Life Without Conflict 83
get married? Go ahead and get married, it is perfectly fine to do so. Dada has no objection to that, but the problem is with your incorrect and incomplete understanding. What I am saying is you can do everything, but at least understand the reality of this world.
Emperor Bharat had thirteen hundred queens! He spent his entire life with them and yet attained liberation in the same lifetime. Thirteen hundred wives! So all you have to do is understand the matter. Live your worldly life with an understanding. You do not have to become an ascetic. If you do not understand, then become a hermit and live in isolation. Otherwise, the life of a hermit is only meant for the one who cannot get along with a woman; it is an exercise to test one’ s willpower to see if he can stay away from women.
The worldly life is an examination; it is a test. You are being tested in it, and you have to pass the test. When even iron has to be tested as a metal, is it any different for achieving moksha?
You cannot afford to remain in this illusion. It is because of this illusion( moha; maya) that you perceive the world the way you do. This is why you suffer. Imagine the state of Emperor Bharat having to deal with thirteen hundred wives! Even when there is just one queen at home, she creates such a scene, so just imagine what it would be like with thirteen hundred of them! Alas even with one queen( wife), life is a challenge; you can never win! Once you have a difference of opinion, you are stuck! Bharat had to tolerate thirteen hundred of them. As he passed through the queens’ palaces, fifty of them would be smiling, while many of them were plotting against him. Their jealousy towards other queens drove them to plot against Emperor Bharat; all this to take revenge on the Emperor’ s current favorite queen. Their hatred was for the