Aptavani-1
17
I am a Gnani but this body of mine is a top. These ‘tops’
function because of respiration. The process of breathing is like
winding the string around the top, and as the breathing continues,
the top begins to spin. It may even lean over on one side as it
spins and it may seem like it will topple over, but then it comes
back up again and continues to spin. That is how life is.
Every leaf and branch of a Neem tree is bitter. It is bitter
through and t hrough. What effort (purusharth) does the tree
have to make for that? Everything that is manifest in the tree has
come from its seed. Similarly human beings act according to
their innate nature (prakruti) but merely claim, ‘I am the doer’
and thus exercise their ego. What exactly does one do in all
this?
What people refer to, as purusharth in this world is really
a language of illusion. Things occur and materialize because of
your past karmas coming into effect, and to claim ‘I did it’ is
subtle pride (gaarva) and egoism. Real purusharth, true purusharth
begins only after one becomes the Purush (Self-realised). It is
only then your belief of ‘I am the doer’ is destroyed. It is the
state of absolute ‘non-doer ship’. All that is relative is prakruti
and the Purush (the Self) is real. What then is real purusharth?
Real purusharth is when You (the Self) remain the knower (gnata)
and the seer (drashta) when someone is cutting your hand.
Gnankriya (knowing) and darshankriya (seeing) are the only
activities of the Self. The Soul does not have any other activities.
True purusharth is when the Self remains in the state of the
knower and the seer.
Saint Kabir’s wife was expecting a baby. The mother’s
milk was ready even before the baby was born. The milk began
to flow after the birth of the baby. On seeing this Kabir sang :
‘Destiny (prarabdha) comes first, then forms the body
Kabir, it is a wonder, that the mind does not accept.’