17th November, 1936

Talk 283.

D.: How can one become jitasangadoshah (free from the stain of association)?

M.: By satsanga (association with the wise).

"Satsangatve nissangatvam, nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve

nischalatatvam, nischalatatve jivanmuktih." Satsanga means sanga ^[?] (association) with sat ^[?]. Sat ^[?] is only the Self. Since the Self is not now understood to be Sat, the company of the sage who has thus understood it is sought. That is Sat-sanga. Introversion results. Then Sat is revealed. For whom is association? For whom is dosha?

D.: To the Self.
M.: No. The Self is pure and unaffected. The impurities affect only the ego.

D.: Can the soul remain without the body?
M.: It will be so a short time hence - in deep slumber. The Self is bodiless. Even now it is so.

D.: Can a sanyasi remain in the midst of samsara ^[?]?
M.: So long as one thinks that he is a sanyasi, he is not one, so long as one does not think of samsara, he is not a samsari; on the other hand he is a sanyasi.

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