The state of a Jnani is from the conversation between King Janaka and Ashtavakra.
There comes a time when practices requiring the body are set aside. They seem redundant, no longer worthy of attention. Empty. Lectures, even the scriptures fall away. Finally, every thought becomes a nuisance, even painful compared to the repose that swallows everything up. This is the state of the jnani. All thoughts are distractions and all disciplines have been transcended. There is no more effort, just endless, unbroken Peace. No more wind to stir the flame or rock the ship.
The surrender is complete. The world and thoughts have no
more attraction. Unless the world is completely gone, the Self, which has no
form and cannot be grasped by the mind through the senses, will not be reached
nor can It shine.
Inventions of the mind are all imposters. Efforts to control
them through discipline and practice are at first necessary, and nothing is possible
without that. But, beyond a certain point, those very attempts lose their power
and simply drop off. When the mind is gone, there is only One. Who is to
concentrate and on what?
Good and bad, pleasure and pain are only in the mind. How
can they exist without it? When there is total, absolute Peace the perceived world
becomes a dream. Then we are mere performers on a stage, acting but not acting.
Like dry leaves pushed by the wind or puppets on a string.
No more passion for doing the right thing, like passing
through various stages of life as prescribed by tradition. No more need for the
vagaries of the mind or attempts to control it when there is no mind. There are
no divisions. No distinctions. Just One. And in that One is Everything. A
fullness inconceivable to the mind, near at hand, intimate and always there.
Actions are for the body and for the mind. When the mind is transcended,
they play their role naturally without affecting the Peace within. They are not
separate from the Self, but they are not the Self either. They are waves with
no existence of their own. Miracle of miracles!
Practices like ‘I am not this, I am That’ are mere mental
exercises. They are aids to a point but must be consumed by the fire before the
Self can shine in all Its Glory. When there is Nothing, there is Everything.
Where there is only One, there is Silence only.
He who has accomplished this and realised his own true
nature becomes inexpressibly fulfilled in every way.
Enchanting repetition. No more waves. Profound stillness.
Total independence from the world and its vagaries. Freedom from all suffering.
Total feeding of the soul on itself, totally swallowed up by the Self. Bliss!
No more waves, just Ocean.
Source – Ashtavakra Gita - Mountain Path Magazine October 2022 issue