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Aptavani-1
comes and goes, is not your real nature. How can you believe
it to be yours? Circumstances come and go, just like the
neighbors. Those who lack the right understanding believe that
any positive or benevolent thoughts they have is the Self within,
but that is not the Self. Regardless of the kind of thoughts and
feelings you have, ‘they are not mine’ (they are of the non-Self),
is all you need to know. There should not be a feeling of
ownership of any circumstance, whether it is a good thought or
an evil one. I am telling the whole world everything and clearly
as it really is :
‘All tangible circumstances, subtle circumstances, and
circumstances of speech are of the non-Self and are subject to
the influences of the non-Self’.
There are only two things : The Self and circumstances.
Presence or absence of action too are dependent upon
circumstances, they are under the control of the non-Self, not
the Self. If anyone had control over circumstances, he would
not let negative circumstances come his way and not let good
ones leave and consequently no one would attain liberation.
Gnan is to know that all that is temporary, which comes
and goes through the association and dissociation of
circumstances, is ‘not mine’. When all the phases of Knowledge
are purified, it is infinite knowledge (anant gnan). Subtle
circumstances can only be seen when certain phases of
Knowledge become pure and when all the phases of Knoweldge
become pure, that is the Knower of infinity, the Absolute, the
Omniscient.
A person may not have the knowledge that circumstances
are the only doers in any event, but if through his ego he believes
so, he will bind tremendous punya (merit karma). He would
become a great celestial being. But what do people do instead?
If something they set out to do turns out wrong, they claim that