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Aptavani-2
it did not touch your body." It is considered suffering, when it touches the body.
211
If your wife is hurting, the pain is touching her body not yours. So why should you take her pain on to your own mind? You should take it in your Gnan.
'We' always keep everything separate. If there is a loss in the business, 'we' say that the business incurred a loss. 'We' are not the owner of profit and loss, so why should 'we' take it upon our head? Profit and loss do not affect 'us'. If the business incurs a loss and when the tax officer comes, 'we' will tell the business, "Dear business, if you have the money to pay off your obligation, do so; you will have to pay your debt."
If you tell me you have an earache, 'we' will listen to you. 'We' will also listen to you if you complain about a toothache or even if you say you are hungry. All these are accepted as pain. But if you complain there is no butter and jam on the toast, then 'we' will not listen. If you feed this body a little khichadee, it will not complain. Thereafter, whatever meditation (dhyan) you want to indulge in, adverse meditation (durdhyan) or otherwise, it's entirely your choice.
People carry an unnecessary burden of pain over their heads. If the kadhee (soup) spills over, the sheth ("boss") shouts, "What lousy karma that you had to spill the kadhee!" and invites suffering. He does the same in his business; he walks around carrying a heavy load on his shoulders of this imagined suffering. There are 'pains and sufferings' of business and there are 'pains and sufferings' of the society, but they are not true pain and suffering. 'We' leave the pain and suffering of the business with the business and the pain and suffering of the society with the society. If someone cuts your hair off, that is not suffering; but it is if someone cuts your ear off. Nevertheless, if that happens to someone and he comes to our satsang, he will forget that pain; he will forget the pain of his ear.
Aptavani-2
A very rich businessman (sheth) had acquaintance with a doctor. This sheth had a son, whom he indulged and spoiled excessively. His son had hurt his finger and needed surgery because it had abscessed. The doctor reassured the sheth that it was a very minor surgery and that he should not worry. The sheth told the doctor he wanted to sit in on the surgery and the doctor had to concede, because the sheth was a man of influence and status. In the operation theater, the sheth was sitting about eight feet away from the operating table. As the doctor made the incision on the son's finger, the fool sitting eight feet away started to cry. Now there is no wire connecting the two of them, so how can water be pouring out of his eyes as the doctor makes the incision? Why does he cry without any such connection? It is nothing but stupidity. This world is nothing to cry about. And wherever there is an occasion to cry, you should be cheerful. It is like this, if you divide a negative number (situation) with a positive number (situation), the other account will be dispensed with. Wherever you have to suffer pain or grief, instead of multiplying it (increasing) through complaints and non-acceptance, if you divide (acceptance with cheerful attitude) it with a smile, there will be nothing left over in that account.
212
One man told me, "I have lost respect in my community." Why should he be hurt by the community? Hurt or pain is only that which touches the body. Lord Mahavir had experienced physical pain. When they pulled out the bamboo stakes from his ears, tears came out of his eyes and He let out a scream from the pain. That would happen to anyone. The Self and the body are separate. The worldly self is the combination of the Self and the non-self. When the soul as the non-self (pratishthit atma, mishrachetan, 'I am Chandulal') remains, the body remains alive. The body will cease to live when the pratishthit atma becomes consumed and exhausted.
Therefore, only that which touches the body is considered pain. If a child cuts his finger, he will experience pain, but his
