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189 Seeing that the highest aim of man is the removal of suffering which is caused by Nescience iRl) and the attainment of the highest happiness which is produced by the right knowledge ( arfe), the VedS,nta asks us, for the above object, to arrange the universe into the two usual principal parts: — body and soul, or, the gross phenomenal and inert material part (sT?), and the Divine Real ( ) behind the phenomenal and material part, and shows us how to see the inner Divine Real everywhere. The initiated student has thus to transfer his mind from the phenomenal world, which is full of miseries, to the Divine Reality which is full of happiness. He then comprehends the truth of the great phrases ( ), such as, all this is verily Brahman lam Brahman ST^TT^). He feels the presence of the immanent God everywhere and in himself as the realisation resulting from ( ) 'Thou art That’. He is all happiness and perfection. His highest aim of knowing Brahman everywhere has been reached. This restrains him from committing, before the eyes of God, seen by him everywhere, what he is ashamed to commit before the eyes of men. All his move- ments in life are regulated and created in this constant sense of the presence of the same supreme Self in Whom we live, and move, and have our being. While he is destined to live he devotes himself to the performance of his essential duty, caring nothing for the fruit of his action. In fact he, remaining untouch- ed and tmdisturbed, acts as an instrument in the hands of, or as a channel for the working of, the 190 Lord of the creation, and surrenders the fruit to Him as a loving offering. He desires not what does not come to him, nor does he reject what has come to him unasked. The Liberated but still Living. Jivanmukta Such a rare personage is called a Jivanmukta ( ), i. e., ‘liberated but still living.’ It is he who, by knowing the impartite Brahman ( 5^) which is his own essence ( ), — a result brought about by the removal of the Ignorance ( ST^TR ) enveloping It, — ^perceives It ( Brahman ) clearly as the Impartite and his own essence ; and, in consequence of the removal of ignorance, and its effects, such as accumulated works doubt, and error, abides in Brahman ( ), e., remains intent on Brahman, free from all fetters. Humility (sTOrf^jR), the absence of enmity ?.!ld other good qualities ( ) cling to him as ornaments, or exist in him without an effort”.’ He may be an Emperor like R^ma, or an humble ascetic like (^ukadeva ; he is the highest of all in the world. Man should be estimated according to what he is and not according to what he has. “Pigmies are pigmies still, though placed on the Alps; And pyramids are pyramids in vales. ” Although all men are eligible for the exalted position of Jivanmukti, just as in a Republican State any and all are eligible for the President- ship, but very very few endeavour conscientiously 1. See Sad&nanda’s Veddntasdra, khandas 34-35. It is translated into English by Col. O. A. Jacob. 191 and perseveringly to qualify themselves to become what they can be in the Republic of higher knowledge. Though such characters advancing in the highest and best directions, are very rare but still their bea- conlike example remains an enduring and encouraging monument of human accomplishment. The body — the material tenement — of the best and greatest man dies, but his thoughts, words, and deeds sur- vive and leave an indelible stamp upon his race, moulding the thoughts and the will, and lifting up, illuminating, and hallowing those coming within its sphere. He thus leaves, in his example, the most glori- ous of legacies to mankind, and fills their minds with all that is most worthy and noble in life. Common clay becomes aromatic earth when roses are planted in it. Good makes good. This is a very just obser- vation. The Jivanmuhta lives a life of self- consecration and righteousness, and humanitarian- ism ( ), whose sympathies are for the benefit of all others, and are not bounded by any motive of interest. He works lasting good to all. He lives and reigns in the hearts of the good even after his ( ) emancipation from his adjuncts and his return to Brahman, which Muhti is undifferenced existence, undifferenced intelligence, and undifferenced beatitude, the consummation of BraJmavidyd the knowledge of Brahman. The superiority of the Jivanmvkta is of the highest kind, and leads him to march in thought on the outside margin of the crowd, watching them, sym- 192 pathising with them, and hoping for them, but apart. His business becomes to modify the wills, without ever commanding the acts of men, and thus to preserve his characteristic universality. The example set by the Jivanmukta exerts a commanding influence on our life, though we may be quite unconscious thereof. To be cognizant of one awakened, enlightened, steadfast, and stainless soul, is to have heaven’s light as our guide in dark- ness, encouragement in difficulty, and a secret in- centive to the best thought and action. Though silent and apart, it is the witness of what is great and noble, and our life is always seeking to rise within its sphere ; while by a secret transference— for such souls are not retentive of their own good- ness— our standards of thinking and living are maintained at their highest level, like water fed by a distant spring. A poet truly addresses such a personage thus:— “With a high and holy purpose Doing all thou hast to do ; Seeking ever man’s upraising With the highest end in view. Heights attained, revealing higher Onward, upward, ever press. ” One who has reached the true knowledge through discrimination of the Self and the non-self, ( a rT ti TI - ) sees that the embodiedness of Self is ( not real but ) caused by wrong conception, and that the Self is free from his body even while still he is alive. He has comprehended Brahman to be the 193 Self, and therefore does not belong to this .transmi- gratory world ( ) as he did before.^ The Brihaddranyaka Up, ( IV, 4, 7 ) declares : — ‘ He is without desire ( ), free from desire ( ), whose desires have been fulfilled ( ), whose desire is the Self ( ), his vital spirits (srr>T) do not emigrate; being Brahman b® be- comes Brahman ( STflT'^flT ).’ Thus he feels himself as everything, so lie has no desire for anything, he has whatever can be had ; and regarding all as him- self, he will not injure any one, for no one injures himself. The life-liberated, Jivamnulcta, seems to act and enjoy, but he is conscious all the time that it is not his Self but his body, senses, &c., which do so. This is the result of the true knowledge. It gives him complete freedom and the highest bliss, and a kind of divine self-recollection. Everything else remains as it is. He believes that it is quite possible to take part, like R4ma, Janaka, Orishna, &c,, in the practical work of life and yet to maintain a perfect tranquillity of mind within enjoying the divine Self-recollection. Rdma and many others took a prominent and active part in the affairs of the State, as rulers. They knew their Self to be the highest Self, and therefore tvere the highest Self. Though they moved about among the pleasant sights of the world they did not mind them, as they concerned their body only, which was not their Self. The Jivanmukta’s is a noble and sublime life. He 1. See the Brahma-StUras, I, 1,4, 194 lives surrounded by every object, and yet is absolutely indiflferent to all. He moves through riches or poverty, through pleasure or pain, with equal con- tentment and serenity. The deepest joy derived from the true knowledge suflfuses the whole of his nature. " Philosophy is,” says Hegel, precisely the doctrine which is to free man from innumerable finite aims and ends, and to make him so indifferent to them that it is really all the same whether such things exist or not.” The true Ved4ntin^s religious knowledge is a reali- sation, not talk, nor doctrines, nor theories. It is being and becoming, not hearing and acknowledg- ing. Dr. Max Muller wisely and considerately observes:— “After lifting the Self above body and soul, after uniting heaven and earth, God and man. Brahman and Atman, these Vedanta philosophers have destroy- ed nothing in the life of the phenomenal beings who have to act and to fulfil their duties in this phenomenal world. On the contrary, they have shown that there can be nothing phenomenal with- out something that is real, and that goodness and virtue, faith and works, are necessary as a preparation, nay as a sine qua non, for the attainment of that highest knowledge which brings the soul back to its source and to its home, and restores it to its true nature, to its true Self-hood in Brahman.”^ The JivanmuTcta feels he has found out what he 1. The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, pp. 240-1. 195 was seeking, and what can never be taken away from him. Henceforward he does not allow the sins of the world to soil him, just as the leaf of the lotus does not allow the water ( in which it is ) to wet it, itself remaining always above the water. He realises the truth of such phrases as these : — God is the ocean of happiness, and in Him alone happi- ness should be sought, and is got. This world is all but a show. All is vanity. “We are such stuff As dreams are made of, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep !” — Shak. Tempest. Act. IV.