Tripura Rahasya Discusses About Jnanis Of The Lowest,Middle Class And Highest Order

Jnanis of the lowest order also enjoy pleasure and pain like the ignorant, but their remembrance of such experiences is frequently broken up by intervals of realisation. Thus worldly experiences do not leave an impression on their minds.

Jnanis of the middle class, accustomed to control their minds by long-continued austerities, keep their minds in check even while experiencing pleasure and pain, and thus their response to the world is as indistinct as that of a man in sleep, to a gentle breeze playing on him or an ant creeping over his body.

Jnanis of the highest order are left untouched,for they always remain as the burnt skeleton of a cloth (retaining its old shape but useless) after their realisation.Just as an actor is not really affected by the passions which he displays on the stage, so also this Jnani, always aware of his perfection, is not affected by the seeming pleasures and pains which he regards as a mere illusion, like the horns of a hare.

Source: TRIPURA RAHASYA OR THE MYSTERY BEYOND THE TRINITY Translated by SWAMI SRI RAMANANANDA SARASWATHI(Munagala S. Venkataramaiah)