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Dibdin, who was present, put several questions to the man; and from his answers it appeared to everyone present that he was speaking the truth. Indeed, his story was in some measure confirmed by Captain Harris himself; for one evening, about six months afterwards, as Grimaldi was narrating the circumstances in the green-room at Covent Garden, that gentleman, who chanced to be present, immediately remarked that he had no reason from the man's behavior while with him to suppose him an imposter, and that he had seen him on that day in full possession of his senses."
What happened actually? Just a laughter which shook him from his very roots. For a moment he forgot that he was in the bottle; for a moment he was outside the bottle; for a moment those forty years of deafness and dumbness disappeared. It is a simple forgetfulness.
That's what happens in the presence of a Master. Sometimes it can happen without a Master -- Grimaldi was not Nansen. Grimaldi himself was surprised; he could not believe his eyes -- he was not trying to wake the man up.
It has happened in the past in many strange situations, unexpectedly. In fact, it has happened more unexpectedly than it has ever happened with expectations, because expectations belong to the mind and when you are not expecting anything you are more relaxed, you are more calm, at ease. The goose can slip out of the non-existential bottle more easily if it is relaxed. If it is tense and trying to get out of it, that very tension will keep it in.
That's what is happening to you, Bhagawati. You say:
WHY DOES IT FEEL SO IMPOSSIBLE TO GRASP?
It is impossible to grasp! If you are trying to grasp it, it is impossible; if you drop grasping it, it is immediately possible, instantly possible -- not even a single moment is lost.
The story is told that sometime in the last century a prominent European physician was examining an elderly man. After checking him over thoroughly and listening to his many vague complaints, the physician could find nothing physically wrong which would account for this patient's symptoms. We might imagine that it occurred to the doctor, just as it might to one of
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