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Aptavani-2
433
After Self-realization, no effects of the mind, regardless of the nature of restlessness, affect You the real Self. What is the difference between You and the Gnani? It is only that of external problems (upadhi). The Gnani does not have any upadhi whereas you do.
Sthita Pragnya
One day a great pundit (a religious scholar) came to test me. He asked me, "What is a state of sthita-pragnya?" I explained to him, "You are in a state of sthita-agna. You are standing on this side of the bank so make the assessment yourself what the other bank of sthita-pragnya must be like." I further said to him, "Do you want me to tell you what appeals to you or what offends you? You are in a state of nothing but sthita-agna; you go around in a state of intoxication from your scholarship. The intoxication of alcohol is better than your intoxication; at least with the former it goes down when you pour water over a drunk. Whereas you have made your intoxication permanent; it does not go down even during sleep. It is possible for you to attain salvation, having wandered endless lives, by doing 'our' darshan for only five minutes. Here, with 'us' (in us) it is possible to do darshan of any God you wish. Do darshan of anyone you wish."
Sthita-pragnya is not a state of experience. Sthita-pragnya begins from the moment you begin to make a differentiation through words when you say, "This is the Atma and it is separate from everything else." The state of sthita-pragnya begins from the moment you utter the difference till the moment you attain the experience of the Soul (the Self). That is the state of sthita-pragnya. The path that Lord Krishna has shown comes all the way to sthita-pragnya, however there is a lot more beyond that. When 'we' give you the knowledge of the Self, you experience a state much higher than the state of sthitapragnya. There is tremendous difference between the state of sthita-pragnya and attaining the Self. Sthita-pragnya means to be