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348
Aptavani-8
Dadashri: No. The Atma is pure indeed. Questioner: So then how did the Atma become impure?
Dadashri: It is people who kept calling out your name, ‘Shanti. Shanti'. These people give you ignorance (agnan), through which your vision (darshan) changes. The entire vision changes and that is its influence.
Say there is a sheth (merchant; employer) who speaks nicely all day; all he talks about is justice and morality. Normally he is a person with great humility, but what would happen if he drinks half a gallon of alcohol?
Questioner: Then he will act crazy.
Dadashri: So would that mean the sheth has become bad? No, it is the influence of the alcohol. And in the same way, the influence of ignorance (agnan) has set in.
Questioner: If we were once pure, then how did we become soiled?
Dadashri: Before that, the sheth was in a good state, so when he drank half a gallon alcohol, how did he become tainted? The very same sheth starts to talk all kind of nonsense. 'I am the Governor Sayajirao Maharaj' he will say. Would you not understand from that, that he is intoxicated?
Questioner: But was it not pure to begin with? Is it because it did not have enough energy of its own, that it became impure (ashuddha) again?
Dadashri: It is pure, even now it is pure, nothing has happened to it. This is just influence (amal). When the influence subsides, then it is as if nothing happened. The day before, you were Chandubhai, and the following day, the influence has diminished so you have become pure (shuddha). The following day, within just an hour, you become pure; if the Atma did become impure, how is it possible for it to become pure in just
