For perception to occur, there must be a perceiver and there must be objects to be perceived. There cannot be perception when the perceiver and the perceived objecta are the same. 

Perception is the product of duality in the mind.  DUALITY (DVAITHA) is the ability to seperate the perceived from the perceiver. WIthout this ability, the mind would not have an awareness ot itself. 

The action into which the mind is propelled is to perceive its own activity (karma) through the means of its own senses. In other words, the mind is the instrument of experiencing the set sequence of events known as KARMA.  These set sequence of events are designed so that the mind is elevated to a higher level of existence as the experiences unravel.

This elevation to higher levels, or evolution of the mind, will not occur unless the intent and objective of the karmic experiences is clearly understood by the mind. 

DUALITY is essentially the process of seperation. The ATMA or Self Awareness is born from the preset sequences of experiences. Its existence initially depends on the perception of this world thru the mind. It is born from the attachments that the mind develops for what is perceived.  The ATMA begins to form with these attachments and karmic experiences, slowly, but surely develops the ability to detach and go into a permenant state of existence leaving behind the environment of conflicts from which it was born. This is probably MOKSHAM.

THIS IS THE PROCESS OF DETACHMENT THAT THE PARAMATHMA TALKS ABOUT IN THE BHAGAVATHAM. 

The "capabilities" of the mind are predetermined and these are part of the karmic capabilities with which the individual is born. These are the endowments and each lifetime is meant to improve on these endowments to take the ATMA to higher and higher levels of capabilities and experiences, until it is qualified to be one with the Paramathma. 

The following is an extract from Srimad Bhagavatham as renditioned by Kamala Subramaniam. 

YASHODA SEES A VISION

One day, the Children were all playing in the courtyard in front of the House and Yashoda was inside busy with some task pertaining to the Household. Suddenly Balarama rushed to Her and said: “Mother! Mother! Krishna is eating mud by handfuls.” She looked at Him as though She did not believe it but the other boys who had come with Balarama nodded their heads and said: “We saw with our eyes Krishna eating mud.” Yashoda rushed upto Krishna and caught hold of Him and said: “Is there no end to your miscief? Why did You eat mud? I am going to punish you today.”

Krishna shook his head and said: “Of course I did not eat mud. I never eat mud. I hate mud. I hate to eat such stuff.” Yashoda said: “But these boys saw you eating mud. This Balarama, your brother saw you and they told me you ate mud.”

“Mother”, Krishna said. “They are all telling a lie. Try and check if they are speaking the Truth. Look into my mouth and see if there is any mud there.”

“Show me Your mouth,” said Yashoda and the Lord of Lords, Narayana who had assumed a Human Form for the welfarer of Mankind, Krishna, opened His mouth for His Mother to see. She looked and what She saw there filled Her with awe!

Inside the sweet Mouth of Her Son Yashoda saw the entire Universe. Moving objects and immovable things. She saw the Heavens and the Eight Quarters: the mountains and islands and all the seven oceans which surrounded this Earth: She saw the seven islands which ciomprised this Earth. She saw the Lord of the winds and she saw the Celestial World, the abode of the Devas where She discerned the great Agni by name Vadava and She saw the Moon and the stars: the five elements, fire, Earth, water, air and ether, wherein is placed the Earth. She saw the Gods who presided over the senses and the indriyas themselves in their glowing forms. She saw the mind, the Mahat-tattva, the Tanmatras, the three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. She could perceive the balance of the three Gunas which goes by the name Prakriti. She saw it all.

There are two fundamental outlooks that influence the thought process of everyone on this planet.  One is to consider the external perceived world as the only reality.  The other is to consider the internal ATMAN as representing permanence and only reality.

In other words, only one of the two - Pereiver or Perceived object represents the Truth.

In reality, most of us are lost in this world of perceptions.  We sometimes take the external world as factual, at other times we dismiss it as an illusion.  The external world is perceived through the senses, almost every minute of our waking existence, while the internal world can only be accessed only through reasoning and acceptance.

The external world always seems to be omnipresent, while the internal world is mysterious and remains in the background.

The modern tendancy has been to give the external world top priority in our daily routine and almost completely disregard our inner self. 

Madern Science epitomizes the material world as the solution to all our problems. 

The Paramathma, on the other hand, explains the significance of each of these aspects of our perception, and shows what the correct prioritization should be. 

These issues are discussed in the attached pages.