Aptavani-2 Aptavani-02 | Page 89

40 Aptavani-2 part of it is its changing phase (avastha), and it is called vibhavik (not original or inherent, but new, arising out of proximity with another element). This is also called prakrut avastha. In this state the illusion of, ‘I am this’ arises which is the foundation of the worldly life. Nothing has become spoilt in the interaction of the elements. The entire universe exists because of the coming together of these six eternal elements. It runs simply due to the company and close proximity (sanyog) of inanimate matter (jada) and the Self (chetan). Matter (jada) and the Self (chetan) are together as a mixture, not as a compound. Who bears the weight, you or the horse? ‘We’ once paid a surprise visit to a friend of ‘ours’. He was talking to his wife and ‘We’ heard their conversation. “What vegetables did you buy?” he asked his wife. “Okra”, she replied. “How much were they?” he asked. “Twelve anaa for a kilo”, she replied. “How can you pay so much for vegetables? Don’t you have any sense?” he rebuked her. ‘We’ happened to overhear this and so ‘We’ asked him, “Why do you go around carrying this ‘two ton weight’ on your head? Your face looks like you just drank some castor oil!” Why? If she paid twelve anaas (Indian currency) for a kilo of okra, that is a burden on the worldly life and you have to put that weight on the ‘horse of the worldly burden’. Even if you carry that burden on your head, it really remains on the worldly ‘horse’. We should not be taking this weight on our heads. In fact, it is because we put this weight on our head that our faces look as if we drank castor oil and so does the horse’s (worldly life)!