Aptavani-2
17
know? Your worries and restlessness and their effects on others
has not decreased. Even when someone breaks a simple glass
in your home, you act like your soul is broken. The Gnani, on
the other hand, will remain unaffected even if his diamonds were
to get lost. Prakrutgnan keeps one entrenched in the ego of ‘I
know something’, that is all it does.
In the current time cycle, renowned ascetics, sages and
religious preceptors (acharyas) all dwell in the intoxicated ego
of ‘I know’. When they preach or say anything, they do so at
their own risk and liability. All of them have lost the real path but
alas what can anyone do? They are not at fault. They too desire
liberation and abide by the Lord’s agnas (cardinal directives),
but the current time cycle is very peculiar and that is why they
are caught up in a twisted misunderstanding. Everything is
prakrutgnan and it increases the level of the ego whereas
atmagnan decreases it. It would be good even if they had
constant awareness that they do not have atmagnan, but on the
contrary they go around concealing their ego. They strike back
when ever someone challenges them. When one becomes free
from such intoxication, he will have the world in the palm of his
hands. You are the owner of this world; you yourself are the
Lord of this universe! If these preceptors were to admit, ‘We
don’t know anything about atmagnan’, they can come closer to
their liberation.
Is having the knowledge of prakrutgnan of any use? No,
because atmagnan is needed for liberation. Atmagnan is not
found in books or scriptures; it exists with the Gnani. It is the
task for the one who has nothing left to know in this world, no
scriptures to read and no rosary to turn. If we see someone
reading scriptures or turning the rosary, can we not deduce that
he is still in the process of learning? Can we not deduce that he
is in a certain standard? How can he teach us when he himself
still has to study? Only the one who has become absolute can
be of help to us. All the religions in the world are relative and