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264
Aptavani-8
Forgetting the Self in Relation So this Chandubhai is only meant to be employed for worldly interaction (vyavahar). “You' yourself have always been real, but you became relative. Because so many relations came about, illusion (bhranti) has set in for you. And then you say, 'I am Chandubhai’, and that is called egoism.
The Belief About Atma Changed Questioner: What is real and relative? How are they related?
Dadashri: Everything that is relative (sapeksha), is temporary (vinashi). In English, sapeksha is translated as relative. And all these relatives are temporary adjustments, and the real is the permanent. They call the absolute and independent (nirpeksha), permanent. Relative (sapeksha) means that it relies on something else; it lives with the support of other things.
There is light because there is darkness. Otherwise, who calls the light, light? If there was always light, then who would call it light? Therefore, it is in relation to darkness that we have light. And why do we have darkness? It is in relation to light that we have darkness. And that is called relative (sapeksha). Anything that has expectation (apeksha), is called relative (sapeksha). And that relative is temporary; always changing. A real is a permanent thing.
In this world, there are six eternal elements that are permanent. Out of the six eternal elements, the pure Self, the Atma (chetan), is permanent, and the rest of them do not have the Self (chetan). Nevertheless, those five are still permanent, and they possess infinite kinds of intrinsic properties (gunadharma). Only this relative intent (bhaav) has come about due to the intrinsic properties of all of them. The Atma always remains as the Atma; it always remains in the form of Atma (chetan). It has never changed, not even for a moment has it ever changed. Only the belief is wrong.
