CHAPTER 9
USE OF HEART
AND DISCRIMINATIVE POWER
God’s Ways Of Doing Things
Often we think of hate and anger as bad,
but attachment as good
But hate-anger and attachment are closely related.
They look different; when in fact they are
the two sides of the same coin.
Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji
If the heart and discriminative power (Viveka) are used in a balanced and appropriate manner, attachment can be annihilated. Discriminative power is a symbol of understanding, intelligence and thinking power. Heart is a symbol of love, experience and feeling. When living in this world, if you use only your head, you will get more and more entangled in the web of attachment. But by connecting the head with the heart, one can come out of the web of attachment.
Due to a particular reason, one person was in a very tense situation. He was walking to and fro over some big rocks on the seashore, far away from home. He then saw an old man sitting quietly and fishing there. As he was returning home in the evening, he still found the old man sitting there. He then asked him, “Got anything?” The old man nodded his head and said, “Yes.” He asked him further, “What did you get?” The old man put one hand on his head and the other on his heart. Not understanding the meaning of this gesture, he asked the old man what he was trying to convey. The old man replied, “I was sitting here looking at the ocean, sky, waves, fish, sun and the whole universe. Then a thought occurred to me that if God is taking care of all these things, he must certainly be taking care of me as well. If he is looking after me also, then what should I be doing? God is running all these things by giving them feelings. To make them all function, he gives feelings to everyone (not attachment). It is due to these feelings, which are felt within the heart, that things are moving. Then how am I moving? For walking, sitting or doing activities, what feelings is He giving me? This is what I was able to catch today. That’s why I was telling you holding my hands on the head and the heart. What if I haven’t caught any fish, I have got hold of my head and heart. God has given us intellect so that we can think about all this and He has given us the heart so that we can experience these secrets.”
When that person heard this, all his troubles vanished. He returned home liberated and detached from attachment. You also may go home liberated from attachment. After going home - while walking, sitting or doing things - just try to see how God is running you! What kind of experience is he making you feel within your heart!
If you can realize all these things, bliss will always be with you. Fishing was only an excuse or pretext for the old man. Your life too is only a pretext for learning the truth. Knowing the truth is the basic aim of human life. Use your discriminative power and the heart on an even keel and in a balanced and ideal manner, and get freedom from attachment forever.