It Is When One Gets Beatings That He Makes Inventions
The law of nature is that eighty percent of those who go to moksha go to hell first! If one has not been to hell, then he will not be allowed to go to moksha! One definitely has to take beatings. If one readily keeps getting food and drink, if everyone keeps giving him respect, then his ‘invention’ halts.
Questioner: Dada, why is it that the development of people who are straightforward, simple, and serve others is not as fast as that of people who are bad?
Dadashri: People who are bad never develop. On the contrary, when what is bad increases in those people, they incur beatings. That is when their ‘invention’ starts. Subsequently, those people who are bad make more progress compared to those who are good. Whereas the person who is good moves ahead slowly. He wouldn’t even reach Borsad [a town in Gujarat, India] in two hours! He does not even meet any obstacles. ‘Invention’ takes place when one is lost and cannot find a way out.
To the person who is straightforward, rendering selfless service to others is itself religion ( dharma). Rendering selfless service to others, meaning giving happiness to others, getting rid of the difficulties of others, that is called religion. However, that is not considered real religion.
As long as there is the belief of ‘I am doing it,’ ‘I am the doer,’ and ‘I am the sufferer,’ as long as there is this ‘I-ness,’ real religion does not arise. These worldly religions emerge. The religion of the Self ( alaukik dharma) arises only when one endures beatings, only then does the ‘invention’ begin within. Otherwise, how would the ‘invention’ take place?
When the parmanu (the smallest, most indivisible and indestructible particle of inanimate matter) of the subtle ego gather [within], then it is very difficult to get rid of them. The very arrangement of these parmanu is such that it will give rise to a beating when the ego arises. If the slightest ego of ‘I have attained something’ arises, then know that he will certainly fall. When divine powers ( daivishaktio) blossom and if the ego of that [I am the doer] arises, then whatever level one has risen to, he will certainly descend. Something happens through the divine energies, yet if he has the ego of ‘I did it,’ then he regresses to a lower life-form or else if one misuses the divine energies, even then he will regress to a lower life-form. When the reaction of the misuse arises, a life-form in hell is attained.
The reason there is avadhignan ( direct knowledge of corporeal things without the help of the sense organs and the mind, but within some limit of space and time) in hell is that it causes greater misery. It would be better if the avadhignan were not there, but it is a law of nature that one should indeed have more misery.
There is indeed endless misery in hell, but with this knowledge that has been given, it is possible for him to see what is over here. If he decides to apply
his awareness to see this, then he would be able to see everything that is over here.
Now what one does with this avadhignan is that he looks to see where his parents, brothers, and everyone else are right now, here in the human world; he sees this through avadhignan. He sees them talking, drinking tea, and eating all kinds of tasty things. With this knowledge, he sees, ‘Wow! My parents and my wife are all enjoying themselves while I am the only one in hell! It is indeed because I did something wrong that this misery has befallen me.’ So on the contrary, he becomes even more miserable. He has acquired that knowledge to cause him even more misery.
He feels very miserable, ‘I have to suffer all this because I had bound bad karma. I bound these karma; I stole from other people, engaged in roguery, wicked acts, and they [my family members] are the ones enjoying what I had acquired. Although they were saying not to do such things, they were telling me to do good deeds. They didn’t want such earnings.’ But he did such deeds!