Gandhis Teachers Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta

SR No.: 006754
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satish Sharma
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2005
Total Pages: 260
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Rajchandra
File Size: 11 MB

Page 71

Gandhi and Rajchandra : Question and Answers
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through its instrumentality, also becomes a creator of things like pot and table etc. To put it more expressively, though soul is not the creator of the substratum of earth from which pots etc. are prepared, yet it becomes a creator of the processes which give new modifications to the substratum. This latter state and functioning of the soul is called "karma, "21 i.e. action in Jainism and "bhranti, '22 i.e. illusion in the Vedanta. Other systems of philosophy also refer to this state of soul by similar terms. But solemn and serene thinking reveals the truth that in reality the soul is neither a creator of pot etc. and nor of the emotions of anger, conceit etc. In fact, it is a creator of its own conscious characteristics of feeling, willing, and knowing.23
(3) The karmas which are done in ignorance of one's own self, though in the beginning are merely seeds, yet at the time of maturity turn into trees laden with heavy fruits. It is therefore self-evident that soul itself has to bear the fruits of its actions. Just as by giving a touch to fire you first feel its heat and then pain follows, similar is the state of mundane soul. It also, by coming in contact with earthly objects by its sensuous organs, first gives rise to emotions of greed, anger, and deceit etc. and then as its fruits has to suffer the pangs of birth, death, and old age. Please ponder well over these problems with a detached mind and if you have any doubts please rewrite to me. It is the detached mind which gives strength for abstinence and control and ultimately guides the soul to nirvana.24
Q. 2 What is God? Is He the creator of the universe?
A. (1) Just see, you and we are all mundane beings bound by karmas, i.e. our souls are in bondage of foreign matter and foreign impulses. The natural state of self with its intrinsic glory, free from all karmas, aloof from all impurities and bondages, is Godhead. God is endowed with the fullness of peace, bliss, and knowledge. This Godhead is inherent nature of self, but due to ignorance born of the bondages of karmas, one is unable to have a vision thereof. However when one realizes the truth that self is altogether aloof from the body