Aptavani-1
271
There is no end to prakruti. When you become a Purush
(Self-realized), prakruti will carry out its own function and the
Purush will remain in his own domain. Purush means the Self.
Until you become Purush, you will dance according to what the
prakruti dictates.
All scriptures tell you to acquire the knowledge of the
Soul but none tell you to acquire the knowledge of the prakruti.
If you first know what is par-kruti (par = foreign, alien and kruti
= behaviour or creation), then you will know the Self. If there
is a mixture of oil and water, and if you know the properties of
water, you will be able to separate it and after separation, you
will come to know what oil is. That is why I tell people to gain
knowledge of the prakruti. Know that all that is unsteady and
transitory, changing and fleeting is part of the prakruti. What is
fleeting? The five senses. The eyes would see even if you do not
want to; the nose will smell foul odors even if you don’t want
to. The body too is unreliable – how? It will jump out of the
way if there is a car approaching head on – it does not wait for
the mind to make a decision. The mind and the chit are also
fickle. You may be sitting here in the satsang and the chit could
be wandering at the railway station. The intellect is also fickle
and changing. If a woman is taking a bath and you know you
should not be looking, the intellect will defy all arguments. And
if someone greets you with a lot of respect, your ego becomes
inflated with pride. That is the changing nature of your ego.
These are all changing, temporary and transitory parts of the
prakruti. Once you completely understand all the changing parts
and take them away, the remaining portion that is still and
permanent is the Self. Kindness, pride, ego, grief-joy, happiness-
unhappiness are all attributes with duality and they belong to the
prakruti. They all change. The Purush is only the steady,
unchanging and permanent part. If you know the Purush then
you have attained the Self and thereafter you will proceed towards
full enlightenment.