Who am I? by Dada Bhagwan (if you liked this book txt) 📕

Do we not need somebody after me? Would the future generation not need this path?

 

THE ONE ACCEPTED BY THE WORLD, IS THE ONE

 

Questioner : You say that there will be thousands of people who will mourn for you when you are gone but there will be no disciples. What do you mean by that?

 

Dadashri : Nobody will be my disciple. There is no spiritual throne here. If this were a throne then we would need a successor. You might try to become the successor as a paternal relative. Only the one who is accepted by the world, will carry on this work. Only the one with absolute humility will be accepted by the world. The one who becomes the world’s disciple will succeed.

 

GENERATIONS OF LIVING GNANIS

 

 

Questioner : All the people that have come here to you have come from the Kramic path to the Akram path. Each one of them has experienced this Gnan in their own way. Dada, the unique feature of Akram is that we have met the pratyaksh Purush (the One who is present and living). After some time though, the Gnani Purush will not be present, right?

 

Dadashri : Yes, you are right.

 

Questioner : Keeping aside the issue of those who have acquired the Akram path through your direct living presence (pratyaksh), what about those who come to this path after you are no longer here? At that time one will not have the opportunity to meet a pratyaksh, will he?

 

Dadashri : There will be, indeed there will be.

 

Questioner : Everyone will have the opportunity to meet the pratyaksh Purush?

 

Dadashri : Yes, they will get it all. This will continue.

 

Questioner : Will it continue like this?

 

Dadashri : It will continue. Do you understand?

 

Questioner : But is there not a need for a pratyaksh Purush in the Akram path?

 

Dadashri : Nothing works without the direct presence (pratyaksh) of the Gnani.

 

Questioner : Yes without his presence it cannot work.

 

Dadashri : Otherwise this path will be closed.

 

Questioner : Otherwise the path will be closed!

 

Dadashri : Therefore you will need a pratyaksh Purush.

 

Questioner : I just wanted to hear this directly from you because so many times I have difficulty with people trying to interpret according to their own thinking, what Krupadudev (Gnani Purush of Kramic Path, Srimad Rajchandra) has said. I asked you this because there is a possibility of the same thing happening with what you are saying. That is the reason I want to know whether pratyaksh Purush will be available to everyone in Akram.

Dadashri : For some time this Akram path will thrive.

 

Questioner : For some time?

 

Dadashri : Yes, for some time, because there is a group of people that have to be filtered out through this Akram path. Once this is done, there will not be any qualified people left and so the Akram path will end. This is only for the chosen few.

 

Questioner : Yes, for this group of people only. That is why you called it Akramic path.

 

(12) AFTER ATTAINING SELF-REALIZATION

 

 

THE SIGNS OF SELF REALIZATION

 

 

Before you received this Gnan, you were ‘Chandulal’ and after Gnan you became Shuddhatma (pure Soul). Is there any difference in your experience?

 

Questioner : Yes.

 

Dadashri : Do you experience this from the moment you get up in the morning or in the afternoon?

 

Questioner : This experience is different from any prior experience. It is spontaneously present when I wake up.

 

Dadashri : When you wake up in the middle of the night, what is the first thing you remember?

 

Questioner : Shuddhatma.

 

Dadashri : Yes, when you spontaneously remember Shuddhatma, upon waking up in the middle of the night, it is proof that you have realized the Soul. Now you have to follow the aagnas of the Gnani Purush. These aagnas are paramount.

 

After I give you this Gnan, the reality takes hold in you. Then you become a Purush (Self-Realized). You realize that you are Shuddhatma (Pure soul). I destroy your sins. I give you the Divine Vision (Divyachakshu) whereby you are able to see Shuddhatma in everybody. After giving you the right belief and unifying you with your Soul, I give you the five aagnas (cardinal principles). These five aagnas will guide and protect you.

 

EXPERIENCING THE SELF PERMANENTLY

 

 

Dadashri : How long do you remain in this awareness of, “I am Shuddhatma”?

 

Questioner : When I am sitting alone quietly in a solitary place.

 

Dadashri : Yes. After this what is your feeling? Do you at anytime feel that “I am Chandubhai?” Do you ever really feel that, “I am Chandubhai?”

 

Questioner : It has not happened after taking Gnan.

 

Dadashri : Then you are Shuddhatma only. One can only have one feeling. In their daily lives, some people even forget their own names. There is no problem with that. Your state of Shuddhatma will remain for sure.

Questioner : But, in the daily life many times the awareness of Shuddhatma does not stay.

 

Dadashri : Then, is it replaced by the awareness of, “I am Chandubhai”? Say that for three hours you are not aware that you are Shuddhatma and I was to ask you, “Are you ‘Chandubhai’ or ‘Shuddhatma’?” What will you answer?

 

Questioner : Shuddhatma.

 

Dadashri : It means that the awareness is there all the time. Suppose a man got drunk and lost his awareness during that time. What happens when the effect of the alcohol goes away?

 

Questioner : He becomes aware of himself again.

 

Dadashri : Similarly, external circumstances affect you.

 

THIS HAS BEEN SAID WITH STRONG CONVICTION

 

If I ask you, “Are you really ‘Chandubhai’ or are you ‘Shuddhatma’?” You reply, “Shuddhatma.” I ask you again the next day and you reply, “Shuddhatma,” again. If I continue to ask you the same question for five days and get the same answer, I know you have attained the Soul. I have the key to your liberation, so that even if you complain or protest, I would not listen.

 

KNOWLEDGE THROUGH SCRIPTURES

 

 

KNOWLEDGE THROUGH EXPERIENCE

 

 

The Gnan that you have acquired encompasses the essence of all our scriptures. Whatever is said in the scriptures is correct. However, Akram Vignan is all that is above and beyond the scriptures. In the scriptures they describe the Soul, but all of its qualities and characteristics are not included. You are only able to acquire the Soul because I give you its complete description. Whatever positive attributes you acquire in the Kramic path, you acquire only a corresponding fraction of the Soul, but not the spontaneous awareness of it. One has to remind himself of that awareness in the Kramic path, but in the Akram path, the awareness is spontaneous and natural. It is there even when you wake up in the middle of the night. Things you have to make an effort to remember fall under the category of the body matter (pudgal). You do not have to remember the Soul. Once your Real nature as the Soul has been realized, you do not have to make any efforts to remember it.

 

ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERIM GOVERNMENT

 

 

After Gnan, the state of Shuddhatma, results. However, the state of Paramatma (Supreme-fully Realized State) has not yet been attained. The state achieved is the interim state, the partially realized Self (antaratma).

 

Questioner : What is the state of the partially Realized-Self like?

 

Dadashri : This antaratma(non-self), the interim state of the Self, has a dual role. One role is to settle the worldly affairs and the other role is to attain final Moksha. That means to treat all your ‘files’ (Dadashri has used the term ‘file’ for anything and anybody that you interact with after Gnan), with equanimity, and meditate on the Pure Self. Once all the files have been dealt with, the state of the Supreme Self (Paramatma) is attained. The function of antaratma, is to deal with file number one (the worldly person Chandulal) and other files. I am Shuddhatma and file number one, Chandulal, has to settle the accounts of all worldly files with equanimity.

 

Questioner : Is this only for those who have received Gnan?

 

Dadashri : Yes, only those who have received Gnan, acquire the antaratma. Antaratma is the interim government. Once all the files have been dealt with equanimity, it will result in a full Government. Full government is the Absolute Self.

 

YOU CAN ONLY SAY SO AFTER REALIZATION

 

 

Questioner : If we say, “I am Pure Soul,” does it not amount to an expression of ego?

 

Dadashri : No. If other people say it, then it is an egoistic expression. We have all decidedly realized that we are Pure Soul and so it is not egoistic to talk about what you are.

 

Many people can say, “I am Pure Soul.” But this is like someone telling you that he will give you $500 in his sleep. Would you believe him? It would be different if he were wide awake while making the offer. There is no meaning in saying things without awareness. In the same way, when people say, “I am Shuddhatma,” without acquiring Self-Realization, it is like they are talking in their sleep. They achieve nothing by talking this way, and in fact, such talk is liable to cause errors in life. One is only entitled to say, “I am Pure Soul,” after realizing the Self.

 

Questioner : So the awareness has to occur?

 

Dadashri : Yes, only after Self-Realization, one can say, “I am Shuddhatma.” Then it is appropriate, because he is saying so after realizing his true identity, after becoming Shuddhatma. Now if after becoming Shuddhatma, he asks for proof, then we can ask him who he is. He would answer that he is Shuddhatma. Next we ask him if he has lost attachment to ‘Chandulal’, and he would say that he has. This confirms that he has become a Pure Soul.

 

THE GNANI AWAKENS YOUR AWARENESS

 

 

After this Gnan, you recognize that your home is your Real Self and everything external to it is foreign. That means your work is completed. This is like the man who is now alert and wide awake after someone wakes him up from sleep. He responds to his real name.

 

Once made aware of your real identity as the Pure Self, you become awake. But as long as one has the belief, “I am Chandulal,” he is considered to be sleeping. A Gnani is able to destroy this wrong belief and awaken you to the right belief that you are Shuddhatma. Once this awareness becomes established within you, you become separated from Chandulal, forever.

 

AWARENESS NEVER BEFORE EXPERIENCED

 

Srimad Rajchandra referred to this as:

 

Through the Supreme teaching of the Highest Guru (Sadguru) Came the awareness, never before realized. Self remains in the Self. Ignorance is gone forever.

 

Prior to this Gnan, one is only aware of the body. The one who acted as Chandulal now reverts to the state of the Self. That, which was the original abode, becomes the original abode, and the false abode of, “I am Chandulal,” is gone.

 

BECOMING NIRVIKALP

 

 

After Gnan, “I am Chandulal,” is spoken for identification in worldly matters only. “I am Shuddhatma,” and “This is mine,” fall into in their correct and separate places. After Gnan the, sankalp (“I am Chandulal”) and the vikalp (“This is mine”) no longer exist. This is the nirvikalp state. The Nirvikalp state is a state where one remains in the awareness of his real Self. Nirvikalp state can only exist in the absence of sankalp and vikalp. Initially you experience a taste of this nirvikalp samadhi, which progresses with time. But Gnan does not remain ‘exact’ for you, because for endless lives you have not experienced this real state.

 

The experience of the Soul is not easy to attain. One can keep on repeating, “I am Shuddhatma, I am Shuddhatma,” but the experience does not come. There is no other method to acquire the experience of the Pure Soul other than through the Gnan and the Gnani’s grace. The acquisition of Gnan, leads to pratiti (conviction), laksh (awareness), and anubhuv (experience). Furthermore, the conviction (pratiti) never leaves.

 

EXPERIENCE, AWARENESS AND CONVICTION

 

 

Questioner : What is conviction (pratiti) of the Soul?

 

Dadashri : It is the conviction, “I am Soul,” that becomes ingrained in one’s being. This conviction has initially taken hold through