Swami
Krishnananda
When
we are after something, we must know what it is that we are after. This clarity
by which we know what it is that we want, as distinguished from that which is
different from what we want—a discrimination that we exercise in knowing what
it is that we are after, what it is that we are expecting, other than what is
secondary and redundant—this faculty of inner discrimination is called viveka, correct understanding.
What
is correct understanding? It is the ability to distinguish between truth and
falsehood. What is the truth here, and what is the falsehood? The falsehood is
the appearance before us in terms of the variety of objects of sense, this vast
creation of space and time which acts as a screen before us, preventing us from
visualizing what is behind the screen; and what is behind the screen is Truth.
The distinction between these two aspects of experience has to be drawn.