2
Aptavani-1
supreme Self (parmatma pad) and the one who cannot,
becomes dissolved in the puzzle. Prominent sages, ascetics,
monks, nuns, preceptors etc, have all become dissolved in this
puzzle, just as sugar dissolves in water. Someone may ask,
‘Where is the sugar in the water? Why can’t we see it? We can
assure him that there is sugar in the water but it is dissolved
within the water. In the same way the soul (chetan) is present
in everyone, but it is as a lifeless living element (nischetan
chetan). When it becomes pure (shuddha chetan), then the
puzzle will be solved.
How alert are you of your own digestive processes?
A retired chief engineer of a big chemical company once
came to me and told me, “Dada, my company would not run
without me”. ‘We’ asked him, “What is so special about you
that your company would not run without you?” He said, “I am
very alert in my business. The work would stop if I did not go
in for just one day.” So ‘We’ asked him, “When you eat some
handvo (a baked Gujarati dish) at night, do you go to investigate
within to see how it is being digested as you sleep? Do you
check to see how much bile is secreted, how many other
digestive enzymes are produced? And by the next morning, all
the end products from that handvo will fall into their appropriate
places; blood will go where the blood is, urine will be in its place
and feces in its place. Do you go to check within how everything
falls into place? How alert are you when it comes to your own
body? When you can’t do anything for your own self, what
makes you think you can do anything in other matters? So many
powerful kings have come and gone and yet their kingdoms
continued, so what makes you think everything will stop in your
absence? What alertness are you talking about? Even the
Gnani’s shoe is more alert than you are! It gets the constant
attention of the devotees who keep it shiny. When you were
born, did you have to worry whether your teeth will grow or
not? Do you worry whether the sun will shine tomorrow or not?”