The following is another passage from the book "History of Mysticism" by Swami Abhayananda. This one deals with the three "stages" of knowing God, the Absolute Reality—and then understanding It as your True Self in the end. (By the way, there are so many "gems" in this book that I would recommend anyone who wants to truly understand mysticism to read the whole thing.) It has long been recognized as a fact of mystical psychology that, as a man comes to know God in the unitive vision, he knows in that some moment, his own true Self. This intriguing fact is expressed most succinctly in a passage from the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana; in it, Rama, who represents the Godhead incarnate, asks his servant, Hanuman, “How do you regard me?” And Hanuman replies: dehabhavena daso’smi jivabhavena twadamshakah atmabhave twamevaham (When I identify with the body, I am Thy servant; When I identify with the soul, I am a part of Thee; But when I ident...
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