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Aptavani-2
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Aptavani-2
Errors in penance and renunciation
Questioner : Can a person attain liberation through penance and kriya (rituals)?
that comes to you naturally is really a boon, and so what if it needs to be suffered at least you have not lost anything. And the fact that you attain something in return, if that is not a boon then what else?
Dadashri : Penance and kriya will beget fruits for you but not liberation. If you plant a neem seed, you will get bitter fruits and if you plant a mango stone, you will get sweet fruits. Whatever fruit you want, plant accordingly. The penance for liberation is different altogether; it is antartapa (internal penance).
Liberation has four pillars: knowledge, vision, conduct and penance. Penance is one of the four pillars of liberation, but people have become fixed on doing just penance without understanding this. It's like clinging on to just one leg of this bed.
The body is not meant to be subjected to penance, the mind is, and that too without anyone's knowledge. But today people just take on external penance i.e. visible penance; they grab on to whatever comes along. What benefits will an ascetic attain if he does external penance? His body will grow stronger; the penance his body is subjected to will fortify it. But is the body going to come with him to his next life? It is going to be cremated. As long as this body exists, you have to accomplish only the work for liberation. Tyagis i.e. those who renounce are merely exercising with penance. These are nothing but exercise centers, they do nothing for the Soul. Men exercise in trying to live without their wives and so they leave their wives and runaway. The wife sometimes goes to live with her parents for a long time, does she not? So they can live at home also, why should men runaway from home? When a husband and wife quarrel everyday, their son makes a mental note, "I am not going to have a wife." He ties such a strong inner karmic knot of not wanting a wife, that when the karma unfolds to give effect, he runs away from his wife. Instead he should suffer his prapta tapa (the penance that has presented itself) and some day he will attain liberation if he continues to suffer the penance. Suffering
To undergo penance and renunciation is really an exercise in a subject matter (vishay); it merely gives you encouragement. It is understandable that penance makes the body stronger but renunciation is a different matter. "Tyage oosko aage'. that which one renounces, will have to be faced again, and it will be multiplied many times. This would also prevent liberation. But continue doing the good deeds until you meet a Gnani Purush.
What needs to be renounced? The Lord did not tell us to do these kinds of penance and renunciation. He had said for us to renounce the infatuation (murchha), for anything or person. That is the highest kind of renunciation. This is the renunciation of the enlightened ones. All other types of renunciation are at the kindergarten level. If you remain unaffected when your wallet gets lost, then it can be said that you have indeed renounced. In renunciation of the kindergarten level, the goal of the one who renounces is to renounce only that which he seeks to renounce. However he will gain a reward for his efforts. Having left his wife and children, he becomes an ascetic, and his reward will be that people will call him 'bapii' and address him with respect. True renunciation is renunciation of the inner pull and attraction, the infatuation over worldly and temporary things and beings. Renunciation of wife and children is under the control of nature's laws. It is the prakruti, the relative-self that makes one renounce his family, due to the unfolding effects of his past causes (karmas). But just look at this; he has an infatuation for being an ascetic. How can you call it renunciation when he gets angry with his disciples?
These men have not found the true path and that is why they grope around in vain, but really they are not at fault. Who
