Jainism, Vaishanavism, Shaivism, Swaminarayans, Islam, Christianity are all relative religions; they are religions of ‘standards’. They are religions of different viewpoints. Whatever one sees according to his viewpoint, he accepts it as being correct and gets entrenched in it. When is liberation attained? It is when absolute vision is attained? When is real knowledge attained? This happens when there is no conflict of opinion with anyone in this entire world and when there is no partiality towards any being. The one who is partial can never attain moksha. Why does one become partial? People with ego create sides to support their ego, whereas the impartial Gnani unites everyone. The Gnani's are always impartial; the vitraag Lords (fully enlightened supreme beings who have no attachment to their relative self or the world) are always impartial. They have no partiality towards any race or creed; they are absolutely and perfectly impartial. They have oneness with everyone; even with the minutest living thing.
All beings are ‘packings’ (packages) of one kind or another. There are all varieties of packing but within them resides the Self. The ‘material’ within, i.e. the soul within everyone is exactly the same. However, divisive intellect has arisen because of the external differences. The Gnani does not look at the packing at all; he only sees the ‘material’ within. He constantly sees the soul in the person in front of him. The Gnani’s vision is the vision that sees only the soul (atma drashti). Divisiveness and segregation remains because of the vision that sees only the packages and that is the reason the worldly life continues to exist. By being partial, one energizes the pillars of partiality and divisiveness. You fools! Do you want liberation or do you want to remain in partiality? Liberation and taking sides is a contradiction. The Lord himself is impartial and yet people have become partial. The Jains say, “This is ours, that is not, that belongs to the Vaishanavs.” The Muslims too say, “This is ours. This is not, this belongs to the Hindus.” Everyone in all religions take sides. Here, with the Gnani there is clarification for people of all religions. Everyone that comes here, regardless of his or her religious belief, feels no alienation. They feel as if ‘We’ are talking about their very own religion and that is because ‘We’ are absolutely impartial. Only here is there a coming together of all religions.
When people become partial, they move further away from the Lord within. Not only have people become partial but they have also created so many different divisions within just one faith. Even amongst Jains, there are eighty-four different sects and there are so many factions amongst the Vedantis too. What is the definition of the Jain dharma? It is when one does not take sides. What is more, if someone creates divisions, a true Jain would go to that person to explain things to him in details and try to overcome any conflict of opinions. The definition of a true Jain is that even when he is right and the other person is completely wrong, he would still approach the other person himself. Many will say to him, “Why do you bother with him when you are right?” But the one practicing true Jainism will say, “I am a Jain and that is why I have to approach him.” A Jain is someone who has no obstinacy about any perspective and who listens to everyone. He will listen to everyone and will not allow any viewpoints to cloud his own vision; he remains focused. He would not resort to deceit, ‘Yours is wrong and mine is right’. Surely one should listen to that which reaches the self within, should one not?
Lord Mahavir used to listen even when someone of a different religion came to him. But people have created so many factions within the very religion of Lord Mahavir.
Today, the ascetics and sages too have become partial. What is the difference between the sages of Jain faith and the sages of the vitraag Lords? The Jain sages are partial; they even fight amongst themselves. Just as two brothers fight with each other. The sages of the vitraag Lord are impartial and never interfere in anything. We pay obeisance to the sages of the Vitraag Lords who never take any sides, regardless of whether they are a Digambari (lit. ‘sky-clad’ or ‘naked’ the sect of Jains who believe nothing besides the atma merits owning and hence they do not believe in rituals or idols) or a Swetamber (the Jain sect that believes in idol worship and rituals and visit derasars). But here the Deravasi Jains (they visit the derasar for their rituals) will not go to listen to a Sthankvasi (their beliefs are closer to the Digambari. They visit upashrai where they perform their rituals) and vice versa. A Swetambari will not go to a Digambari maharaj. Can they attain liberation if they are caught up in taking sides? If it is the truth, then it must be accepted even if it comes from a Muslim home. But where does truth exist today?
The Swetambaris and the Digambaris have quarreled over whether they should clothe the idol of the Lord or to leave it naked. What was the reason behind leaving the Lord’s idol naked? Adorning an idol is an undeveloped ritual, but it attracts people to come and do the Lord’s darshan, does it not? Whereas the Digambari concept is for those who want knowledge, but nowadays everything is completely turned around. One Digambari sage came to me and told me, “Surely liberation will come only to us, will it not?” ‘We’ asked him, “Why do you say that?” and he replied, “Why? Did God not say, “Nagga ey moksha magga”? (Only the one who sheds his ‘clothes’ will attain liberation)?” ‘We’ told him, “Yes, you are right, the Lord did say, “Nagga ae moksha magga”, but you have misunderstood this statement. The Lord said to de-clothe (unveil) the Self, not the body!”
All this is nothing but misunderstanding. The soul has three layers of ‘clothings’: the cloth of the mind, the cloth of speech and the cloth of the body. These are the ‘clothes’ the Lord was referring to. A true Digambar is the one who takes off these clothing and completely exposes the Self. It is the clothing of the mind, the speech and the body that need to be shed; these represent the greatest acquisitions (parigraha).
These need to be shed.
Shall ‘We’ tell you what all this taking-sides is like? Is it possible for a person to think that he is not good looking? If it were then people would not get along with the mirror at all, but the fact that they do, is because of their partiality. A truly beautiful face is that which keeps coming back to the mind within. Whereas here; one is partial and prejudiced. The aura of the one who is impartial will exude to all around him. People, who are partial and prejudiced, repel others wherever they go. They ‘smell horrible’ (not respected) even in their own homes!
So many people will ask me, “Are you a Jain?” or “Are you a Vaishnav?” You foolish people! What Jain or what Vaishnav? I am a vitraag‘We’ are in all religions. By calling me a Jain or a Vaishnav, people create an obstacle for themselves. They think of me as being partial towards a certain religion, but if they were to see me doing darshan of Lord Ramchandraji just once, all their beliefs would be broken. But alas, one needs merit karma for that too!
The spiritual path of akram vignan is the immediate path to self realization founded by the enlightened gnani purush Dadashri, This spiritual path offer the spiritual seeker a quick way to spiritual enlightenment in a unprecedented way that never has been offered before. The effects of such ceremony make the seeker experience the highest spiritual states such as nirvikalpa samadhi, moksha, mukti and authentic soul salvation during this life span. For this the seeker has just to attend Gnan-Vidhi. We encourage you to read the experiences or watch the videos of the seeker.