Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes?

Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes?

In the context of sAdhanA, this depends on the perspective.

To a jnAni the default is Eternal changeless bliss on which is superimposed change. In such a state one may thus say that the zebra has no stripes(!); in fact the zebra is the Self and nothing else.

To the ajnAni the default is change in the midst of which the Eternal or changeless is sought, but it feels elusive. The mind then wonders why the ignorance arose in the first place. The zebra may seem to be black with a promise of white stripes that are yet to be seen! (Of course, for the sake of being scientifically correct one might argue that this is the right answer, but some liberties are being taken here in drawing this analogy.)

Such questions don't arise once the Truth is experienced directly.

As sAdhanA deepens and the Truth is at least glimpsed once, then the mind as it gets purified might find that the zebra is white with black stripes.

The question is irrelevant for the Self, which is "pre"-mind and "pre"-thought, and hence "pre"-questions.

Therefore viveka, or discrimination between the Real (Eternal) and Unreal (transient), is the first step in sAdhanA.

Without this discrimination it is hard to develop faith and perseverance in sAdhanA.