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Aptavani-9
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Aptavani-9
Gluttonous greed for pleasure makes one
miss the goal of liberation If you show a piece of poori (fried Indian flat bread) to a dog, he will forget his entire family. He will forget everyone, his puppies, his territory where he lives, the general vicinity of his residence and he will stray far away from his location. He wags his tail from lalacha for a single poori! I am a strong opponent of such lalacha (addictive avarice). I am amazed when I see this in people, what kind of greed! It is open poison! One should eat what comes in front, but such addictive greed must not exist.
Questioner: One's needs are satisfied without having to resort to such covetousness.
Dadashri: Therefore, the trouble is for only the covetous people. Otherwise everything is available right at home. I do not have any desire for anything and yet I get everything. There is no desire for anything let alone any avarice.
Questioner: What is the difference between avarice and desire?
Dadashri: Everyone is free to harbor desire, of any kind. There is no problem in having desire, but there is with avarice (lalacha). If you dangle a piece of bread in front of a dog, he will run from anywhere to anywhere because a gluttonous greed has taken hold.
Questioner: So with such addictive avarice one loses sense of what is right and what is wrong?
Dadashri: Insatiable avarice (gluttonous greed; lalacha) it gives you the right to label a man as an animal! It is an animal roaming around in the human form.
Questioner: What are the consequences if we perform religious activities in a gluttonous greed for prestige and fame?
Dadashri: That is not gluttonous greed (alacha). It is natural for one to seek recognition. As long as there is the worldly life, there will always be a desire to make a name for oneself; there will be other desires too. That is not considered gluttonous greed (alacha). The kind of lalacha I am talking about is the kind in the example of the dog. If a dog sees a poori, he will keep hovering around it. He will lose awareness that he has strayed far away from his location and family. He loses all awareness.
Everyone has at least some element of such gluttonous avarice but the term lalachu (the addicted glutton) is reserved for the one who behaves like an animal in human form.
Say a man brings home some wonderful sweets and another man (visiting him) loves those sweets. He will sit around for hours, because of his avarice and greed, hoping he will be offered some of it. He will leave only when you give him some. He sits for a long time because of his insatiable greed within. On the other hand an egoistic person-one who is heavily laden with the sense of the self-will say, 'the heck with it, I would rather go home. 'He will take off. He does not covet. Therefore this world is bound by such lalacha (excessive greed or gluttonous avarice) and promise of pleasure. Hey, the dogs and donkeys have such lalacha, not humans! How dare we humans have such avarice?
When does a mouse enter a cage? When does it get trapped in the cage?
Questioner: When there is excessive greed (alacha).
Dadashri: Yes, it smells a dhebru (small spicy deep-fried bread) and when it goes to eat it, it gets trapped. When it sees the dhebru in the cage, it sits outside impatiently thinking, 'When shall I go in? When shall I go in?'' and once it enters, the cage door shuts behind him automatically. Therefore insatiable greed for pleasure (alacha) is the cause of all misery.
