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Aptavani-4
a hundred percent profit, you have a loss of ninety-eight percent, you should conduct your business with the understanding that you have the net gain of two percent. With kashays, everything is destroyed. Kashay devours everything. How does it devour it? It is like a blind man who weaves a rope while on the other end, a calf chews on it. The blind man thinks that the rope is getting longer, but all along the calf is chewing it up. All this is the fruit of deeds done in ignorance.
It is possible to move ahead once you have understood this. You have been doing the same thing over and over throughout countless lifetimes. People have done chanting (japa) and penance (tapa), except that it was done without permission (agna). They did it with their own viewpoint (mata), and with swachhand (self-guided). If you have a guru who is Selfrealized; with the right vision, then you should do it according to his agna. The guru must be samkiti (Self-realized; with right vision); a mithyatvi (with deluded vision) guru will not do. A guru with a deluded vision will not be able to rid you of your deluded vision; nevertheless, you can still offer him your services (seva) if required. But to get ahead, you do need a guru that has realized the Self (Atma). If you make a guru of someone who has realized the Atma, you will succeed in getting your work done. Otherwise, if you begin a relationship with a mithyatvi guru, not only will it prevent your progress, but it will lead you astray and you never know where you might end up stranded.
Questioner: What is a 'fast done with awareness'?
Dadashri: If your fasting is done with the guidance of someone who has awareness (Self-realized; jagrut), then it would mean that it is done with awareness. At this moment, I am the person with full awareness, and if you fast according to my words, then it would be regarded as a fast with awareness.
Questioner: Didn’t Christ and Buddha also fast to attain enlightenment?
