Aptavani-2 by Dada Bhagwan (big ebook reader txt) 📖

A retired chief engineer of a big chemical company once came to me and told me, “Dada, my company would not run without me”. ‘We’ asked him, “What is so special about you that your company would not run without you?” He said, “I am very alert in my business. The work would stop if I did not go in for just one day.” So ‘We’ asked him, “When you eat some handvo (a baked Gujarati dish) at night, do you go to investigate within to see how it is being digested as you sleep? Do you check to see how much bile is secreted, how many other digestive enzymes are produced? And by the next morning, all the end products from that handvo will fall into their appropriate places; blood will go where the blood is, urine will be in its place and feces in its place. Do you go to check within how everything falls into place? How alert are you when it comes to your own body? When you can’t do anything for your own self, what makes you think you can do anything in other matters? So many powerful kings have come and gone and yet their kingdoms continued, so what makes you think everything will stop in your absence? What alertness are you talking about? Even the Gnani’s shoe is more alert than you are! It gets the constant attention of the devotees who keep it shiny. When you were born, did you have to worry whether your teeth will grow or not? Do you worry whether the sun will shine tomorrow or not?”

Who is the creator of this world?

‘The world is the puzzle itself’. Christians, Muslims, Hindus all say that God is the creator of this world. They are correct by their viewpoints but incorrect in fact. If you want to know the facts, you will have to come to ‘us’. ‘We’ give you assurance and a guarantee that no one has created this world. There is no one up there in the sky or the heavens, running this world. Only ‘We’ (the Gnani and the fully enlightened Lord within) know how this world runs and who runs it. There is not a single parmanu (subatomic particle that cannot be further divided) in this universe that ‘We’ have not traversed through and experienced. From the vantage of both in and out of this universe, ‘We’ can tell you from all the viewpoints and perspectives, that there is no one up there running everything.

‘We’ will tell you how this world runs in one simple sentence. Later you may understand it in complete details. This world is run by only scientific circumstantial evidences; no individual entity is running it. Everyone and everything is merely instrumental in the process of its functioning; no one or thing controls it independently. Furthermore, God can never be the doer of anything. If God were the doer, then He would bind karma and therefore He would have to suffer the consequences of those karmas. If God too is subject to bondage of karma, then how can we call him God? Then what difference would there be between you and God?

Everything you hear is nothing but humbug! People act according to their own understanding. People think there are no consequences for their actions and so they continue with lies at will. This world is not haphazard by any means; the world is a fact, but it is a relative fact and the Self is the real fact. When the Gnani Purush places you in the real fact then it becomes your abode of freedom (muktidham). People believe this world is without any basis; they think they can enjoy themselves in any way they want and that no authority is going to question them.

The fools! This world is not like that. ‘You are whole and sole responsible for yourself.’ You carry the burden of your previous life and responsibility of your future life. Make sure that you do not make even the slightest mistake. God does not interfere in this at all.

Will you not have to understand this world? How long can you go on living and perpetuating this falsehood? Will you not have to solve this puzzle? How long will you go on being trapped in this entanglement?

Only solution to solve the worldly puzzle

The world is the puzzle itself. There are two viewpoints to solve this puzzle: one is a relative viewpoint and the other is a real viewpoint. By relative viewpoint, you are Chandulal and by real viewpoint you are a pure Soul (Shuddhatma). All your puzzles will be solved if you look at the world with these two viewpoints. This verily is the divine vision (divyachakshu). But you will not gain anything until Gnani Purush destroys the sins of your countless previous lives and gives you realization of your real Self. Nothing can be attained without a living manifest enlightened being ( pratyaksh pragat purush).

Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh

Dadashri : Who created this world?

Questioner : Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh; these three collectively created the world. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the administrator and Mahesh is the destroyer.

Dadashri : Then who is the father of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh?

Questioner : Shankar is the father.

Dadashri : Then who is the mother?

Questioner : He himself is the mother.

Dadashri : Then why did he create only three and not five?

Questioner : Because there are three qualities (gunas).

Dadashri : There is no individual by the name of Brahma, Vishnu or Mahesh. These names represent the three natural attributes (gunas). In the process of learning about the three gunas, people misused the information and hence created these three idols. What was meant to be said was that we need to get rid of these three gunas of the prakruti (characteristics traits of the complex of the non-self) in order to become pure.

Questioner : By getting rid of these three gunas?

Dadashri : Yes. Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are symbolic representations of the three gunas and you have to transcend them. Bliss exists within you but why can you not find it? You cannot experience it because of obstacles. Who created these obstacles? Did God create them? No, you yourself created the obstacles. And these obstacles are such that even when happiness comes to you, they will not let you experience it. Otherwise, you are the supreme Lord, but alas you have created the obstacles, no one else. Only you have created whatever suffering you have to experience. If there were someone else who was responsible for creating all the suffering, people would have caught him and destroyed him by now!

Not Yamraj (God of Death) but Niyamraj (Natural Law)

Yamraj terrifies many people. How do people depict Yamraj? They portray him with long horns, large fang-like teeth riding a buffalo. If that does not terrify people, then what else would? When a dog howls, people say ‘Jamra is coming.’ Meaning the God of Death is approaching. You fools! There is not even an insect called Jamra. This Yamraj people refer to is really an occurring of a precise natural circumstance. Everything in this world runs precisely in a definite scientific manner. Death comes as dictated by natural laws. Now, will you have anything to fear when ‘We’ tell you that Yamraj is the God of natural laws?

Foundation on which the world functions

What is the beginning of this world? What is the foundation that supports the starting point of this world? This is a very deep and a mysterious puzzle about the world. Today the truth of the origin of the world is being disclosed to the world through this medium of Dadashri.

Pratishthit Atma (false projection of one’s identity, the relative self, the belief, ‘I am Chandulal’) is the main foundation and the origin of the world.

What is the action that continues to perpetuate the dependency of the worldly being (adhikaran kriya)? It is the ignorance (agnan) of one’s real identity (the Self). Ignorance of one’s Self is the force and power behind these actions. The one who says ‘I am Chandulal’ believes that to be the case and this belief is in his action as well. This is the illusion that verily perpetuates the worldly life. This is the adhikaran kriya of the entire world. One projects and establishes the belief ‘I am Chandulal’ in a place where one is really not. And hence he acts and behaves according to this false projection (aropit bhaav), and furthermore he believes that he is the doer in all that he does. This false belief is the adhikaran kriya. In other words the projection ‘I am Chandulal’, ‘this is my body’, ‘I am the doer in all that is taking place’ is the pratishtha. The pratishthit atma of this life is the result and creation of karmas and projection done in the previous life. Now in this life, as the pratishthit atma discharges due to the prevailing illusion of one’s real identity, the adhikaran kriya continues and as a result a new pratishthit atma for the coming life is created. Whatever is charged will inevitably discharge. No one, absolutely no one can make a slightest change in this because it is an effect and no one can obstruct or prevent an effect.

The pratishthit atma is completely different from the Shuddhatma (pure Soul). The relationship between the two is that of gneya-gnata (gneya - object or thing to be known. Gnata - the knower). In this relationship, if the pure Soul remains in its state as the knower and the pratishthit soul (the relative soul) remains in its place as the absolute discharge entity; gneya- the entity to be simply known, then new karmas will not be charged. This is when the adhikaran kriya stops completely and there is no creation of a new pratishthit atma for the coming life. Then all that remains is the discharge of the pratishthit atma created due to past mistakes. Nothing will be charged anew and therefore nothing will have to be discharged.

The Gnani Purush alone can put a stop to this. The Gnani Purush can dissolve the bhranti ras i.e. the ‘sweet relish’ that perpetuates the illusion and separate the pure Soul from the pratishthit atma. He establishes a line of demarcation between the two. Thereafter, the two always remain separate; their relationship remains as one of gneya-gnata (that which is to be known-knower). The one that knows the pratishthit atma as a gneya is the pure Soul. The pure Soul is swa-parprakashak, meaning it illuminates the Self as well as the non-self, whereas the pratishthit soul is par prakashak, meaning it illuminates only the non-self. Pratishthit atma knows only that which is known through the senses (indriyagamya), whereas the pure Soul is the knower of that which is beyond the senses (atiindriya). All visible actions are that of the pratishthit atma; no part of that belongs to the Shuddhatma (pure Soul). Knowing (Gnan kriya) and seeing (darshan kriya) are the only actions of the pure Soul and eternal bliss is its core attribute (swabhav).

‘I am this’ and ‘this is mine’ is the false projection (pratishtha) that continues and this binds the pratishthit atma.

When ‘I’ and ‘mine’ depart, then there is no new pratishtha for the pratishthit atma; new causes are not created. A new pratishthit atma is not created and the only thing that remains is the effect of past causes. What remains when all the remaining effects are suffered as simply effects? Only the absolute Self!