________________
Aptavani-2
323
324
Aptavani-2
even see a bull with a long tail in the sky, but what good is that meditation? These meditations are like a train that runs arbitrarily and no one knows which station it will stop at. Only the Gnani Purush has a goal and only from the Gnani Purush can the real goal be attained. Otherwise, you will achieve nothing, even if you keep reciting, 'I am a pure Soul. I am a Pure Soul.' A goal can only be decided when the Gnani Purush destroys your demerit karmas (paap) and gives you Gnan. The goal can be decided after attaining the Self. Without the Gnani's grace, anything you do is like saying, 'I am the President', in your sleep. Are you likely to achieve anything by doing this? All forms of yoga, including yoga of the mind (manoyoga) are merely "relief roads. Nothing can be achieved without attaining the union with the Soul (Atmayoga - union with the Self). People are dissolved in the worldly puzzle because they do not have a union with the Self.
To remain as the Self is atmayoga. Realization of the Self is atmayoga; it is your own abode. The rest are union with the body (dehayoga) the non-self. Fasting penance, renunciation etc., are all dehayoga. The union with the mind, body, speech is physical. People believe this physical union as the ultimate thing. All these forms of yogas are meant to attain mastery on the physical plane, and they are beneficial in this respect. It is better for one to practice them over gambling and drinking alcohol. What are the benefits of yoga? It helps prevent external garbage from setting in and will make the mind stronger, however, without atmayoga there is no liberation.
Can yoga extend the life span? Questioner : Can a person live thousands of years through yoga?
Dadashri : Not thousands of years but one can live up to one or two thousand years. What is this yoga? Actually, the soul is spread throughout the whole body, but through this yoga, it is pulled upwards towards the crown of the head
(brahmarandhra). The heart and the pulse will stop when the soul is pulled all the way into the brahmarandhra. The heart, the pulse etc., function only when the soul is up to the waist, but if it goes any higher, then all the internal machinery will stop running. If a person performs such yoga at the age of 15 years, three months, three days, three hours and three minutes, and if that yoga lasts for one thousand years, then at the end of the thousand years, his life span will begin again at the age of 15 years, three months, three days, three hours and three minutes. His life span is proportionately used up in accordance with the number of heartbeats that were expended up to that point in time. A person's duration of life is dependant upon the number of his or her heartbeats. In doing this yoga, for whatever duration of time the heart stops beating, his life span is spared for that duration of time. Ordinarily people cannot save it, only those who perform this kind of yoga can do so. The body will not rot or shrivel and it will not smell. It will remain the same as long as there is a presence of the soul in it. It does not matter even if the body becomes like a stone because of this yoga.
Questioner : What is the state of the soul during this time?
Dadashri : It is as if the soul is tied up in a sack. Now what good does that do to the soul? The only thing about this practice is that the yogi can have the ego of claiming to live a thousand years in that yoga. His worldly suffering and misery will stop for that duration; however there is no bliss in it. Bliss can only arise if one remains as the Self. When can he make use of the soul? He can only do so when the heart is working. Nothing can be achieved otherwise.
Many Yogis tell their disciples to break a coconut on their heads after they have pulled their soul to the brahmarandhral As if one can go to moksha by doing this! They believe that if life' (soul) leaves through the crown of the head, it is headed for
