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therefore he cannot say, “I am the Soul.” As long as the
awareness and the belief, ‘I am Chandulal’, ‘I am a priest’, ‘I
am an ascetic’ etc.,’ has not gone, how can he say, ‘I am a pure
Soul?’ And until then how can he attain nirvikalp samadhi (bliss
of the egoless state)? All these are merely words and everything
remains only as words. Only vitarag Lords and their followers
were in nirvikalp samadhi. They simply remained ‘knower’ of all
that unfolded whether right or wrong. They were ‘knower’ of
stones that were hurled at them as well as ‘knower’ of garlands
of flowers that were offered to them. How can you call them
vitarags if they are not ‘knower’? But some assert, ‘We are in
nirvikalp samadhi,’ just because their awareness of the body is
gone. Awareness of the body is absent even during sleep, so
that too can be called nirvikalp samadhi, right? Those who lose
awareness of their body when they are awake and see light
when their chit is actively projecting are experiencing only that,
nothing else. That is not the ultimate state. It is a grave mistake
to believe and affirm so. In nirvikalp samadhi there is complete
awareness of the body, as well as the Self. Otherwise, vitarag
Lords would not be able to see anything in their keval Gnan.
No one really understands nirvikalp samadhi; everyone
has different connotations of it in their own language (bhasha).
People have also interpreted the Soul in their own language and
yet they say, “I want to have knowledge of the Soul.”
The impurity of the chit of the sant purush (a saint who
is in the process of seeking liberation) or those who have
reached similar spiritual level is significantly reduced. So they
punish their body whenever a desire for something worldly
arises within them, ‘Why do you have these desires?’ They even
put chili pepper in their eyes! Now what would foreigners say
about such a gnan (knowledge)? They will say, “He must be
crazy.” Muslims too would think they are crazy. But people here
(Hindus) regard them as wise. They put chili pepper in their eyes
because the eyes made a mistake in seeing ‘something wrong’.