Thou Art That

Anecdotes

-Staff

By Staff

Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 12:36

Once a big argument arose between a dualist and a monist (a dvaitin and an advaitin). The monist said that the jiva is not really jiva, but is genuinely deva; that the individual is God, that all is God.

The dualist would not agree, even though many quotations were given by the monist from the Vedas etc. to prove the point.

The dualist accosted a dhobi (washerman) who was passing along the road and asked him: "Hello, tell us who you are. Are you God?" The dhobi got frightened at the suggestion and said: "No, I am only I''. Then, the dualist said: "Did you hear?

Even the man in the street knows that he is not God and that he is only a jivi". The advaitin replied: "No. He said that I am I. Everyone from the Emperor down to the man in the street says, I am I. Now, that I is the reflection of God in the individualised body".