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

terrible bondage in the next life. Can anyone accuse God?

 

Questioner : No.

 

Dadashri : Sometimes people will make a variety of other excuses, always avoiding ownership and acceptance of their own faults and mistakes. One will never accept his own faults. In this context, a foreigner once remarked to me, “Why don’t you Indians accept the blame for your own mistakes gracefully?” I said, “That itself is the ‘Indian puzzle’; the biggest puzzle of all Indian puzzles. You will not be able to solve it. Indians will never accept their own mistakes, whereas you foreigners are very gracious about accepting your own faults.”

 

CONTRADICTION IN ‘DOERSHIP’

 

 

Sanyog (an event, association of circumstances) and viyog (dissipation of circumstances) occur on their own. But a man with ego takes the credit. When a man earns money, he says, “I earned it,” but when he suffers losses, he loses all confidence and despairs, “What could I do?”

 

Questioner : Yes, sometimes I say the same thing.

 

Dadashri : If you are the ‘doer,’ then you will never say, “What could I do?” Let us take a simple example of making kadhee (a Gujarati dish made from yogurt). If the kadhee turns out well and tastes good, the person who prepared it will take credit and say, “I made it.” However if it was to boil over whilst cooking, the person would say, “What could I do? The children were bothering me, the phone was ringing constantly, the flame was too high etc….” Why all these excuses? I came to understand that everybody talks like this. When a patient recovers from his illness, his doctor will claim, “I saved his life,” but if the patient dies then he will say, “What could I do?” Why make such unfounded, unsupported statements?

 

DID YOU WAKE UP OR WERE YOU AWAKENED ?

 

If you wake up early in the morning, you will say, “I woke up.” What makes you think that you are able to wake up early? At night when you cannot sleep, you will say, “I cannot sleep.” If you yourself have control over your sleep, then why can you not sleep when you want to? In reality, you have no control whatsoever.

If somebody asks, “Who woke me up this morning?” I would tell him that he woke up because his sleep karma was over. It was his karma that woke him up.

 

HOW MUCH OF IT IS IN YOUR HANDS ?

 

 

You (the Real You) have never eaten. It is ‘Chandulal’ who consumes the food. You have never eaten anything and yet you believe that you are the one who eats. ‘Chandulal’ is the one who eats and ‘Chandulal’ is the one who defecates. You are trapped in this for no reason. Do you understand this?

 

Questioner : Please explain that.

 

Dadashri : No man ever born has the independent willpower to defecate. If he does not have the independent power over his own bowels, then what other power can he have? He will realize this when he becomes constipated. When a few things go according to his plans, he thinks he is making them happen.

 

I had satsang in Baroda, with a group of physicians. When I told them that one does not even have the independent control over his own bowels, they were all taken aback. I went on, “You will realize this when you become constipated. At that time you will have to seek external help.” You never did have this power in the first place, which is why you have to seek help. Therefore, this is not under your control. It is through your wrong beliefs that you consider nature’s powers as your own power. To call someone else’s power your own power, is an illusion; a wrong belief. Do you understand what I am trying to say? Is it a little clearer now?

 

Questioner : Yes, I understand.

 

Dadashri : If you understand even this much, you are closer to solving this puzzle. All these people claim to do penance, japa (repeated incantation), meditation, and fasting. All this is an illusion. But the world will always carry on like this and will never be without ego. That is its nature.

 

IT HAPPENS...

 

 

Dadashri : Do the events that take place occur because of our control or do they just happen?

 

Questioner : They just happen by themselves.

 

Dadashri : Yes, all this just happens. When you wake up in the morning, it just happens. When you drink tea, it just happens. When you use the lavatory, it just happens. When you sleep, it just happens. Are you making all these things happen or do they just happen?

 

Questioner : They just happen.

 

Dadashri : When you are working at a job, does it happen or are you doing it?

 

Questioner : It happens.

 

Dadashri : Yes, so in this world, “It happens.” This is what the world is all about. Things just happen, but people say, “I am doing it.” “I went to the toilet, I did this, I earned this money,” and so on. When something is happening by itself and we say, “I am doing it,” we are creating new karma (sowing new seeds of karma). If you stop creating (charging) new karma, you will be free. Without Gnan (self-realisation) however, one cannot stop creating new karma.

 

‘DOERSHIP’ = PRAKRUTI , ‘NON-OERSHIP’= ATMA

 

Each and every human being in this world is a ‘T-O-P’.

 

What is a ‘top’? It is a toy that a spins on its tip, when the string wound around it, is pulled. The top will spin around until all its energy has dissipated. In this example, the winding of the string is the bhaav purushaarth (cause), and the spinning is prarabdh (effect, result). It is prakruti (primordial nature) that makes a person do things, even though he says, “I am doing it.” He is in essence, just like a puppet on a string. Prakruti makes him do penance, ritualized chanting of mantras, meditation, etc., but he believes that he is the one doing it.

 

Questioner : Tell us about ‘prakruti’, Dada.

 

Dadashri : The moment you claim to be the ‘doer’ (karta), prakruti comes into existence. As Atma, you are the ‘non-doer’ (akarta). You have the wrong belief of, “I am Chandulal,” and of, “I am the doer.” The moment you say this, you become bound. It is because of this wrong belief, that prakruti comes into existence. As long as there is ignorance of the Real ‘I’, one feels that he is the ‘doer’ and he is therefore, bound by his prakruti. When the awareness of, “I am not the ‘doer,’” is acquired and one ceases to be the ‘doer’, the prakruti no longer remains. From that moment onwards, one does not bind any new karma. However, past karmas remain and these have to be discharged.

 

KARTA (DOERSHIP) AND NAIMITTIC (INSTRUMENTAL) DOERSHIP

 

 

Questioner : If one is not the ‘doer’, then who is? What is the nature of the ‘doer’?

 

Dadashri : One’s ‘doership’ is only ‘instrumental’ (naimittic karta) in all process. One is not an independent ‘doer’ of anything.

 

This ‘instrumental ‘doership’ can be further defined as a parliamentary process where the final decision is based on collective votes and where each individual has only one vote. Thus, your vote is one of many in the final outcome. However, you believe, “I am doing this,” so you become the ‘doer’.

 

The ‘planning’ (through bhaav purushaarth) occurs in this way. You yourself are the ‘planner’ and this planning is the final signature (endorsement); the ‘doership’ is only in the ‘planning’ stage, but this fact is unknown to the whole world. In other words, all that materializes in front of us, in this life, is a result of planning in the past life through bhaav (deep inner intent). The only place for ‘doership’, is in this bhaav.

 

The output of this small ‘computer’ (Chandulal) then becomes the input into the giant ‘computer’ of Scientific Circumstantial Evidence. In this manner, the planning (bhaav purushaarth) is fed into the giant computer. The giant computer then gives forth effects of this ‘planning.’ All the events in one’s life are effects. The discharge in the present life is the result of causes created in the past life. Nothing in this life is under one’s control. The control lies in ‘other hands’. Once the ‘planning’ is done, it leaves the hands of the ‘planner’ and falls under the control of ‘other hands.’ These ‘other hands’ (Scientific Circumstantial Evidence), play a part in bringing forth the effects. So the effects may be different from the planning. The unfolding of the effects is entirely in ‘other hands.’ This is a very subtle point. Do you understand this?

 

Questioner : Yes Dada, I understand it.

 

‘DOERSHIP’ BINDS KARMA

 

 

Feel free to ask any questions. Whatever it is that you want to understand, feel free to ask. But will you remember whatever you have understood so far? This Science is worth understanding. Here you can ask anything and everything.

 

Questioner : How can we escape from the bondage of karma?

(6) WHO WILL DO THE SCIENTIFIC SEPARATION ?

Dadashri : These karmas exist because the belief of ‘doership’ exists. The existence of these karmas is directly dependent upon the belief of ‘doership.’ There is no karma if there is no ‘doership’. There is no ‘doership’ in the ‘I’ state, therefore there is no karma. Karma can only be created if there is ‘doership.’ As ‘Chandulal’, when you say and believe, “I did this,” or “I did that…” you become the ‘doer.’ This belief then becomes a support for karma. When one stops being the ‘doer,’ the karma has no basis or support, so it falls away.

 

ATMA (SELF) AND ANATMA (NON-SELF) BECOME ONE THROUGH IGNORANCE

 

 

Atma (Self) and anatma (non-self) are two separate entities. They have not become one, but they are ‘stuck’ to each other. How? Through bhrantiras (false interest; or essence; the delusional belief that I am the ‘doer’) they have become stuck to each other. Where did this bhrantiras come from? The moment one says, “I did it,” the ras (cohesion) of Atma and anatma occurs. This ras is so sticky that even if it has been there for years, it will not lose its bonding power. So how can we even begin to talk about the additional ras that are created every day?

 

A Gnani can dissolve all the bhrantiras, and separate the Atma from the anatma. Then, the Self remains in its natural state and the non-self remains in its natural state. As long as there is ego through illusion, one will always say, “I am the ‘doer’ and I am also the ‘knower’,” or “I did this and I know this.” They will speak in this manner. When the feelings of, “I am the ‘doer’” and “I am the ‘knower,’” are together, it is gneya (a thing to be known), and that itself, is called bhranti (illusion). When the feelings, “I am the ‘knower’ and the ‘seer’,” are not associated with “I am the ‘doer’,” it is called gnayak (the Knower).

 

Right now you believe, “I am Chandulal” (‘I’ and ‘My’ as one). That is why both the Self and non-self have become one. In fact, both these entities are separate. ‘You’ are separate, and ‘Chandulal’ is separate. But until you become aware of this difference, what can you do? A Gnani Purush can make this separation for you through the Science of Separation.