Swami Lokesananda, a Sanyasi, asked Sri Bhagavan: Is there for a ?
M.: Who is the questioner? From whom does the question proceed? Is it a who is asking?
D.: No, I am not a as yet.
M.: Then why not let the ask the question for himself?
D.: The doubt is for me.
M.: Quite so. The has doubts but not a .
D.: According to the creed that there is nothing new (), the explanations of Sri Bhagavan are faultless; but are they admissible in other schools?
M.: There are three methods of approach in Advaita vāda.
(1) The is represented by no loss, no creation, no one bound, no , no one desirous of liberation, no liberation. This is the Supreme Truth. (“Mandukya Kārika”, II—32.)
According to this, there is only One and it admits of no discussion.
(2) Drishti Srishtivāda is illustrated thus:- Simultaneous creation. There are two friends sleeping side by side. One of them dreams that he goes to Benares with his friend and returns. He tells his friend that both of them have been in Benares. The other denies it. The statement is true from the standpoint of one and the denial from that of the other.
(3) Srishti Drishtivāda is plain (Gradual creation and knowledge of it).
is posited as past karma, etc., , and . There must be (doership) and karta (doer) for it. Karma (action) cannot be for the body because it is insentient. It is only so long as (‘I am the body idea’) lasts. After transcending dehātma buddhi one becomes a . In the absence of that idea () there cannot be either kartritva or karta. So a jnāni has no karma. That is his experience. Otherwise he is not a jnāni. However an identifies the jnāni with his body, which the jnāni does not do. So the ajnāni finds the jnāni acting, because his body is active, and therefore he asks if the jnāni is not affected by prārabdha.
The scriptures say that is the fire which burns away all (sarvakarmāni). Sarva (all) is interpreted in two ways: (1) to include and (2) to exclude it. In the first way: if a man with three wives dies, it is asked, “Can two of them be called widows and the third not?” All are widows. So it is with prārabdha, and . When there is no none of them can hold out any longer.
The second explanation is, however, given only to satisfy the enquirer. It is said that all is burnt away leaving alone. The body is said to continue in the functions for which it has taken its birth. That is prārabdha. But from the point of view there is only the Self which manifests in such variety. There is no body or karma apart from the Self, so that the actions do not affect him.
D.: Is there not (I am the body idea) for the ? If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan be bitten by an insect, is there no sensation?
M.: There is the sensation and there is also the . The latter is common to both and with this difference, that the ajnāni thinks dehaiva Ātma (only the body is myself), whereas the jnāni knows all is of the Self (Atmamayam sarvam), or (sarvam khalvidam Brahma) all this is Brahma. If there be pain let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is (perfect).
Now with regard to the actions of the , they are only so-called because they are ineffective. Generally the actions get imbedded as in the individual. That can be only so long as the mind is fertile, as in the case of the . With a jnāni the mind is only surmised; he has already transcended the mind. Because of his apparent activity the mind has to be inferred in his case, and that mind is not fertile like that of an ajnāni. Hence it is said that a jnāni’s mind is Brahman. Brahman is certainly no other than the jnāni’s mind. The cannot bear fruit in that soil. His mind is barren, free from vāsanās, etc.
However, since was conceded in his case, also must be supposed to exist. If they exist they are only for enjoyment (bhogahetu). That is to say, actions bear twofold fruits, the one for enjoyment of their fruits and the other leaving an impress on the mind in the form of for subsequent manifestation in future births. The mind being barren cannot entertain seeds of . His vāsanās simply exhaust themselves by activities ending in enjoyment only (bhogahetuka karma). In fact, his karma is seen only from the standpoint. He remains actionless only. He is not aware of the body as being apart from the Self. How can there be liberation () or bondage (bhanda) for him. He is beyond both. He is not bound by karma, either now or ever. There is no or according to him.
D.: From all this it looks as if a who has scorched all the is the best and that he would remain inactive like a stock or stone.
M.: No, not necessarily. do not affect him. Is it not itself a vāsanā that one remains like a stock or stone? is the state.