Question and answer 18

The Self's light shines as one, whole, self-luminous — so how do things like the three states and the three bodies come to appear on it at all? And how, even so, does the Self itself never actually move?

Example | What it stands for

(1) the lamp | the Self.

(2) the door | sleep.

(3) the threshold | mahat, the great principle.

(4) the inner wall | ignorance, or the causal body.

(5) the mirror | the ego.

(6) the windows | the five senses of knowledge.

(7) the inner room | deep sleep, where the causal body shines.

(8) the middle room | dream, where the subtle body shines.

(9) the courtyard | waking, where the gross body shines.

In deep sleep the Self, the lamp (1), shines by itself in the inner room (7), the causal body, enclosed by the inner wall (4) of ignorance and the door of sleep. Then time, karma and the rest, through the vital breath, open the door (2) of sleep; and the mirror (5), the ego, which stands next to the threshold (3), mahat, catches the reflected light of the Self and lights up the middle room (8), dream, and, through the windows (6), the five senses, the courtyard (9), waking. When time, karma and the rest, like a wind, shut the door of sleep again, waking and dream go, and with them the 'I'; only oneself, the Self, ever shines. So this example makes plain the Self's unmoving being, the difference between it and the ego, and how the three states, the three bodies and the rest come to appear.

How is it that, upon the light of the Self, which shines as one and undivided and self-luminous, imaginings such as the three states and the three bodies appear; and how is it that, even so, the Self alone always remains unmoved?

Example / Application — (1) the lamp / the Self. (2) the door / sleep. (3) the threshold / mahat, the cosmic intellect. (4) the inner wall / ignorance, or the causal body. (5) the mirror / the ego. (6) the windows / the five senses of knowledge. (7) the inner room / deep sleep, in which the causal body operates. (8) the middle room / dream, in which the subtle body operates. (9) the courtyard / waking, in which the gross body operates. — As the Self, (1) the lamp, shines by itself, in deep sleep, in the inner room (7) — the causal body, formed together with the inner wall (4), ignorance, and the shut door of sleep — when, by time, karma and the vital breath, the door (2) is opened for waking, the threshold (3), mahat, and the mirror (5), the ego, next to that threshold, together with the reflected light of the Self, illuminate both the middle room (8), dream, and, by way of the five windows (6), the five senses, the courtyard (9), waking; and when, by time, karma and the vital breath, the door of sleep is shut again, the 'I' having ceased along with waking and dream, oneself (the Self) alone shines, always — from this it is well understood, by means of this example, both the Self's unmoving being [அசலமான + இருப்பு] and its difference from the ego, and how the three states and the three bodies and the rest come to appear.