Aptavani-2 by Dada Bhagwan (interesting novels to read .txt) 📕

Madness is evident wherever you look. You ask for one thing and the answer is about another thing! There is no accord with one another! Is it not madness to create major clashes over trivial things?

People disgrace the younger generation of today, but Dadashri says that only this young generation will make India famous. And Dadashri’s naturally spoken words are that India will be a center of the world in the year 2005, and this is becoming evident now.

Thirty-one years from now, people from other countries will come here to learn how to live life, how much to eat, how much to sleep and how to live.

q ‘There are only two things in this world, the pure Soul and circumstances.’ - Dadashri

“Pure Soul is eternal and circumstances are constantly changing.”

“Gross circumstances, subtle circumstances, and the circumstances of speech are of the non-Self and are dependent on other forces.” - Dadashri

All circumstances that can be experienced through the five senses are gross circumstances. Circumstances of the mind, intellect, chit, and ego are subtle. The circumstances of speech are gross as well as subtle; all these are the non-self and they are also dependent upon some other force. Speech is a record; it is physical. The Soul and speech are not related. The Soul is without speech. Yes, the Soul is the Knower-Seer of what type of speech is being spoken, where mistakes are made in the speech etc. Circumstances, by their very nature are prone to end. If one dwells in the circumstances, he will become temporary and if he dwells in the Soul, which is eternal, then he is eternal. Lord Mahavir has said that except for the Soul (the Self) everything else is a circumstance. The Self is unattached and free from all circumstances.

q There are two types of penance; one is inner penance and the other is external penance. External penance is visible to others and inner penance is one that no one else knows about. One does inner penance within his own self. The result of external penance is improvement of one’s worldly life and the result of inner penance is moksha! Everyone knows about external penance, the inner penance can be learned only from the Gnani Purush.

‘Real penance is to not let the Self and the non-self become one.’ - Dadashri

To be the Self, is to be in the ‘home department’ and to be in a place other than the Self is to be in the ‘foreign department’. The penance that one does to not become the relative self, is inner penance. The external penance that one does and the doer-ship that is required in order to do that penance, is the ego. The Lord has said to settle the penance that comes across, with equanimity. Penance is not to be carried out with the doer-ship of the ego! All external penance that is done nowadays is done by the prakruti (non-Self); where is the Self-oriented effort (purusharth) in that? Self-oriented effort starts with inner penance and only after one becomes Self-realized. The relative self i.e. the prakruti makes a person do penance and yet his ego claims, “I did the penance!” Whatever penance is done, it is dependent on the prakruti. If one has the constant awareness that ‘the real Self is not a doer of anything’, then the ego would not arise in reaction to penance, otherwise the reaction to penance is anger, pride and ego.

q What is the true definition of renunciation (tyaga)? It is renunciation that naturally manifests in one’s behavior or conduct. All other renunciation is done through the ego. ‘That which has been renounced, will have to be dealt with, later.’ That which is renounced egoistically, will be multiplied a hundred fold, and will return with hundred times the force. ‘There is no requirement of renouncing or acquiring in the path of liberation.’ The scriptures themselves have said that for a Gnani the question of renouncing or acquisition does not even arise. Those engrossed in their prakruti; whatever they do, whether they renounce or acquire, they do so according to the dictates of their prakruti. They merely have the ego of, ‘I renounced!’ And for those who always remain as the Self, it is not possible for them to renounce or acquire. It is not the property or the attribute of the Self to renounce or to acquire. If that were true, the liberated Souls in the Siddha Kshetra (location where all liberated Souls reside), would be renouncing and acquiring! How then, can that be called moksha? In fact, it is the non-self complex (prakruti) that does the renouncing and acquiring but one merely exercises the ego in the process, ‘I renounced, I acquired.’ The Lord has not given instructions to renounce any thing; He has instructed us to renounce the infatuation (murchha) and the illusion (moha) for it.

‘To become the non-Self is raag, and to be the Self is renunciation.’ - Dadashri

q Only the Vitarag can give the subtlest interpretation of ahimsa (non-violence). The one who has a constant inner intent of not hurting any living being in the slightest and this is also evident in his conduct, is a Vitarag. No living being can kill another living being, and for that matter no living being can save another from dying. If ‘Chandulal’ had made the intention (bhaav) to kill and when the timing for another being to die arrives, the death of that being will occur at the hands of Chandubhai. No living being can ever die before it’s time of death. The intention one makes to kill, is bhaav-maran, and its effect will come in the next life as one becoming a killer. The Lord did not say, “Don’t do overt himsa.” He said one should not do bhaav himsa i.e. make intentions to hurt or kill. This automatically includes all types of non-violence. It is not important to harbor mercy for avoidance of killing. It is very important not to harbor any intent to kill.

q There are two types of yogas (yoga means to join or union). One is Gnan yoga, that is the yoga of the Self and the other is agnan (ignorance) yoga and that is the yoga of the non-self. Non-self yoga includes yoga of the mind, body and speech. What does one unite with? Is it that which one has knowledge of, or that which one is ignorant about? Until the Self is known, how can the yoga of the Self be possible? That yoga can only be called yoga of the body because only the body is known. And with body yoga, one can never attain bliss of nirvikalp samadhi i.e. the bliss of the absolute unaffected state; the bliss of the Self. Those with vikalp i.e. the belief of ‘I am Chandulal’ can never attain the state of nirvikalp. Only the Omniscient One ( sarvagnya) who has the experience of the Soul can help others attain the state of the Self! Only a lit lamp can light all other lamps.

q What is ekagrata (concentration)? Why is it necessary to do concentration? It is meant for those whose minds have become restless, unsteady and vagrant (vyagrata). What is the benefit to the Self in doing so? These laborers, do they need to practice concentration? The Gnani Purush also does not need to practice concentration. When one applies the ‘medicine’ of concentration on his affliction of restlessness, where is the benefit to the Self in it?

When one does meditation, what should he meditate on? Without knowing the dhyeya (the goal), what can he meditate upon? If he has an imaginary goal, how can he reach it?

What is samadhi (sam-adhi = deep meditation and oneness with the Self)? Is it samadhi when one closes his nostrils and practices bodily exercises? No. That is called ‘handle samadhi’. It will work as long as one cranks the ‘handle’ but its effect goes away later. Can moksha be attained with this kind of samadhi? Real samadhi is one that prevails in spite of all routine activities of walking, talking etc. Even when one is fighting, the samadhi that prevails is the real and exact samadhi. It is true samadhi when one is not affected by mental, physical or externally induced distress.

q What is the mind? The mind can be known only by the Gnani Purush. Revered Dadashri, who always remained separate from the mind, remained as the knower-seer of the mind, has opened to the world, the exact science of the mind. The mind is made of knots or tubers. When the external and inner circumstances arise, the tuber in the mind will erupt and sprout. The ‘sprouting’ of this tuber is the beginning of thought. Thoughts come and go. The Self is the knower-seer of thoughts. The mind is the object to be known and the Self is the knower of the mind. Some people say, “Take away my mind”. If the mind is removed, one will become absent minded. The mind is needed in order to attain moksha. The mind is like a boat. Without that ‘boat’, how can one cross over to the shore of Moksha when living in the worldly ocean? Some people say it is the mind that wanders. The mind never wanders outside the body. What wanders is the chit.

Intellect (buddhi) is the light of the non-self; it is indirect light. The light of the Self is the direct light. The Self illuminates both the Self and the non-self. What is the definition of intellect?

‘Knowledge of all the subjects of the world, is included in the intellect, because it is knowledge associated with the ego and knowledge without ego, is Gnan.’ - Dadashri

Where there shines the sun of knowledge (Gnan), why would there be a need for a lamp of the intellect?

The nature of the intellect (buddhi) is to cause inner turmoil. The Gnani is without intellect; He has no intellect at all! When the intellect ends, simultaneously the state of absolute enlightenment arises with all its glory.

The chit is the inner component of the non-self and has the attributes of knowledge and vision. It is the one that wanders around without a ticket! While sitting here, the chit shows you an actual photo of any place that you have seen before. Pure knowledge + pure vision = to pure chit and that is the pure Soul; that is the Shuddhatma. Impure knowledge + impure vision = impure chit. The world is immersed in the infinite chit. Sages are in a state of ‘many chit’, and the Gnani Purush and the Sat Purush (those who have knowledge of the Self) are in ‘one chit’.

‘Why is the impure chit, impure? It is so because it can not ‘visualize’ the Self; it can visualize only that which is non-self, whereas the pure chit can visualize both, the Self and the non-self!’ - Dadashri

Those who eat without the presence of their chit, suffer from diseases like heart failure, blood pressure etc. There will be no diseases if one can keep the chit present while eating.

Anahat Naad (the original sound), Kundalini etc., are all manifestations and ‘appearances’ in the chit and are all physical.

Some people say, “I see Lord Krishna inside me.” This is not the Self; it is the phenomenon of the chit. The one that sees Krishna is the Self. In the end, the vision is to be focused on