Aptavani 09

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Mahavideh Foundation

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Aptavani-9
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I am bound to meet a man through whom my work will get done. What does the saint mean when he says this? He is saying that through subjecting himself to being deceived, one day his work will get accomplished. Those who avoid being deceived will wander around life after life and never achieve anything because they never trust anyone. When will a person attain anything if he remains suspicious? Do you understand this theory?
Straightness (saradata) means to readily accept whatever the other person says, even if it means there is a possibility of being cheated in the process. One, two or five people may cheat you, but you will find one out of five hundred who will not. Otherwise, you will not find that honest person, will you? Is this not a good system? You will be cheated only if it is in the unfolding of your karma (prarabdha), otherwise who will cheat you? You will one day find that truth if you move through life being cheated.
What do we mean by being sarad (straight)? When someone tells him, 'This train is going to Ahmedabad', he gets on it readily, without complaining, that is called being sarad. Whereas the one who is asarad will question, 'What's the guarantee that this train will take us to Ahmedabad? Let's ask someone else. Will the train not leave by that time? Many trains (opportunity to attain the right path) have left and he remains standing exactly where he has always been.
What is straightness (sarad)? For example, if you cook freshly picked okra, they will cook within ten minutes. That is called straight. And what is asarad (not straight, complicated)? What happens to the okras that are kept in the refrigerator? Those are asarad okras (they do not cook well; they take a long time). Similarly, the Lord says that a person who is straight (sarad) and without guile will attain moksha. The one who is not straight (asarad) will not make any progress on this path.
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Aptavani-9
Questioner: It appears that we will find everything wherever we go but there is a lack of straightness (asarad) there.
Dadashri: There is no straightness to be found. The following qualities are not found anywhere. You do not see spontaneous forgiveness (sahaj kshama) anywhere. If you say something to someone, he cannot refrain from making a mental note (nondha) of it; he will remember it for months on end. Not keeping a note is called natural forgiveness (sahaj kshama).
Then what is next? Then there is the quality of being harsh or callous (kathor). There are all kinds of harshness.
Then there is all kind of insistence (aagraha). A person with these qualities will not have any straightness (saradata) in him and so no matter how hard one tries to change him, he will not change. He has no humility (namrata), in addition to lacking straightness. You will need topmost straightness. Then you need topmost humility. What is namrata (humility)? It is to bow completely before the other person begins to bow. It is to bow to the one who is rigid and inflexible. This is a sign that one will attain moksha. What is the nature of a human being? If someone is being rigid and inflexible, he too will become rigid and inflexible; he will react in the same manner. People become inflexible with the one who refuses to give in.
Then one should not have any greed (lobh) whatsoever. Greed holds people back from making any spiritual progress. That is why the Lord has said for people to go on pilgrimage and other such activities and spend money. The tuber of greed will decrease as you spend money. Otherwise, greed will continue to increase like the 'push of 99' (if a person has 99 rupees, he will be pushed by his greed to save one more rupee so he can have one hundred rupees). Therefore, one's inner intent should be to have no need or want for any worldly thing When all the 'ghosts' of kashayas ie. the inner enemies of anger,