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Bhakta Leela Amrut by Das Ganu Maharaj

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All people, rich and poor, and married ones, sanyasins and vanaprasthas

exist because of the life force running through them; so do different kinds

of animals like horses, bulls, jackals, tigers, rhinos, hyenas, dogs, pigs,

scorpions, snakes, ants, fleas and kites. The same life force runs through

all of them. Why, then, do these entities look different? Did you ever

ponder this, Nana? If you do you will realize that the reason lies in their

past karma.

 

The animals are different because of their previous karma, their innate

characteristics depending on the species they belong to. Thus, tigers eat

flesh and pigs eat excreta while hyenas dig out buried bodies and devour

them. Kites and vultures feed on rotten bodies while swans eat the tender

leaves of lotus plants.

 

Karma, determines not only the species - specific characteristics of

animals but also what happens to some members of the species as distinct

from some others of the species in their life-span. Thus, some tigers are

lucky to roam free in the forest whereas others are destined to move from

door to door at the bidding of their gypsy masters, chained and shackled.

The dogs kept by the rich sit on soft mattresses while others roam about in

the streets, lingering around houses for a piece of bread. Some cows are

treated to good grains, oil cakes and special fodder; some do not get even a

straw to nibble and some others have to hang around refuse dumps for food.

Coming to men, some are rich, some poor, some lucky and some mere destitutes

reduced to begging. Some have vehicles and horses and some have large houses

or palaces to live in while some have to sleep naked in the open. Some have

children, some remain childless, some are unlucky to see their children die

young and some get heartily sick of their children."

 

Nana folded his hands and said, "I understand that but what puzzles me is

this: why should there be pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow? There cannot be

these if one gets rid of worldly affairs."

 

To this Baba said, "Pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow are illusions. They

are not real, although people think them to be real. Thanks to his previous

karma, one man feeds on delicacies; another feeds on dry bread; a third gets

only stale food or worthless left-overs. Those who feed on stale food or

worthless left-overs consider themselves unhappy, while those eating good

food say that they have everything they need. The purpose of eating is to

quench the fire in the stomach, no matter what one eats delicacies or

left-overs. Similarly, the purpose of covering one's body, whether with

delicate fabrics woven with gold thread or with rough garments made from the

inner bark of trees, is to protect the body; nothing more. Thus, joy and

sorrow, pain and pleasure are simply ways of looking at things. They are, as

I said, illusions and you should not be deceived by them. Illusory as they

are, these feelings cannot exist without a cause just as waves cannot exist

without water or light without a lamp.

 

(To be contd...)

Source http://www.saileelas.org/books/4chap.htm

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