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Aptavani-2
Aptavani-2
now you throw them away? The answer is yes because only the sweet juicy pulp inside was useful. In the same way, when these human beings turn to skin and bones, when there is no pulp' left in them, even their children will kick them!
whiff of it and comes to eat it. She tips the pot over and eats the yogurt. There is still some yogurt left in the pot, so her greed drives her to push her whole face inside the pot, and she becomes trapped in it. There is nothing but total darkness inside and so she runs around trying to get free. Now how can she escape such a trap? In the same way, the entire world is caught in such a trap. How can a person escape from his own trap? The cat can only become free if someone frees her. In the same way, only a Gnani can free you from the trap of this world, no one else can. A person can never become free on his own; on the contrary, he will sink deeper.
I had studied and analyzed this scenario about the cat when I was young. I used to put a pot of yogurt as bait and watch it quietly. I did not care whether the yogurt would be wasted but at least I would be able to see and learn from it. If one gets a direct experience of this trap, then why would he be foolish enough to fall in it again? Despite getting her head stuck in the pot once, if a cat were to see a pot of milk again, she will forget her previous predicament and do the same thing over again. Then she will regret it but what can anyone do after the fact? Even if she has been trapped once, does she remember she should not repeat the mistake? No, she forgets even when she is punished. What hope is there for animals when even human beings forget? This body will never become yours. Despite this people say, "This is mine, he is mine, she is mine." You miserable people, when your body is not your own, how can anyone else be yours?
You are coming home from Calcutta and on the way you buy some nice mangos, you have to handle them with care because you do not have a basket to carry them in. What is more you have to carry them yourself since you do not have your servant with you. After you bring them home, you eat them and you throw away the skin and its stone (seed). For heaven's sake! You took so much care to bring the mangos home and
An old lady and her son lived next door to us. The old lady was blind but she worked all day long taking care of the home. One day her son's boss came to their home. The son was the boss in the home and the other man was the boss at work! Both these 'bosses' came home. The son thought to himself, if my boss sees my blind mother, I will loose my reputation and so he tells her, "Hey you blind woman! Get up, my boss is here." He kicks (insults) his mother to impress his boss! The fool! As if he is some big shot! The dope! Should he be thinking of protecting his mother or his boss?
Why do people buy mangos? They do so because of the pulp and its juice. Similarly, this whole world has selfish motives. That is why only the Lord within is real and so if we have attained something when we attain liberation, otherwise they will tell you, "Get up you blind woman!"
Some people complain, "We don't have any children." What are they going to do with children, put them on a pedestal? Of what use are children when they mistreat their parents? Instead, it is better not to have any; besides in which past life did you not have children? All these animals, dogs, cats, donkeys, cows, buffalo have carried their young around their necks in their past lives too, have they not? You have attained this human birth with great difficulty so why don't you shape up now at least! Look for the instruments that will help you attain liberation and get your work done. An old lady will say, "Damn this worldly life, it is filled with misery", when her son mistreats her. We can ask her, "Dear lady, was this worldly life not miserable before?" The worldly life has always been miserable but it appears sweet because of illusion (moha) and infatuation