Aptavani-2
57
over them. The priests retaliate at the slightest provocation, so
how effective can their pratishtha be? Only the one in whom all
kashays have gone has the right to perform a pratishtha. Not
only that but such a person must not evoke the slightest kashaya
in other beings. Such a person falls in the category of the Panch
Parmeshti (five stages of enlightenment after Self-realization)
and pratishtha is to be performed only by such a being.
Nevertheless, as the saying goes ‘something is better than
nothing.’ But in reality the pratishtha must be such that after it is
done, the idol will smile at you and converse with you.
Wherever ‘We’ have performed pratishtha, the idols talk and
smile at the worshipper. ‘We’ have a tremendous desire that
such pratishtha be performed in all the temples, but it is not in
‘our’ hands. It is under the control of vyavasthit (scientific
circumstantial evidence) and that is why even the pratishtha that
‘We’ do is according to the dictates of vyavasthit.
‘We’ do pratishtha even within you and that is why you
spontaneously and naturally say, “I am Shuddhatma.” When
even the pratishtha the Gnani performs in an idol of stone gives
results, would it not give results when performed in a living
person who spontaneously exclaims, ‘I am a pure Soul?’
Until you meet a Gnani Purush who gives you the darshan
of the formless God (amurta), you should continue to worship
the idol (murti; the one with form). You should sing songs of
devotion and praise of the Lord. If you continue to worship the
idol, you will meet the idol (the one with the form) and you will
have all the material comforts. But when you meet a Gnani
Purush, you will get the darshan of the formless (amurta) and
that will liberate you. You have done idol worship for countless
past lives, have you not? But the Gnani Purush himself is
murtamurta i.e. one with form and without form, and you will
attain liberation by worshipping Him.
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