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I am the Soul
791
The desire to acquire prosperity in this world and fame and status is treated as disaster. This body which is like a statue of pudgals is treated as ash. You may well feed and strengthen this body, may well decorate it, may well wrap it with ornaments to make it look beautiful, you may sin a lot for it, but ultimately the body is going to turn into ash. Therefore, it is like ash.
The enjoyment and luxuries of this world are like a fishnet. Once caught in it, one can never escape. Enjoyment pushes you into the mouth of death. And even becomes a tradition. Therefore, enjoyment and luxuries are like a net.
In a jnani jiva there is always anguish over the rebirths. Even life in this world is like on the sharp edge of a spear-head for it. It does not like the hassles of the family, which is like the grip of death; it does not want to, but has to do things. The effort to enhance name and fame in the material world is dirty like saliva drooling from the mouth. Whether such fame is earned or not, it is the same. It has no value at all.
That is why, those who have a real yearning for realising the self, are not afraid of public indignity. Even the Queen of Mewar – Mirabai, set aside her fear for public indignity when she developed the love for Krishna. Indignity has no value. Especially those jivas who want to proceed on the spiritual path can never progress if they remain stuck with indignity. Their movement is against the material world.
The desire to attain or enhance success and fame is as worthy of absolute discard as refuse from the nose, because it nourishes the ego. And ego creates clashes. Therefore, it is not proper to desire success and fame. In fact, they treat the rise of punya equal to human excreta, which is not for enjoyment. For, enjoying the rise of punya leads to awakening of feelings of attachment etc., and there is more bondage of karma. Hence, they are to be discarded like human excreta.
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