164
Aptavani-8
that, you alone are the Absolute Soul (Parmatma)! They say,
‘God is separate, and I am separate’. However, when one comes
to understand the differentiating intellect (bhed buddhi) that
separates living being and Atma (jiva-Shiva), and that there is
no difference between the two, he will become free!
You will have to understand this someday, will you not?
Besides, will you not eventually have to understand the Atma?
When one knows the Atma, the differentiating intellect that
separates the jiva and the Atma, disappears and once the
differentiating intellect (bhed buddhi) that separates living being
and Atma (jiva-Shiva) breaks, the fear breaks, and a state of
detachment from attachment and abhorrence (vitaragata)
prevails.
If they go on saying that God is separate and I am separate,
then when will it ever end? Has it not been this way for infinite
lifetimes? Then you and ‘I’ are there anyways! They have been
chanting ‘Thou art, Thou art’ for countless lifetimes.
You yourself are the owner of this world! But this entire
ownership has been lost! What is all this?! That is why one
needs to realize that, ‘I am Shiva (Atma)’ and that is called the
experience of the Self (anubhuti). When you have attained the
awareness of, ‘I am Shuddhatma (the pure Soul)’, that is when
you can call it the experience of the Self (anubhuti)! Besides,
every living being (jiva) has the awareness of ‘I am living being
(jiva)’.
…But the Path Is Indeed the Same
Questioner: Can the separation between living being (jiva)
and Atma (Shiva) be broken through any other body, besides
the human body?
Dadashri: No. It cannot be done through any other body.
Questioner: Can penance be done through the subtle
body (sookshma deha)?