Aptavani-8
157
and it is also with ego. The one with the belief, ‘I am this body
(dehadhyas)’, is considered jivatma and the one who has no
ego and does not live or die, that it the Atma.
Questioner: So, where is the stage of the Absolute Soul
(Parmatma)?
Dadashri: The Absolute Soul is when one attains the
awareness of one’s own Self (swaroop), and therefore one
becomes the form of the Atma (Atmaroop). Then, the state of
the Absolute Soul (Parmatma) continues to manifest. And once
it has manifested fully, that is when he has become the Absolute
Soul. Therefore, when the thirteenth gunthanu (or gunasthanak
described as a set of fourteen steps in the spiritual development
of the Self) ends, then Absolute Knowledge (Keval Gnan)
happens, and one has become complete Parmatma (Absolute
Soul).
So this embodied soul (jiva) is the Atma’s own state
(avastha), but it is an illusory state, and why is it called jiva?
Whatever undergoes the states (avastha) of living and dyin