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Cannot differentiate between poison and nectar...
The devoted pursuit of the three gems is a tremendous effort for attaining the supreme. The jiva has not attained the supreme until now. It remains immersed in the pursuit of material achievements for the body.
The jiva is unaware that a spiritual joy, greater than the joys of body, mind and senses, can be found somewhere. How can one, who has never heard such words as 'atma' and 'parmatma' ever know that 'I am the atma' and 'I am also the supreme soul' and that 'I can make my supreme state manifest'?
Brothers! The jiva will harbour as many desires as has been his progress in any field. There may, of course, be many desires in his own field. Like the people of the many tiny hamlets of our country, which are situated in the deep interior and far from the cities, have not even seen a train. Why! They don't even know that such a transport exists which could take people from one village to another at a great distance. They will not even get the thought of boarding a train, so how can they ever think of boarding an airplane? Being ignorant of the discoveries made by science today, the desire never arises in them to seek comfort with any sort of scientific appliances.
We are no different from these unsophisticated villagers. We are settled only in the region of the body and senses. How can we ever get out of them and realise that I am the atma, the master of the endless powers, or being unaware that 'there is a great treasure of joy filled in my own atma' how can we make attempts to attain such an unknown joy of the soul?
But we are very fortunate that even in such adverse times, we have found both - treatises in the form of Veetaraag's voice and the company of the sages; with the Gurudev really assuring us that the atma can be realised with our own state of knowledge.
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