Aptavani-6
259
spiritual effort) be done.
Dada tells us all to think a little about what the world calls
purusharth. This Neem tree is bitter in every leaf and in every
branch. What is the purusharth of the Neem tree in that?
Similarly, where is one’s purusharth when one does all this
relative penance (tapa) and when he renounces (tyaag)?
One is a spinning ‘top’ (bhammardo; Dadashri calls all
humans ‘tops’), so how is he going to do udirana? The ‘top’
is dictated by his prakruti, and he spins according to the karma
effect, so how is he going to do udirana? He has not become
a purush, the Self, and that is why he is called a ‘top.’ So how
can a ‘top’ and udirana go together?
Nikachit karma (karma effect one has to suffer) will always
be bitter. There is sweet nikachit karma, but eventually when
one gets tired of it, it will taste bitter and he will begin to feel that
it would be nice if it were to go away.
There are two kinds of nikachit karma: one is bitter and
the other is sweet. Even too much of a sweet karma becomes
an entrapment. If they give you a lot of ice-cream, how much
will you eat? Would you not get tired of it too? And during bitter
karma, you will get even more tired. You have no choice but
suffer it.
Nikachit karma means a karma you have no choice but
suffer. The other karmas are such that they are easily gotten rid
of. It is acceptable to call udirana as penance (tapa). However,
that penance is naimittic penance; it is dependant on a nimit
(an evidence; apparent doer). Indeed, if one were doing that
penance himself, then he is considered to be the doer. That is
why it is a naimittic penance. That means that if penance comes
to him as part of the fruition of his karma (penance is the
evidence), then the karma will go away, but not otherwise. If he
tries to do penance, he will say, ‘I will do the penance tomorrow,’