Thou art That #159, 160/1/2/3

 #159: It is to the intellect and not to the Self which is immutable, that the knowledge, ‘I am Brahman’ belongs.  Moreover the Self is changeless because it has no other witness.  (Upadesa Sahasri Chap.XVIII)

Here the difference between the intellectual knowledge; our rational conviction, that we are one with the Absolute or the unity of being etc. is being contrasted with actual realisation which is a Self realisation.  A change in knowledge is an action, a new comprehension whereas the Self has no action being immutable.  It is its light which is reflected by the mirror of the mind.

#160: If the agent, the ego, were to feel ‘I am liberated’ freedom from pain and pleasure would not be reasonable with respect to it.

#161/2: The wrong knowledge that one is happy or unhappy due to one’s identification with the body etc., like the pleasure or sorrow due to the possession or loss of an ear-ring, is surely negated by the right knowledge that is Pure Consciousness.

An evidence becoming non-evidence, everything will end in non-existence in the reverse case.

#163:  One feels pain when one’s body gets burnt, cut or destroyed, (because one identifies with it).  Otherwise the Self (which is different from the body) is never pained.  Owing to there being burns etc. in one man another is not pained.

There are many advaitins who take this as stated despite the ample evidence for pain felt by recognised self-realised sages.  Some offer the distinction between suffering and pain.  The jnani feels pain but does not suffer.  Prarabdha karma or that element of karma that must be got through before the body is ‘dropped’ might be a cause of the pain that must be suffered even by the jnani.  In any case there is no identification with the body by an enlightened person.

The other point about enlightenment that has occurred to me is whether one can speak of a time when one became enlightened.  In the histories of saints that attained this state after a period of spiritual practice a time is indicated.  In reality their true nature had never changed.

If asked they might say ‘I am now what I always was, I abide’.