Categories: opinion

Ultimate wisdom lies beyond senses

Devotees would ask Sri Ramakrishna about the nature of realized person. They would wish to know how he converses about the Ultimate Truth, etc. Of course, in the Gita too Arjuna asks Sri Krishna about the behavior of a Sthitaprajna or a man of steady wisdom. Sri Ramakrishna would explain the phenomenon using a beautiful analogy.
It was a theatre and people had assembled to witness a very exciting play. The people were discussing animatedly about the theme, the actors, the scenes, etc. But, as soon as the curtain went up and the play began, everyone became silent and became completely immersed in the play. Similarly, Sri Ramakrishna would say that as long as the spiritual aspirant is struggling, he keeps talking in various ways about the Ultimate Truth. He is just only a Sadhaka and is not a Siddha or a realized soul. All the knowledge that he has gathered about the Ultimate Truth from sources such as scriptures, his Guru, the fellow Sadhakas, etc have all been gathered with the help of Indriyas or the senses. But, the Ultimate Knowledge relates to the domain of the transcendental, that is the region beyond the senses. When the Sadhaka crosses the zone of the senses and enters the transcendental realm and gets a glimpse of the Ultimate Truth, he is stunned into silence. He becomes speechless. That is because the Ultimate Truth is beyond the senses and hence is inexpressible. It can only be experienced. Even when the realized souls try to give expression to their experience of the highest, they have to come down from the dizzy heights of the transcendental experience to the level of the senses and express the Truth. Invariably, such an attempt would fall far short of the true reality. That is why in the scriptures it is said Yato vacho nivartante aprapya manasa saha i.e. the mind and speech return back from it baffled as they are not able to grasp and describe it.
SWAMI SHANTATMANANDA

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