Question 229: What about the non-dual state?

The young Rama continues to ply the sage with questions. What about the non-dual state? If those self-realised persons are here in the world, how do they maintain equanimity, that state of balance in this world of action, change, suffering? How do the realised walk across the stage called life?

Glossary:

ananda: bliss, elation, state of extreme happiness, “cloud nine”,

jivanmukta: permanently self-realised (or God-realised) person who no longer has any identification whatsoever with his or her body.

prāna the breath of life, life-breath, the vital force which keeps the body alive, the sustaining life-energy fig. a beloved person, dear as one’s very life. Expressed as vibration, prāna is the link between the astral and the causal body. We absorb prāna through the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, from sunlight and the earth we live on – yet it is not vitamin, heat or light rays. It is in the air, but is not in the oxygen, nor any of its chemical components. Its movement is inward; its seat is the heart.

prana-yama (praanaayaama). Breath control.
prana-yama —practice by breathing exercise
prana-yama —by the practice of regulating the airs within the body

vasana: tendencies or desires

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Question 229: Sir, vasana arises even in those who have the non-dual knowledge; then how do they maintain equanimity in the jivanmukta state?

Answer: Ramji, I have answered this question before. Yet listen again for improving your understanding. He who has attained non-dual knowledge is free from ego. Being egoless he interacts in the world and is always fixed in the jivanmukta state. His vasana is extinct and, therefore, he is always in the state of ananda (bliss).

Question 230: Sir, how to obtain the non-dual knowledge that is of the nature of bliss ?

Answer: Ramji, there are two ways to cross the ocean of the universe; first, live in the world without ego and secondly practise pranayama. This way the jivanmukta state is attained.

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All living beings are actors on this stage. They take their exit when the curtain is rung down or when their part is over. On that stage, one may play the part of a thief; another may be cast as a king; a third may be a clown and another a beggar. For all these characters in the play, there is ONE who gives the cue! Here, some points have to be understood clearly. The prompter will not come upon the stage and give the cue, in full view of all. If He does so, the drama will lose interest. Therefore, standing behind the scene at the back of the stage, He gives the cue to all the actors, irrespective of the role; be it dialogue, speech or song, just when each is in most need of help. In the same way, the Lord is behind the screen on the stage of nature (prakriti), giving the cue to all the actors for their various parts. So every actor must be conscious of His Presence behind the screen of illusion (maya); he must be anxious to catch the faintest suggestion He might give, keeping a corner of the eye always to Him and having the ear pitched to catch His voice. Instead of this, if a person forgets the plot and the story (that is to say, the work for which one has come and the duties that appertain thereto), and neglects to watch the Presence behind the screen and simply stands dumb on the stage, the audience will laugh at his folly and charge him with spoiling the show.

For these reasons, every actor who has to play the role of man or woman on the World-stage must first learn the lines well and then, remembering the Lord behind the screen, await His orders. The attention must be on both; the lines one has learnt for the role and directions one may get from the stage manager. Mediation alone gives one this concentration and this awareness. Dhyana Vahini, p20

Hamsa Gayatri
Om Hamsaaya Vidmahe
Paramahamsaya Dheemahi
Tanno Hamsa Prachodayat

“May we realise Hamsa that is our own Self as the Swan. Let us meditate on that Paramahamsa, the Supreme Self. May Hamsa illumine us.”

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