Aptavani-4
21
Insistence Is Bhaavnindra
As long as a man has insistence (aagraha) of any kind,
he is clearly in bhaavnindra. Insistence is wrong in the path of
moksha. Awareness begins from the moment one understands
this. At present, it is not just insistence that is prevalent in
people, but they have also become pertinacious about their
opinion (matagrahi) and they insist that they are right even
when they are not (duragrahi—obstinate).
Insistence about one’s status, sex, race and color in
society is called kadagraha (entrenched in one’s own viewpoint).
Such kadagraha is not as harmful as the tenacious opinions,
especially in religious matters (matagraha) like: “I am Jain…I
am Vaishnav (Lord Krishna’s follower)…I am Sthanakvasi …I
am Deravasi, I am Digambar”. (Jain denominations) It is laden
with great liability.
Awareness Is to Know What Is Beneficial and
Harmful to You
The path of the Vitarag says that if you tell anyone, ‘You
are wrong’, then you yourself are wrong. The other person’s
vision differs from yours, and that is why he sees it that way.
How can he be at fault there? If a blind man bumps into a wall,
could you scold him by saying, “Hey, can you not see where you
are going?” For goodness sake! He bumped into the wall
because he could not see! This is how the world ‘sleeps with
open eyes’. All the activities that take place are done in a state
of sleep (in ignorance). It is all happening in a ‘dream’ and they
believe that they are doing all those things. But these activities in
the ‘dream’ will not help you. Your activities will have to come
from the one who is awake (jagrut). People are asleep with
their eyes open.
Who is the one with the awareness (jagrut)? It is he who
has the awareness of what is beneficial and what is harmful to