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Aptavani-8
that, you alone are the Absolute Soul (Parmatma)! They say, ‘God is separate, and I am separate'. However, when one comes to understand the differentiating intellect (bhed buddhi) that separates living being and Atma (jiva-Shiva), and that there is no difference between the two, he will become free!
You will have to understand this someday, will you not? Besides, will you not eventually have to understand the Atma? When one knows the Atma, the differentiating intellect that separates the jiva and the Atma, disappears and once the differentiating intellect (bhed buddhi) that separates living being and Atma (jiva-Shiva) breaks, the fear breaks, and a state of detachment from attachment and abhorrence (vitaragata) prevails.
If they go on saying that God is separate and I am separate, then when will it ever end? Has it not been this way for infinite lifetimes? Then you and I are there anyways! They have been chanting 'Thou art, Thou art' for countless lifetimes.
You yourself are the owner of this world! But this entire ownership has been lost! What is all this?! That is why one needs to realize that, 'I am Shiva (Atma)' and that is called the experience of the Self (anubhuti). When you have attained the awareness of, 'I am Shuddhatma (the pure Soul)', that is when you can call it the experience of the Self (anubhuti)! Besides, every living being (jiva) has the awareness of 'I am living being (jiva)'.
...But the Path Is Indeed the Same
Questioner: Can the separation between living being (jiva) and Atma (Shiva) be broken through any other body, besides the human body?
Dadashri: No. It cannot be done through any other body.
Questioner: Can penance be done through the subtle body (sookshma deha)?