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the crowd (gneyas, subjects to be known), the greater is the
blossoming powers of the Knower (gnata). When one is in a
huge crowd, the Knower within will flourish tremendously; the
Knower will express fully. The greater the scope, the more the
power increases. Some people abandon everything and run
away to the forest for solitude, but the real pleasure is amongst
a crowd. It is when there is a crowd on the outside, a crowd
on the inside, a crowd everywhere that the Shuddhatma
becomes alone. There it does not identify itself with anything.
However this is possible only after acquiring the knowledge of
the Self.
Mandatory Versus Voluntary
It is not easy to understand how the world functions.
Everything in this world is mandatory but people believe that
they act of their own volition and that is why they become
trapped. Being born is mandatory, education is mandatory, getting
married is mandatory and dying too is mandatory. It is extremely
rare to find a person who has even an inkling of where lies the
power of one’s free will. It is only when you become a Gnani
Purush (Self-realized) that your independent free will arises in
this mandatory world. Purusharth (Real effort) only begins after
you become a Purush. From the time you are born until the time
you die, your every action is mandatory. You have wandered
through endless cycles of births under compulsion and you will
keep on wandering in the same way unless you meet a Gnani
Purush who can liberate you from this cycle.
It is mandatory for a father to raise his children, educate
them, get them married and help them settle in life. Mandatory
means duty-bound and voluntary means will-bound. People
mistakenly believe all that is duty-bound to be will-bound. You
perpetuate your worldly life in the direction of your will; you
believe you are acting according to your free will whereas in