He alone knows Brahman who becomes Brahman

“Those who give up this supremely purifying thought of Brahman, live in vain and are on the same level with beasts.

“Blessed indeed are those virtuous persons who at first have

this consciousness of Brahman and then develop it more and

more.

They are respected everywhere.”

—(Aparokshanubhuti)-- 130-131)

Truth that was reflected on the clear mirror of the mind,

remains as ever in its own glory when the mirror of the mind is broken.

The highest experience in spiritual life is when the mental state

has completely stopped, when the bubble has become one with the

ocean.

‘One who has become Brahman, he alone can know Brahman.’

“That mental state, illumined by the reflection of Pure Consciousness, makes the Supreme Brahman, unknown but identical with the individual self, its object and destroys the ignorance

pertaining to Brahman.

Then, just as a cloth is burnt when the threads composing it are burnt, so all the effects of ignorance are destroyed when their cause, viz., ignorance, is destroyed.

Hence the mental state of absolute Oneness, which forms part

of those effects, is also destroyed.

As the light of a lamp cannot illumine the lustre of the sun, but

is overpowered by it, so Consciousness reflected in that state of

the mind is unable to illumine the Supreme Brahman, self-effulgent and identical with the individual self, and is overpowered by it.

And on the destruction of this state of absolute Oneness with which that Consciousness is associated, there remains only the Supreme Brahman, identical with the individual self,

just as the image of a face in a looking-glass is resolved into the

face itself, when the looking-glass is removed.”

—(Vedantasara 4.172-173)--

Swami yatiswarananda

Readings Of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Wiesbaden, Germany

May 6, 1934 -- (Vol.I 85-93)