Self-Realized

[Ms. Aikya Param]

Namaste and dhanyavAdaH, Joshji, for your excellent question.

Can you say what is "Self-realized" ?
Once that is known, I may work on the proof that is asked for.

- joshi

It seems Arjuna asked Lord Krishna a similar questions in
Chapter Two of the Bhagavad Gita and Lord Krshna
answered it (verses 54 to 72)  The challenge to truly
understanding the passage, of course, rests on one's
grasp of the preceding teaching by the Lord.  It is
meaningful to me today that this teaching  and the
answer to a question similar to your, Joshiji, was not
given in a cave in Himalayas, or in an ashram but on
a battlefield, right in the middle of the business day of
these two soldiers. Here follows a translation
in English poetry done by me in 1986.

Arjuna said:
What is said about a person firm in wisdom,
Of steady understanding, staying in samadhi?
Keshava, what should he say?  How sit? How walk? (54)

The Blessed Lord said:
When he totally rejects all wants
Which cross the mind, and is content in th' Self
Only, he is firm in wisdom, it is said. (55)

Mind unshaken in troubles, yearning not for better-
Desiring, fear and anger gone!--he's a
Saint of steady wisdom so it's said. (56)

One who everywhere is unattached,
And whether finding fortune's fair or foul, is neither
Happy nor hostile, his understanding is firm. (57)

When this person shrinks from sens'ry objects
The way a turtle draws its limbs within,
Understanding then is his foundation. (58)

Objects disappear from the disciplined
But leave their longing.  Seeing what's superior-
Even longing leaves a saint like that. (59)

Even for one who is trying hard, Kaunteya,
For disciplined, discriminating people,
Forcibly, harassing senses seize the mind. (60)

Having guided them all, a prepared person
Stays in Me the Matchless.  For whom truly
Wisdom is firm, his senses are charmed. (61)

For a man preoccupied with objects,
A confidence in them is born.  From faith,
Longing comes.  From longing, anger rises. (62)

Due to anger, there's delusion.  From
Delusion, mem'ry's lost.  Memory gone,
Thinking's ruined.  Thinking gone, the fellow's finished. (63)

But one who's free from love and hate,
Who's following objects with th' senses-
Mind submissive-he attains serenity. (64)

In serenity, the loss of all
The sorrows happens.  For one whose mind is still,
Surely wisdom soon becomes established. (65)

There's no thought for uncontrolled folk.  Nor does
The' uncontrolled have wisdom.  For unwise people
There's no peace.  For the restless, where is happiness? (66)

A mind which trails meandering senses carries
A person's judgment off, the way the wind
Carries off a boat at rest in water. (67)

Therefore, Mighty Armed, for the one whose senses
Entirely are restrained from sensory objects,
His is clear and steady understanding. (68)

What is night for all beings, in that
The Master wakes.  When all beings waken,
Then it's night for the sage who sees the Self. (69)

Just as waters enter the sea which stays
So still and always full, so all desires
Enter the sage who sees the Self.  And he
Gains composure, not the desirer of desires. (70)

Overlooking all desires, a person
Who lives without any I-sense of My-sense, that
Person realizes peace of mind. (71)

This, O Partha, is abiding in Brahman!
This attained, one is never duped again!
Staying there, at death one gains the bliss of Brahman. (72)

Apologies for the length of this post.  Since it is very much in an
American idiom, it may not be to everyone's taste.  Sanskrit
was not put in to shorten my work time posting it and also
the length of the message.   If desired, it can be posted again with
Sanskrit.  The passage works wwell as a self-test for
"self-realization" perhaps.

Through my studies  it has always seemed a destructive
distraction to expend energy evaluating other people's
self-realization.  When approaching a potential teacher,
it may be more useful to evaluate my own ignorance if I am able,
and  to evaluate the ability of the specific person to help me to
eliminate that ignorance.

Aikya