[Advaita-l] Kutchu and his glasses - realising Brahman

[Siva Senani Nori]

Long years back, when I was in Standard 2
We had a lesson, Kutchu and His Glasses.
Mr. Kutchu lost his glasses,
so hither, tither and everywhere
searched everybody in his home.
Scared were the children and servants
the wife was tense, Mr. Kutchu, restless 
and quiet stayed the guests.
Only for them to realise,
at the end of all the frenzy,
that he always had them on his forehead.
I guess, short poems are not my cup of tea, but the above is a good base to examine how the Atman, Brahman itself, 'realises' its own self. (Actually I need not have brought Mr. Kutchu into the picture, because the bhashyas have two examples that readily come to my mind: daSamo`ham and the lady of the house 'finding' her necklace in her own neck after frantic searching; still, let it be as I can't access the Bhashya immediately and can't reconstruct it all from memory.)
Now for the examination of 'praapti', getting, finding or realising:
Did Kutchu 'lose' his glasses?
Yes, he did. That is why he and everybody else searched for them.
But, did he not always have them on his forehead?
Yes, he did, but he did not know that. And, that fact did not make him search with less frenzy.
But, then, his "finding" them is not really finding them. He always had them.
Yes, he always had them on his body, but he "found" them only when he realised that fact.
So, the truth does not matter, only the perception matters?
Yes, to Mr. Kutchu, only the perception matters.
But, the truth remains that he always had his glasses on his body?
Yes. Only Mr. Kutch did not 'realise' the truth. He and his people were anxious till the truth was realised.
The Atman realising its true nature is something similar. The actual truth remains that the Atman is Brahman, but as long as that is not realised, the Atman will have the same anxiety, restlessness and the resultant sorrow that Mr. Kutchu had.
The "anubhooti prakaaSikaa" of Sri Suresvaracharya ends on a similar note: that the relased thus attain release.
Regards
Senani