At present we identify ourselves with the body, whereas the man of knowledge knows that the body is only a temporary dwelling place, not his true Self.

It is true that he too acts and performs what we call duties, but he is ever the witness of his acts. He is at all times fully conscious of his non-identity with the body. He never believes himself to be a man or woman, a youth or an old man. He knows himself to be different from and eternally beyond the mind even. He is the Self.

He may have the feeling that he acts, but this feeling is not like our feeling, but is only a highly attenuated one in which there is no trace of real identification. His ego is like a shadow that cannot bind him at all.

Unless we have achieved perfect control of ourselves, it is not possible for us to understand the man of realization. First, we should become perfectly unattached to everybody and everything and have perfect control over our bodies and minds. We must attain outer and inner purity. Then alone will the highest knowledge dawn on us, and then alone can we come to understand the ways of the man of knowledge. Not before.