Flower without fragrance!
Geet jaisa main hoon akela..
Tumhare sur bina..
Sai.. tumhare sur bina
Kaagaz ke phool jaisaa hoon main...
Tumhare sugandh bina..
Sai.... tumhare sugandh bina
(Like a lyric without tune, a flower without fragrance, this is what I am Sai.. without You!)
Knowledge without experiencing is no knowledge at all.
This is in essence purports the advaitic philosophy of realizing the nature of Sai.
While the statement not necessarily derogates the pursuit of knowledge whether it is from
scriptures or Sadguru, it does points out to the limitations of the knowledge.
Examples are abounding in the scriptures pointing to how great people even with all the
knowledge could not accomplish the purpose of their pursuit.
Knowledge is the entity gained by the outward pursuit of mind whereas the experience is
the inward investigation. It is of utmost importance for a seeker to know the distinction
between the two. Knowledge as a function of logic is easily explained while experience
remains with the self, only to be experienced! Does the inability to explain the experience
mean that it does not exist? Absolutely not. One of the most eloquent and illuminating
commentaries on the experience of the self can be found in "Tripura Rahasya", when the
woman ascetic spoke to Ashtavakra in King Janaka's court:
"Hearing it a thousand times over will be useless unless one verifies the teachings by
means of investigation into the Self with a concentrated mind. Just as a prince labors
under a misapprehension that the string of pearls still clinging to his neck has been stolen
away by another and is not persuaded to the contrary by mere words but only believes
when he finds it around his neck by his own effort so also, O youth, however clever a man
may be, he will never know his own self by the mere teaching of others unless he realizes
it for himself. Otherwise he can never realize the Self if his mind is turned outward.
A lamp illumines all around but does not illumine itself or another light.
It shines of itself without other sources of light.
Things shine in sunlight without the necessity for any other kind of illumination.
Because lights do not require to be illumined, do we say that they are not known or that
they do not exist? Therefore, as it is thus with lights and things made aware by the
conscious self, what doubt can you have regarding abstract consciousness, namely the
Self?
Lights and things being insentient cannot be self-aware. Still, their existence or
manifestation is under no doubt. That means they are self-luminous.
Can you not similarly investigate with an inward mind in order to find out if the all-
comprehending Self is conscious or not conscious? That Consciousness is absolute and
transcends the three states (wakefulness, dream and slumber) and comprises all the
universe making it manifest. Nothing can be apprehended without its light.
Will anything be apparent to you, if there be no consciousness?
Even to say that nothing is apparent to you (as in sleep) requires the light of
consciousness. Is not your awareness of your unawareness (in sleep) due to
consciousness?
If you infer its eternal light, then closely investigate whether the light is of itself or not.
Everybody falls in this investigation however learned and proficient he may be, because his
mind is not bent inward but restlessly moves outward.
As long as thoughts crop up, so long has the turning inward of the mind not been
accomplished. As long as the mind is not inward, so long the Self cannot be realized.
Turning inward means absence of desire. How can the mind be fixed within if desires are
not given up?
Therefore, become dispassionate and inhere as the Self. Such inherence is spontaneous
(no effort is needed to inhere as the Self). It is realized after thoughts are eliminated and
investigation ceases. Recapitulate your state after you break off from it, and then will know
all and the significance of its being knowable and unknowable at the same time.
Thus realizing the unknowable, one abides in immortality for ever and ever.
(Inspired by "Tripura Rahasya" by Swami Sri Ramanananda Saraswathi)