When the dry branch of a coconut palm drops to the ground,
it leaves only a mark on the trunk indicating that once there was a branch at
that place. In the like manner, he who has attained God keeps only an
appearance of ego; there remains in him only a semblance of anger and lust. He
becomes like a child.
We color everything with our own selves. We have a brush—a
thing comes and we do not like it and we brush a little then look at it.
Selfishness prompts us to paint everything with ourselves.
The body comes and goes and is limited. . . The body is not
the Real Man; neither is the mind, for the mind waxes and wanes. It is the
spirit beyond, which alone can live forever. The body and mind are continually
changing, and are, in fact, only names of series of changeful phenomena, like
rivers whose waters are in a constant state of flux, yet presenting the
appearance of unbroken streams. . . the self-contained Purusha (Self) within is
your real nature.
The adjunct of mind is His first and subtle covering, then,
there is this body which is His gross, outer covering. The indivisible,
changeless, self-effulgent Purusha is lying hidden under these delusive veils,
therefore your real nature is unknown to you.
Swami Vivekananda