Can the Truth ever be experienced?
The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.
यत: सर्वाणि भूतानि प्रतिभान्ति स्थितानि च|
यत्रैवोपशमं यान्ति तस्मै सत्यात्मने नम:||
~ योगवाशिष्ठ: (वैराग्यप्रकरण श्लोक 1)Translation: Salutations to that calm effulgence which is endless and unlimited by space, time, etc., the pure consciousness which can be known by experience only.
~ Yogvashishtha Vairagya Prakaran Verse 1
Acharya Prashant: The first part of the verse and the second obviously, must be read together. That calm radiant brightness, radiant and bright only in a sense of not being dark, dark symbolically, bright symbolically. Darkness is a symbol of ignorance. It does not represent anything particular in space-time. Rather it represents the illusion that space-time itself is. So, when darkness is symbolic, the use of the word effulgence or radiance or brightness or tej too is necessarily symbolic. It must not lead the reader to believe that light, physical light as such, or brightness of color as such, or anything that is perceptible through the eyes or not perceptible through the eyes has anything to do with the Truth…