Aptavani 01

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

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your hand on a hot plate unknowingly? Demerit karma carried out knowingly or unknowingly, carries the same weight. The only difference between the two is that the consequences of the deed carried out in ignorance will have to be experienced in an unknowing state and the consequence of a deed carried out deliberately will have to be experienced in a knowing state. For example, there are two brothers, one is sixteen and the other is two years old. Their mother dies. Both have to suffer the consequence of their past demerit karma. The older one has to suffer consciously and the younger in a state of unawareness.
Merit karma can also be carried out unknowingly. For example, you stand in a line for four hours to buy sugar, on your way home the sugar slowly leaks out through a tiny hole in the bag. The ants reap the benefit from this and you created merit karma without being aware of it, the consequence of which you will enjoy without being aware of it.
Every human being is trapped in a labyrinth of merit karmademerit karma, demerit karma-merit karma and is subject to endless wandering; there is no liberation from it. The most a person gets from earning a lot of merit karma is a life as a celestial being, but he never acquires liberation. Liberation is only acquired upon meeting a Gnani Purush who will destroy your demerit karma of endless lifetimes through the fire of spiritual knowledge) and gives you the Self (your Soul). Until then you have to keep on wandering within the four life forms.
Every living being, starting from the single sensory life form to the five-sensory life form experiences endless suffering, just like a man confined to total darkness with only two meals a day. Such are the dense layers, which cover the Soul. If human beings with their five senses have to suffer so much, can you imagine what suffering the living beings with lesser senses have to endure? There is no living entity with six senses. The
trees and animals are life forms we refer to as "Tiryanch Gati'. They are subject to severe imprisonment. The human life is comparatively an easier form of imprisonment. But life in hell is so excruciatingly painful that if I were to describe it exactly, a human being would die from fear by just listening to me. It is thousand times more painful than the pain of being boiled in water. Those in hell are subject to the pain of near death experience over and over again and yet death will elude them. They are doomed to a life of suffering and that is why death will not come to them. Their physical body is very much like liquid mercury; their body parts and limbs are subject to being severed and joined together again. They have no choice but endure pain and suffering. Hell is life imprisonment.
The celestial beings (Devaloka) enjoy life in the celestial world but under surveillance, they too cannot achieve liberation. The atmosphere there is dazzling and intoxicating. Just like the atmosphere at weddings where you can become completely lost and absorbed with your surrounding. All your senses are indulged. The food tastes great and is pleasing to the palate. You hear music that is pleasing to the ears. Your eyes are admiring the beauty of the bride and the groom. Your sense of smell is filled with fragrant incense. All your senses are completely occupied. Your mind is filled with different thoughts. You can never remember your Soul at times like this, such is the happiness enjoyed by the celestial beings. There is an abundance of happiness there, which never ceases and that is why they are in a state of intoxication. They do not even think of the Soul. However, they too are subject to mental restlessness, jealousy and other emotions that torment. They too get tired of too much happiness. How can that be? Its like after feasting non-stop for four days at a wedding, you will crave for something simple to eat. In the same way, the celestial beings too wish for a birth as a human being in this world, to a moral and a pious family,