46 Aptavani-2
When the vitarag Lords spoke about real God, real guru and real religion, the acharyas( principal preceptors) of the Jain faith took that to mean that Lord Mahavir is the real God and following the scriptures is the real religion. But they did not understand that an idol of the Lord is a projected image of Lord Mahavir, it is not the real Mahavir. And dear acharya maharaj, you too are a projection of the Self( relative self); so the God, the guru and the religion are all projected( relative). Once the spoken words are printed in books, they become a projected religion. Only speech heard directly from the Gnani’ s mouth is real religion. Gnani Purush is the real Guru. What is the real Guru like? The real Guru gives realization of the Self to others. The Self then is the real God. And real religion is only the words that the Gnani utters. Only that which grants you liberation is real religion, all others are relative religions. What does the real religion do? It constantly keeps the real and the relative separate. In the relative religion there is good and bad; they tell you to do things a certain way. They tell you to perform chants and rituals of penance. If you ask them why they are telling you to perform rituals of idols and not of the Self, they will tell you that rituals of the Self can only be done after attaining the Self, but until then, this is the only way.
If you ask them is this idol the real God? They will say yes. For heaven’ s sakes! The idols are not real; they are merely projected as real. Everyone erroneously believes that the projected gods( idols) are real Gods. Every talk and information is projected and relative.
Your work is done once you attain the real God, the real religion and the real guru. Even if you were to meet with the real guru for just one hour, your work will be done. Your lifetime’ s work will be accomplished if you meet these three for just one hour.
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