*Points to ponder* - Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi no 499

'ALL ARE 'JNANIS' IN BHAGAVAN'S VIEW'

D.: So it amounts to this. To see a 'Jnani' (The knower of Brahman or Pure consciousness) is not to understand him. You see the jnani’s body and not his 'jnanam' (Pure awareness or Brahman). One must therefore be a 'Jnani' to know a 'Jnani'.

M.: The 'Jnani' sees no one as an 'ajnani' (One who knows not what Brahman is). All are only 'jnanis' in his sight. In the ignorant state one superimposes his ignorance on a 'Jnani' and mistakes him for a doer. In the state of 'jnana', the 'Jnani' sees nothing separate from the Self. The Self is all shining and only pure 'jnana'. So there is no 'ajnana' in his sight.

There is an illustration for this kind of allusion or super-imposition. Two friends went to sleep side by side. One of them dreamt that both of them had gone on a long journey and had strange experiences. On waking up he recapitulated them and asked his friend if it was not so. The other one simply ridiculed him saying that it was only his dream and could not affect the other.
So it is with the 'ajnani' who superimposes his illusive ideas on others.

Regarding 'ajnana' in early youth and 'jnana' at the present time, Sri Bhagavan said: There is no 'jnana' as it is commonly understood. The ordinary ideas of 'jnana' and 'ajnana' are only relative and false. They are not real and therefore not abiding. The true state is the non-dual Self (Truth-Being-Existence-Consciousness and Bliss). It is eternal and abides whether one is aware or not. It is like 'kantabharana' (The necklace worn around one's neck) or the tenth man (Oneself).

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi no 499