The Properties of Pudgal Parmanu

Dadashri: The ego does not do any other work at all; it just has the bhaav (inner intent) arise naturally. It has the authority to have bhaav. It does not have any other authority.

Questioner: And moreover, it is the very one that says, “I am pure Soul.” So does it also become the pure Soul?

Dadashri: Yes, it becomes the pure Soul in that way, on the basis of circumstances.

Questioner: If it encounters someone who frees it, then it even becomes free. Then, what happens to those parmanu?

Dadashri: They all dissolve; they go back to the way they were before.

Questioner: To the pure Parmanu phase (vishrasa)?

Dadashri: To the pure Parmanu phase. Transformation back into the pure phase is constantly going on; even otherwise they are continuously becoming pure.

The vibhaavik pudgal (the pudgal formed from the parmanu that have deviated from their inherent nature; same as vikrut pudgal, vibhaavik parmanu, vikaari pudgal and vikaari parmanu) is the one that is ‘touching’ the Self. For all those who possess a physical body, the two are together. Whereas the temporary states of the swabhaavik Pudgal (Parmanu in its pure natural form) keep changing. This body is made up of infinite parmanu, but these are vibhaavik parmanu. Whereas all the other Parmanu are in their inherent nature. To feel cold, to feel hot, to find it spicy on the tongue, to exude a fragrant odor, to exude a foul odor; these are [the inherently natural] properties of the pudgal. Vyavasthit (the result of scientific circumstantial evidences) has nothing to do with them [the inherently natural properties of the pudgal]. [Vyavasthit only gives the effect of the causes bound.]

The Hand Belongs Entirely to the Pudgal!

Questioner: If we let go of sankalp-vikalp (all the relative ‘I-ness’ and ‘my-ness’ that stem from the belief that ‘I am Chandubhai’), then will they remain in the next life?

Dadashri: No. Whatever is let gone of is gone. Just like in the farm, after sowing cotton seeds in the field, the farmer goes out to check, ‘Has anything besides cotton grown in the field?’ Then what does he do to that? Have you ever seen them plucking the weeds out?

Questioner: They uproot them.

Dadashri: Now, once they have been uprooted, they will not appear again, will they! [Similarly,] Once the vikalp (the wrong belief that ‘I am Chandubhai’ and all the relative ‘I-ness’ that stems from it) have been uprooted, they are gone.

Someone may say, “You are very dark-complexioned,” but if You have cleared off the vikalp relating to this, then it will not affect You. However, as long as you yourself call other people dark-complexioned, you have placed a value for that vikalp. So, you should devalue its importance. When you don’t call others dark-complexioned, and if someone says that you are dark-complexioned, then it will not affect You; once the devaluation has taken place, it gets cleared off. To increase or decrease the value of something is in Our hands. By saying, “Why did you say I am dark-complexioned?” the value placed on it increases. This prevalence as a dark-complexioned, faircomplexioned, red, yellow-complexioned person; all these colors that exist are the properties of inanimate matter, and one falsely attributes them onto one’s self, by saying, “I am dark-complexioned.” Hey, mortal one, You are not darkcomplexioned. Furthermore, bitter, sour, bland, sweet, salty, pungent, sweet, these are all properties of inanimate matter.

Now, it is because we falsely attribute the properties of inanimate matter as our own that these problems arise.

[2] The Properties of Pudgal Parmanu

As we falsely attributed the properties of inanimate matter as our own, the vikalp arose. And because these vikalp arose we lost the nirvikalp state (the state free from wrong beliefs and with the right belief of ‘I am pure Soul’), moreover, we have ended up becoming the husband of a wife. One will say, “I am your husband, don’t you know?” To which the wife will retort, “I definitely know, I’ve known right from the very beginning, you’ve become the boss!” Can you ever boss over anyone? Even the government maintains a democracy, so should we also not have a democracy in our homes? Should we not maintain a democracy?

Questioner: We should.

Dadashri: But people don’t do that, do they?

Who does the ‘hand’ [synonymous to the playing cards held by a player in a game of cards] belong to? The ‘hand’ belongs entirely to the Pudgal! The ‘hand’ belongs to the Pudgal alone. The inherent nature of the Pudgal is all these properties that we can perceive: form, taste, tactility, and smell. Moreover, there are so many varieties of form, so many varieties of taste, of smell, of tactility; all of those are the ‘hand’ of the Pudgal! Yet we believe all those properties to be our own!

The smallest microorganisms are living beings, whereas the Parmanu are inanimate matter. And that too, both of them have energy. When the atom was split, this energy was discovered, wasn’t it! So, even inanimate matter has energy too, doesn’t it! But that is a non-living energy (jada shakti), whereas this is a living energy (Chetan shakti; the energy of the Self to Know and See); there is this much of a difference between the energy of the two.

There is infinite energy in the Self, but there are veils over It. That veil is not of this body. The body is faultless; but the veil is of the parmanu the body has brought with it. It is comparable to pitch darkness.