Why is man still attached to the world when he knows well that he must reach God?

[Guest guest]

Why is man still attached to the world when he knows well that he must reach God?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I believe I have earlier already touched upon aspects of the answer to this question; nevertheless, I shall repeat all that once more since this is an important question. In fact, this is a standard problem. Let me start with the second part of the question for that contains the clue. The questioner says in that part, “When he knows well that he must reach God?†I wonder. I mean if one were to do a poll and ask, say, “Do you know the purpose of life?†how many of them do you think would say the purpose of life is to go back to God?

 

Or, suppose one asked, “Do you know that you are supposed to become one with God eventually?†I am sure 99.9999 % of the people polled would simply be unaware of it! And that is exactly where the problem really starts. So really speaking, we should first ask, “What is the purpose of life?†or “Why has God given this life?†and so on; and after having asked that question, seek to answer it seriously.

 

Actually, Baba has dealt with this question several times. In His discourses, Baba has often asked, “Has life been given by God to humans just for eating, drinking, sleeping and dying [khana, peena, sonaa aur marna]?

 

God expects something more from the life gifted to man? What is that something?†That is what Baba has explained in detail in not only His discourses but also in many of His Vahinis, particularly the Gita Vahini. I cannot obviously deal with all that in detail here but would confine myself to the core issue, which is the pursuit of happiness.

 

The famous Declaration of Rights prepared by the founding fathers of America talks of fundamental entitlements of all human beings, which includes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yes, much of life is conditioned by man’s quest for happiness. Like most valuable things available in the market today, we have in the “happiness bazaarâ€, if I may say so, only fake happiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humans are ignorant about the true purpose and pursuit of happiness

 

 

 

What do I mean by fake happiness? Suppose a person buys a gold ring thinking it to be made of gold, because the salesperson said so. Actually, the ring is made of brass and simply plated with gold. So, after a while, the gold covering comes off and all that remains is the brass ring! Clearly, the buyer has been taken for a ride. In the happiness market too, there is the genuine stuff and umpteen fakes.

 

The fake stuff is the temporary happiness that is available in plenty in the transient world, while the genuine stuff as I call it is ‘bliss’, is available only when one unites with God. By giving the human form to us, God in His infinite mercy is giving all of us a chance to become one with Him and enjoy permanent bliss.

 

But man does not understand that, and, misled by the mind [which is very good at selling fakes], he gets duped and goes around looking for permanent happiness in an impermanent world. Man thinks he can get God in this world on his terms, and that is the fundamental mistake he is making. And that mistake is being made because man insists on being spiritually ignorant.

 

What is this ignorance am I talking about? It is the belief that what seems real, namely the world, is actually real; no, it is not. It is God who is the basis of this world, who is Real, though He might not be seen. In short, man is attached to the world on account of ignorance and delusion. He may want to reach God, but if he adopts the wrong methods, how can he?

 

I now come to the last question in tomorrow's session, which is:

 

Continued....

QUESTION 3:

How can we understand the principle of “I AM I�