Ashtavakra Gita 2.4 - Self-Realization and the Nature of Consciousness

No example is fully applicable and true. Example is taken from the sensory, external world. But what is sought to be illustrated is the inner phenomena. The two have no comparison. Yet we have only the visible phenomena to draw from, until our intelligence becomes familiar with the inner details and gains the efficiency to understand them first-hand.

The seeker has to make use of these examples and strive to understand the inner truth. Use them to the extent the two compare, and then try to reflect upon the contrast. Inference is an equally valid means for our perceptions. The major part of our knowledge is gained by inference, which is the sole mission of our intelligence.

Self is full within the body. As wave in water, no waviness is possible in the inner fullness. What is the world perceived within then? It is not separate, like wave from water, from the Self. It is only an appearance, a mere display. Sentience has the power to produce such illusions. The world and everything of it are thus only a notional, illusory, evolution from the Self.

To separate the body from the Self, as the Sage instructed earlier (Ashtavakra 1.3 ), is the first step. Subsequently, the seeker has to think in terms of the Self itself directly and grasp that no such ‘separation’ arises at all, because the Self alone is. All else are its own notional display.