THE DASBODHA BY: SADGURU SHREE SAMARTH RAMDAS ...

Shree Samarth then starts his talk to remove all these doubts. He asks
the disciples to think with wisdom and then to experience rather than imagine. The power of the
body proper depends largely on the useful mass but all said and done it can’t match that of the mind
for the body is very static in comparison to the mind. But it is wrong to consider the motility of the
mind to be a proof of its all pervasiveness as the mind most of the times works in a one-sided or
otherwise lopsided manner. The earth has its own limitations; water and light too have to work
within the permitted boundaries as they aren’t complete by themselves. Fire and wind are highly
unstable and hence incomplete. Sky has no limitations but it ceases to exist without anything else,
which isn’t the case with the Parbrahma. The properties and the Maya are nothing but illusions and
hence highly destructible. Therefore all these can’t be said to be all pervasive.
The soul and the Parbrahma are two sides of the same coin. To avoid
the confusion in the common disciples’ mind Shree Samarth says that they should talk about them
in the context of the meaning of words whenever anything is said about them. Traditionally
speaking soul is in the body but it is also used to denote the Parbrahma and hence this word should
be used very carefully after giving due attention to what it would mean. If you consider the soul as
the one inside any “Body” it naturally becomes highly unstable like the mind and this instability
then renders it to be different from the Parbrahma. You have to completely clear your thoughts and
mind to understand this. At any given time or space this so called soul isn’t capable of being all
pervasive on account of its instability. It is simple to understand as when you talk about this soul
you are associating the body with it which by no stretch of imagination is all pervasive. The thing
which is all pervasive is thus the Parbrahma.
The shadow of the Parbrahma in the feelings of the body mind
intellect conglomerate is the soul that we are referring to. It can’t match the Parbrahma as it is only
a shadow which is highly unstable and dependent upon the rays of the Sun which again is unstable.
The sky which is present in any object as its inherent part and especially so in those ones which are
having empty spaces is like the Parbrahma and its presence in the empty spaces is like the soul. The
sky doesn’t change whatever the occupancy and so does Parbrahma. The Parbrahma also seems to
change according to whether it is inside the body as soul or everywhere else as itself but in fact it
doesn’t as it is still there even if there are no bodies or anything else. Its originality is never lost.
If we say that the sky is a part of Parbrahma and the mind is that of
the soul it has to come out of experience and not mere imagination. The mind can’t be equated with
the vastness of the sky or the real pervasiveness of the Parbrahma. This also should be experienced
and not just imagined. Shree Samarth gives a very simple example here. The Parbrahma is the most
stable thing. Some ill knowledgeable try to equate it with so many things which are seemingly
stable like a mountain forgetting that the mountain is susceptible to movements and even a
collapse, forget about the final destruction which it is subject to.
Shree Samarth now turns his attention to knowledge. He says that
knowing the Parbrahma as it exactly is, is called as knowledge. Not knowing that the Parbrahma is
there everywhere is lack of knowledge and thinking that all that is visible is true is a gross
misinterpretation of knowledge. Now he tells us that the soul or the Atman is highly prudent and is
a witness to everything everywhere. It is the same in all the bodies but it is our own divisiveness
which makes its fragments and then we erroneously refer to it as the soul limited to the body. If this
misinterpretation and misconception is got over and we leave the mind body intellect conglomerate