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This is the reason why Paramatma is characterised as Eternally Pure, eternally intelligent, eternally liberated, eternally illumined, eternally content, eternally conscious etc. It is Wisdom Itself and so it is the embodiment of all teaching. It is not attached to anything and so it is ever free. When the Brahmam is tasted, that very moment all hunger ceases, all desires come to an end and so it grants contentment. Vijnana is the name given to the actual experiences of the Brahmam; it is a special type of Jnana, unlike the common fund of information got from the study of books. The net result of the study of any branch of learning, the fruit of all that study, is also sometimes referred to as Vijnana. The unique Jnana of the Brahmam is known by a variety of names like Jnana, Vijnana, Prajnana, Chith, Chaithanya, etc. Chaithanya means Pure Consciousness; its opposite is the Unconscious or the Jada, the Inert. Atmajnana makes everything Conscious, Active. Brahmam is Eternally Conscious, Nithya Chaithanya.

A Jnani will feel that the Atma immanent in every one is his own Atma; he will be happy that he is himself all this; he will see no distinction between man and man, for he can experience only unity, not diversity. The physical differences of colour, caste and creed adhere only to the body. These are but the marks of the external body. The Atma is Nishkala, that is to say, it has no parts; it is Nirmala, blemishless, unaffected by desire, anger, greed, affection, pride and envy; it is Nishkriya, activity-less. It is only Prakrithi that undergoes all these modifications or at least gives the impression that it is so modified. The Purusha is but the eternal Witness, the Ever-inactive, the Modification-less.

Of what can you say, 'This is Truth'? Only of this, which persists in the Past, the Present and the Future, which has neither beginning nor end, which does not move or change, which has uniform Form, unified experience-giving property. Well, let us consider the body, the senses, the mind, the life-force and all such. They move and change; they begin and end, they are inert, Jada. They have three gunas: Thamas, Rajas and Sathwa. They are without basic Reality. They cause the delusion of reality. They have only relative value; they have no absolute value. They shine due to borrowed light only.

Absolute Truth is beyond the reach of Time and Space, it is A-parichchinna, that is, indivisible. It does not begin; it is always and ever existent; it is the basis, the fundamental, the self-revealing. Knowing it, experiencing it, is Jnanam. It is A-nirdesyam, that is, cannot be marked out as such and such and explained by some characteristics. How can something that is above and beyond the intellect and the mind be described through mere words? Next