This is the diagram drawn by Bhagavan in Self Enquiry from his Collected Works. This is a vital pointer in the teaching of the authentic Traditional Advaita Vedanta as proclaimed by Bhagavan and Adi Shankara. It is metaphysical and difficult, but vital to understand.

It is made clear by Sri Bhagavan who unusually draws a diagram as published in his Collected Works on page 18. Bhagavan draws what he calls the Example or the Illustration which he calls the Exemplified or Illustrated.

First we have:

1. The Lamp - this is the powerful light of the Self.

2. The door which is sleep.

3. The door step which is called Mahat Tattva which means the Great Principle or the Mirror formed by the Ego - and Bhagavan draws this by dotted lines.

Then:

4. The Inner Wall which is Nescience or the ignorant state of the Causal body.

5. The egoity or Egotism which is the false identification with the causal body and contains the vasanas or latent tendencies carried subconsciously in the Ego from previous lives and acquired in this one.

6. The windows are our five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.

7. The inner chamber or the Deep Sleep state in which the Causal body of Ignorance is manifest or seen by the eye or mind.

8. The middle chamber or the Dream state in which the subtle body is seen by the eye or the mind.

9. The outer courtyard which is the waking state when the gross body is seen by the eye or the mind.

Now, when as pre-determined by time or destiny the sleep door is shut, egotism ceases along with the waking state and the dream state and only the Self shines in the deep sleep state.

Hence our rejuvenation in the Deep Sleep state.

In a nut shell what this simply means is that the Pure light of the Self as Pure Absolute Consciousness-Awareness is reflected by the mirrorisation of the Egotism and its vasanas.

This reflection is called chidabasa, and Bhagavan explains that the world we see is therefore seen by a stepped down or reduced or attenuated consciousness and not with the full power of the pure absolute consciousness of the Jnani.

Therefore the whole thrust of the Teaching is to eliminate the vasanas through Self Enquiry and the Surrender of the Egotism to the Sat-Guru or God in the spiritual heart.

When this surrender is accepted and the enquiry has cleared the vasanas then Self Realisation takes place and we see the wold as it really is and not as a reflection.

This explains why the Gaze of the Jnani is so powerful as it is pure absolute consciousness and when directed on the Devotee it evokes the Self in him as Bhagavan often demonstrated.

Through our reflected consciousness the world we perceive is through an attenuated or stepped down power of Consciousness split between a subject - the mind body who sees and the objec t- which is a world of moving pictures on the screen of consciousness.

When the vasanas and egotism are removed we perceive the world directly and perceive the substratum or underlying principle to be Brahman, directly no longer from the split mind state but from what is called the 'no mind state' which is the Self Realised State of unconditional love, all knowledge, profound silence, and wisdom containing powers of clairvoyance and ability to read minds.

This is the Real Jnani, all others who claim to be Teachers without knowing or understanding this principle are still speaking from the UNPURIFIED egotistic mind.

And here is the first verse of Adi Shankara's famed Dakshinamurti stotra which states it very clearly:

"The universe is the reflection of a mirror. The Truth is the supreme Brahman, the one without a second. The mind, senses and intellect are all able to only discern the reflection of the Atman. The identity of the Brahman and the Atman is apparent after self-illumination."

Meanwhile we have to make the best of the normal everyday kinesthetic awareness we have until gradually through sadhana, the vasanas and egotism are removed, and the full power of pure consciousness awareness is revealed.