body he must have some Maya, at least to carry on the functions of the body ; a man totally devoid of Maya will not survive more than twenty-one days.

When the head of a goat is severed from its body, the trunk struggles for some time, still showing signs of life. Similarly, though Ahamkara (egotism) is slain in the perfect man, yet enough of its vitality is left to make him carry on the functions of physical life: but it is not sufficient to bind him again to the world.

The body is born, and it will have to die. But there is no death to the soul. When the betel-nut is ripe, the nut separates from the outer case, but it is very difficult to separate it while the nut is green. When God is attained, there dawns the consciousness that the soul is separate from the

When the Jews nailed Jesus to the cross, how was it that he could, in spite of so much pain and suffering, pray that they should be forgiven ? When an ordinary cocoanut is pierced through the shell, the nail enters the kernel of the nut. But in the case of the dry nut the kernel becomes separate from the shell; and when the shell is pierced, the kernel is not touched. Jesus was like the dry nut; his inner soul was separate from his physical shell. Consequently the sufferings of the body did not affect him. Though the nails were driven through and through, he could pray with calm tranquillity for the good of his enemies.