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Chapter 16: Guru's Exposition about the Path and Means of Liberation
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Paryäys. None of them can alter the inherent purity of the soul. That purity remains latent in the worldly state, and becomes manifest in the liberated state.
Enlightenment: Infinite knowledge is a property of the soul. It has the inherent capability to know everything. For that, it does not need to go to the objects to be known. Those objects themselves are reflected in its knowing capability. It also does not need any external means for exercising its capability. That capability remains obscured by the knowledge-obscuring Karma. Thereupon the soul conceives of itself as devoid of knowledge and tries to gain it with the help of sense organs. It tries to know a surface by the sense of touch, taste by the tongue, odor by the nose, sight by the eyes, and sound by the ears. This happens because the worldly soul has forsaken its infinite capability to know. That capability, however, stays within and can be experienced by getting rid of the impact of the obscuring Karma.
Consciousness: This denotes the capability to remain aware. Awareness is the attribute that belongs only to the soul. No other substance has awareness. Here the term used is Chaitanyaghan, which literally means concrete consciousness. The use of the term "concrete" may seem contradictory since consciousness is intangible and cannot be concrete. However, the word "concrete" is used here to convey that consciousness is pure, perfect, complete, solid (no room for impurity to get in), and abides in every part of the soul. We become aware of whatever happens in any part of the body, because the soul pervades the entire body. The ability of awareness is not fully manifest at present because of the impact of Karma; but it can be fully experienced in the liberated state.
Self-illumination: What shines by itself and does not need any other means for cognition, is called self-illuminating. For instance, the sun is self-illuminating, no lamp is required to see sunshine. We can make it out even from a corner of our
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