Aptavani Shreni 08

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Aradhana Trust

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INTRODUCTION
Part One What is the Soul? What is it like?
Not being able to comprehend the subtlest and the most profound element in the universe, which is your own real form (swaroop; the Self); what You are yourself, thinkers are confounded by endless thoughts like: The Atma is like this, or is it like that? Is it in the form of light? And what would its illumination be like! The true Vision (darshan), that transcends imagination, the one that only the Gnani Purush has envisaged, can only be attained through him. For those who did not have the opportunity to meet him in person, this particular volume contains his spoken Knowledge (Gnan vani), which shows the real path, and leads one further and further along it.
The Self is truly who one is, and to know this is to know the Atma. And that is what you need to know.
He that has Known, Seen, Experienced and permanently lived in the swaroop (real form; the Self) of the Atma that is beyond doubt and imagination of shape or form; has said that it is beyond form (aakruti) and formlessness (niraakruti). The Atma's real form is independent (niralumb) and illuminating (prakashak). It is not dependent on either time or place. That is the kind of Atma the Gnani dwells in. He is separate, the body is separate, and he interacts with the body as a neighbor.
No one, in the world is naastik (without existence). The awareness of one's astitva (existence); I am, is there. Everyone with this awareness is aastik (with existence). The Atma has existence (astitva); it has elemental reality (vastutva) and completeness (purnatva). Every living being has awareness of its existence (astitva); a rare person has the awareness of his reality (vastutva), and completeness (purnatva) is the reward of knowing one's own real Self. Only the Knower of separation
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