Aptavani 02

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

Page 97

Aptavani-2
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(a man of highest quality). All day long he obliges others from the moment he wakes up. He has an obliging nature; he makes others happy even when he is suffering himself. He suffers pain without any artadhyan or raudradhyan. You will never see a frown on his face; on the contrary his face will always be glowing. He will help solve everyone's problems. He is never biased towards anyone. What are the qualities of a true Jain? A true Jain is considered to be one with the highest human qualities. His aura radiates for fifty miles around him!
Today, these men have become sheth - masters and bosses (the noun has changed from shresthi to sheth). If you ask their drivers and their workers what they think about their boss, they will say, "Don't even talk about him!"
Today these shresthis have turned into competitive players in the worldly life. If their neighbor buys a new couch, they too will go out and buy one even if their couch is only two years old. They are stuck in competing with people. One can make do with a cushion to sit upon and pillows but instead they compete with their neighbors. How can these people be worthy of the title of sheth? The Indian concept of cushions and pillows on the floor is a great concept but people do not realize this and instead run after couches and sofas. When they see other people's couches they feel they too should have one, and then the squabbling starts in their home. The chauffer has a sofa in his home and so does the sheth. All this is very unnatural.
a very happy and content person and is constantly thinking about how he can make others happy. Only he who is happy can make others happy. How is a person to make others happy when he himself is miserable? Unhappy people do bhakti and are preoccupied in working to become happy.
Setting aside all talks of moksha, should you at least not have control over artadhyan and raudradhyan? How can anyone be allowed to continue in them? But what are you free to do? You are free to do dharmadhyan and yet people are freely preoccupied in doing durdhyan (negative meditation). Should you not at least have awareness of what is appropriate and what is not?
Questioner : What is updhyan?
Dadashri : Updhyan has come about only in this time cycle. It is a dhyan, which does not fit within any of the four dhyans. During the time of Lord Mahavir, there were four types of dhyans. There was no such thing as updhyan in those days. Updhyan has arisen in this time cycle. "We' will explain updhyan. While doing samayik, if you keep looking at the clock, "How long do I have to go? When is the samayik going to be over?' etc., then your dhyan is not in the samayik but on the clock and that is considered updhyan. We can make do with durdhyan, which is a contradictory dhyan. Satdhyan will take you to moksha. However, to keep looking at the clock is updhyan. It is neither a positive dhyan nor a negative one; it is a third kind of dhyan; it is completely different. What is the intention behind looking at the clock? A man becomes very angry and in order to feed his ego he burns down the whole village, this too is a type of dhyan. But the person doing updhyan is not even concerned about his ego, he does dhyan that is completely in vain. It is absolutely meaningless, it is neither for himself nor for his pride, it is meaningless. Any activity carried out without a purpose or meaning is updhyan.
People even imitate clothes. If they see someone making rotli (Indian flat bread, chapatti) on a gas stove, they too will run out and buy a gas stove. Do they not realize the difference in the taste between rotli cooked on charcoal and rotli cooked on the gas? There is no problem in buying things but why do it out of competition? People have lost their humanity with such competitiveness. People are regressing. Animal-like behavior will merit a birth in the animal kingdom. Otherwise a shresthi is