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I am the Soul
377
A jiva does not hinder anybody in any way, nor does it get hindered by anybody. That is why Srimadji has said that, 'that which is the unhindered experience, is the true form of the jiva'. There are six substances which occupy one “pradesh'. Of these only the self is animate, the other five are all inanimate. Therefore, atma alone is the one who can see. The inanimate has neither vision nor does it see. Yet the inanimate substance has colour and other characteristics which give it a form, as a result of which the jiva is misled and places attachment in it. Other substances are all in the form of energy - they are formless and as such the jiva does not get attached to them.
Jiva can know a substance with form. The jiva itself is formless. That means the person who sees is formless and the visual is with form. The feeling of unity among them is the material world. But if we give it a deeper thought, then the characteristics of both animate and inanimate are different. Therefore, the material world is merely an unfathomable illusion between the vision and the visual. Swami Shri Sahajanandji has, therefore, said -
दृश्य तो झेर छे जीव व्याकुळ करे,
Çpuni çfe viis HETCH...
If the jiva gets attracted to the visual, its effects are like those of poison, they create bewilderment. Therefore, a sadhaka in devoted practice removes his vision away from the visual and places it upon the one who sees.
Srimadji also expresses the same feelings in the following doha, that jiva is formless and the inanimate is with form. The characteristics of both are totally different. In spite of this, if the formless spirit - chetan - who can see, had an illusion of being with a form, if it showed the madness of accepting it, it is indeed the greatest surprise which can hardly be described. How is it that the atma in spite of being formless, wanders as a slave for
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