and (2) knowing itself to bedifferent from its bodies (gross, subtle and mental). It thus annihilates the FALSE EGO (i.e., the illusion that ‘I am the gross body; I am the subtle body or I am the mental body’). While the soul thus frees itself from its illusion, it still retains “full consciousness, ” which now results in self-knowledge and REALIZATION OF THE TRUTH. Escaping through the cosmic illusion and realizing, with full consciousness, its identity with the Infinite Over-soul is the goal of the long journey of the soul.

THE SADGURU OR PERFECT MASTER:

God-realization is the goal of human life; but from the point of view of the world, the God-man or the Sadguru (i.e., a Perfect Master) has a special importance.

Being unconscious of the different states of the phenomenal world constitutes different states of consciousness through which the aspirant has to pass before he attains God-realization. But after God-realization, the soul can again ‘descend’ or ‘come down,’ and become conscious of creation without in any way jeopardizing his God-consciousness. What is spiritually disastrous is not mere consciousness of the creation, but the fact that the consciousness is caught up in the creation because of the Samskaras, and is consequently covered with ignorance which prevents the realization of the Divinity within. In the same way, what is spiritually disastrous is not the mere consciousness of the bodies but IDENTIFICATION with them owing to the samskaras, which prevent the realization of the Infinite Soul, which is the Ultimate Reality and the ground of all creation, and in which alone is to be found the final meaning of the entire creation.

The samskaras might be compared to a chain that ties the soul to the world of forms by means of creating the illusion consisting in the identification of the soul with the bodies. The perversions in the expression of the will and the disharmony within consciousness arise out of this identification with the bodies (due to samskaras), and not merely due to the consciousness of the bodies. Since the Sadguru is free from all samskaras, he is constantly