Dear Ram,

Here is another one of my many questions. I hope you are not getting tired of replying as I find the answers very helpful.

What is immediate knowledge, aparoksha jnana? It is not direct seeing like seeing the pot. So what is it? Wouldn’t it be good to explain that here? I know the following lines are a kind of explanation, but one recognizes it only when one already knows, I believe

Ram: It is direct seeing/knowing. Immediate knowledge happens when the object to be known is present and the means of knowledge is operating. I've heard of you but never met you. This is called indirect knowledge. Direct knowledge is when I’ve heard of you and you are standing in front of me but I have not been introduced to you. When I am introduced my indirect knowledge becomes direct. I was already experiencing you…you were right there in front of me, perhaps we had a nice conversation about the Self…but I didn’t know who you were. When one of my friends who knows both of us directly introduces you to me I know you directly. Everyone is always experiencing the Self but they think that what they are experiencing is something other than the Self.

Love,

Ram