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I am the Soul
the deva's lifespan is also large and the wealth there is immense, as such there is enough scope for satisfying the desires of the mind. Hence, it will be best if we go there."
Brothers! Having learnt the description of the devas and other life-forms, the craving for passions has increased! Was this the purpose of mentioning these things in the Shastras? No, one has only to imbibe the essence of that knowledge. The various life-forms of devas etc., have been described only to indicate that if you do so-and-so things you are likely to be born in soand-so life-form. The adverse conditions that you will find there will lead to more attachment and aversion and that will again bind you in new karma. Thus the cycle goes on.
But if realising that the jiva's true inner form is dispassionate, an effort is made towards conquering passions, then the bondage of karma is arrested. And when the bondage of karma gets arrested, the wandering through the life-forms is also checked. The supreme goal of the jiva is the fifth state of Moksa. And for attaining it, if one realises - Who am I? What is my true inner form? Where have I come from and to where am I bound? - then it is Shrutajnana. But instead of realising this if one gets stuck in the web of classification, it is not going to benefit him. Hence, that is not Shrutajnana. Srimadji has called those, who insist upon calling it Shrutajnana, as Matarthis.
In 'Upadesha Chhaya' Srimadji tells us what such a Matarthi does, when he goes to a Sadguru and discusses the Shastras -
"He goes to the Guru daily, raises all sorts of doubts and hypotheses about unisensory and other jivas and questions him. He goes everyday and asks the same things over and over again. Not one day does he ask as to what is the purpose of knowing the unisensory to penta-sensory jivas? It is not that the ideas about unisensory and other jivas are going to break through the mithyatva-granthis. In truth, samakit has to be attained."
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