Aptavani-9
173
exact vision. The word opinion is completely unnecessary for
You. You should have only one opinion and that is, ‘There is the
Self and five other eternal elements.’ There is no other opinion.
That is how it should be.
Opinions means there is some attachment (raag) or
abhorrence (dwesh), otherwise opinions will not be there.
Opinions are formed when there is like and dislike.
If you did not like the tea you drank, you will give an
opinion that the tea was not good. So you cannot refrain from
criticizing the tea. Not only that, but you will also make an
intense mental note of it. And in doing so, you also criticize the
one who made the tea. It is because you have criticized the tea,
that you are now ‘married’ to it. So are you likely to stop
drinking tea? No. It is better to have less attachment to anything.
I am not asking you to let go of the tea or the existing
attachments that you have. I am simply saying ‘no’ to opinions
(abhipraya) and the intense mental note (nondha) making. You
can eat and drink and do whatever you like. ‘We’ do not keep
notes of such things. ‘We’ do not have a problem there. Our
Vignan does not raise objections with anything else. There is a
tremendous consequence for making intense mental notes
(nondha). One has to understand this.
The authority of the non-Self reigns where
there is nondha
One cannot refrain from making intense mental notes.
What is the greatest sign of ignorance? It is that of making
intense mental note (nondha). After attaining Gnan, nondha
should not remain. Making intense mental notes and the non-Self
(pudgal) stand together. The non-Self remains as long as there
is nondha; during that time, the non-Self is the authority and not
the Self.
That is why ‘we’ have to say something about nondha