Aptavani-1 - Dada Bhagwan (novels for beginners .TXT) 📗

offered to him, regardless of its quality and contents and blesses the giver.

4. His stillness and steadfastness is comparable to the mountain of Meru. No external circumstances or events dare shake his inner poise or steadfastness. His steadfastness must not be mistaken for psychic or physical fortitude or stubbornness. Many will hold their palm over a burning candle without flinching - that is not steadfastness; it is stubbornness or obstinacy- the expression of ego. But the Gnani is completely free from ego. He is natural and spontaneous in his reflexes or routine activities. Steadfastness has nothing to do with physical fortitude or rigidity. The Gnani would not put his hand where there is a possibility of getting burnt and if by chance he does, he would immediately retract it. His physical being is quite normal and natural but his omniscient inner poise is unparallel. No events or circumstances would upset or affect even a single atom of His inner harmony; that is real steadfastness. Steadfastness is where the tranquility within is never perturbed or never is there a hint of inner turmoil. The physical pain is a natural property of the body and has nothing to do with the equanimity or steadfastness of the inner Self.

An abode of infinite compassion, the Gnani does not have a grain of pity. Pity is an egocentric virtue – it is a virtue that exists in duality with its corresponding counterpart. Presence of pity on one hand is balanced by cruelty on the other hand. Only when it manifests, does one see the reality of this duality. But the Gnani is above all duality. In the Gnani’s eyes flows an endless stream of the elixir of love. Forever within Him remains the spirit of comforting and saving, and liberating all the creatures of the world, suffering in agony the afflictions of the worldly life.

There is a childlike innocence and guilelessness in the Gnani. In a child however, it is ignorance that breeds innocence but the Gnani’s innocence springs from the highest degree of wisdom and knowledge. A vision that sees no fault or flaws anywhere but finds and feels everything in order. Having become free of faults Himself, he views the whole world, as it stands, to be innocent and ‘in order’.

Not a single trace of stubbornness or obstinacy would be there in the Gnani. Stubbornness is the expression of ego-sense. Narrow is the path to liberation and the stubborn cannot enter it. Only the simple and straightforward can get past it without any difficulty. Obstinacy or stubbornness is the greatest obstruction in the world. The Gnani remains unaffected or unruffled even in the face of some one’s untoward gesture, abasement or humiliation. He would pacify anyone’s tartness with unsurpassed politeness. No instigation dare irritate him – his vitragta can be evident upon provocation. What a wondrous detachment to external factors and forces. He is anything but the Gnani who, when piqued, is provoked to rage or wrath.

Not even a jot of stubborn insistence is to be found in a Gnani. He is entirely aloof from ‘insistence’ or ‘stickiness’- Insistence endangers dissent or conflict, and that comes in the way of liberation.

God has asserted for one not to be a prey to any clinging insistence except in seeking the Gnani, at whose lotus feet lies Liberation. The grace and blessings of the Gnani would place you right on the threshold of Liberation without any strain or pain on your part.

The Gnani’s love is the purest love. It is a fountain of divine love that puts out the fires of the worldly life. The Gnani has an ardent wish for the liberation of all caught in the quagmire of the worldly life.

The most salient feature of the Gnani is his non-partiality. He is neither dogmatic nor pragmatic. Partiality or prejudicial approach implies blindness to other existing viewpoints. This is being fanatic. Confinement to some creed or to compartmentalize would come in the way of the Real or Truth. In order to realize the ultimate Truth, one must be free from partiality, fanaticism or bigotry. The Gnani is open to all viewpoints. He is non-partial even towards his own mind, speech, and physique. On account of this all comprehensive outlook and openness, he exalts to the highest status of the Omniscient Manifest. The Omniscient will never rigidly cleave to one viewpoint or partiality. Despite various religious beliefs of those who sit in the discourse of the Gnani, all experience a spirit of oneness within and with Him. Each of them finds in the Gnani the most trustworthy and authentic representative of his religion.

It is the ignorant that has infinite diversity of opinions, whereas all Gnanis from all different sects come to a uniform conclusion amidst myriad viewpoints!

The Gnani is omniscient as well as without intellect – not a drop of intellectualism prevails in the Gnani. Where the intellect sinks eternally into oblivion, spontaneously arises the state of Omniscience in all its splendor and glory. This is the natural law: Only the one who is free from the grips of intellect can become the Omniscient.

Captivating are the speech, conduct and humbleness of the Gnani. Unparallel are they - nowhere else to be seen! In his speech there is due deference to the diversity of all viewpoints and so it hurts no one nor does it offend. His words penetrate right into the heart and the soul and would prompt and point one to the right path at a crucial moment: The seed of Gnan inculcated by the Gnani will fructify into Liberation – never will its fate be rendered futile. The spiritual prowess of his words is beyond one’s imagination!

For the Gnani, the stage of ‘becoming’ is over. He is in the supreme sate of ‘being’. Therefore he has nothing more to know or perform in the world. No need to read books! No standard to pass! No beads to count! There is nothing the Gnani has yet to know or do. He is the Omniscient and he moves about in complete liberation.

The Gnani is so intricate and inscrutable that he is beyond the comprehension of a layperson. He has no need to establish ashrams, no symbolic flags to fly! No sect or creed! No label! No special attire of white or saffron! He is clad in a quite and plain attire of a householder. How is one to recognize Him? Even then, the Gnani can be identified through his description given in the scriptures:

‘The Gnani lives in a state of ‘samadhi’- the active and alert awareness of the Pure Self and the state of being the Pure Self. His speech delivers experience. He has no worldly desires, no pride nor internal worldly stagnation within. He is not allured by anything- veneration or self-worship, objects of senses, riches or disciples. The eternal light of Knowledge only manifests within when all one’s needs and desires are completely dissolved. ‘Being’ liberated, He is the liberator, the savior, and the beacon light – living to lift and liberate others.

The Gnani has in him, the concurrence of many divine circumstantial evidences. Beatific is his name, richly rewarding the one who recites it. Credit regales in crowning deeds performed through his blessings. His speech is spellbinding and salutary. His status of spiritual placement is a status revered by people. So many such evidences of this nature come together to make the Gnani manifest in the world.

The Gnani does not need to read scriptures or perform any religious rituals. Before Him all distinction between a devotee and God disappear. He himself is God. He is the Omniscient Manifest. God is an adjective or attribute applicable to the one who possesses divine virtues! The Gnani is an incarnation of Divinity.

So long as one is prone to errors, there is God overhead and as soon as one becomes free from all one’s errors, there remains no authority of God overhead. The Gnani is beyond all flaws, faults and errors and that is why he has no one of authority over him nor does he exercise authority over others (no underhand). He is completely free and independent.

Every action of the Gnani is divine; it never binds him. The deeds of the relative world perpetuate bondage of life, whereas the deeds of the Gnani only serve to liberate. He is the Self-realized liberated Soul and so He is capable and competent to liberate countless others.

The Gnani is free from all karmic knots or complexes and conditionings. All the complexes dissolve and disappear in the crucible of Self-Realization. He is the Absolute. For him, therefore, there is no question of renunciation or non-renunciation, abnegation or acceptance. God Himself has propounded this. If renunciation were the yardstick of measure in the search for the Gnani, how will one ever recognize the Gnani? The Gnani does not require any novel ritualistic practices or penance to set a new path. His ultimate state in which Self-Realization manifested is the state that prevails everlastingly. His ‘being’ is beyond the scanning of the laity. His state of being defies all mental measures of the mortal beings.

Were one to assimilate in living, three divine virtues of the Gnani, he would surely find the puzzle of life perishing. These divine traits are: compressibility, flexibility and tensibility.

Compressibility is His trait whereby no matter how great the pressure may be, the Gnani would adjust, bear the burden blithely and resume the original state as soon as the pressure is gone. His flexibility is where He will not break down at any time, no matter how much force is exerted. And tensibility is His trait whereby He remains steadfast amidst tension, torment or tribulations. These three traits would remove all hurdles and set backs in the worldly life and lead one to liberation without any obstruction.

The Gnani is both laghutam and gurutam. This means he can be the lowest among the lowliest (laghutam) and he can soar to the highest peak among those whose goal or ascent is the highest (gurutam). This is a simultaneous blending of the twin state: the macrocosmic and microcosmic. He is not only the infinite but also the infinitesimal. If addressed to as a donkey he would say, “I am that and still lowlier than that. I am the lowliest. My smallness will defy all your measures”. And adored as a preceptor, he would say, ‘Yes I am that. But if you are desirous of knowing even more, then I am at an even higher state than that. I am God in the human form.” What one gains from the Gnani is in proportion to one’s openness and receptivity. The Pure Self is neither laghu nor guru – immutable, unchangeable, free from waxing or waning.

Only the Gnani is trustworthy in this world. You can place your trust in the Gnani in all respect, not only in worldly matters but also in your path of liberation, until you reach the ultimate destination. So long as one has not realized or glimpsed the Pure Self, the Gnani is his very manifest Soul; the guiding star of his self. The Gnani is Liberation Incarnate. The Self within will manifest upon having seen the Gnani. The Gnani is the gem of parasmani – that which turns iron – a non-realized being into gold, Self-Realized, provided one has lifted his inner curtain of discord or dissent before Him. The Gnani has innumerable divine and dexterous devices for transmission of one’s awakening, communication with the Self and enlightened intuitive intellect for inspiration. One should take the utmost benefit of the Gnani for the attainment of Liberation and make one’s existence