ROOT CAUSES OF DUKKHA (દુઃખ) --- 4.

Swajan :  Mota, my heart gets heavy after listening to your talks. I have never thought about the root causes of dukkha in this manner. You have opened the door for this new channel of thought. But I still have a question. What kind of bhava needs to be expressed in my behavior and interaction with others?

Pujya Shree Mota :  I am repeating the same thing with the purpose of solidifying this concept in your mind. You will forget this fundamental concept of a way to sukkha (સુખ) unless it makes an indelible impression in your mind. You must fundamentally understand that your aim is to live your life in peace and happiness. You will have to struggle to achieve this in your life.

You must be aware instantly when your mind gets interested in finding faults of others. You have decided to not see these faults as it is a part of natural characteristic in this worldly affairs. You need to coax and engage your mind to find the ways to maintain peace and happiness. At this juncture it is worthwhile to remember the favorite toy of Gandhiji, the triple monkeys. Do not see, hear or speak about other person's faults.

In short your mind will stop seeing faults of other people if you engage your mind in finding the ways to keep peace and happiness. This is the real way to achieve peace. You have some faults and others have different faults. We all have faults and defects. So we are not in a position to advice or improve anybody.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukhano marg
Edition 7; pages 11--12.

ROOT CAUSES OF DUKKHA (દુઃખ) -- 3

Swajan :  So there is no fault of others when they cause dukkha to me?

Pujya Shree Mota :  The fault lies with the very way the worldly affairs are constructed. We get unhappy as there is ignorance regarding the very nature of this world and prakruti. We also fail to find the root cause of happiness due to this ignorance.

We are not going to improve defects in other people. It is also a fallacy to believe that we can remove these defects. We must accept this as a basic fundamental fact. It is a false understanding that we will be happy if others improve by our suggestions and we get peace and  happiness in return. This understanding is wrong because it is directed by ego. How can we improve others when we ourselves are full of defects directed by ego?

And there is one more thing. It is also true that our peace will be disturbed by repeatedly noticing and thinking about others faults. Let go completely the habit of noticing other peoples faults. There will always be conflicts, quarrels, afflictions and indecisions in this world as it is the very nature of it.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukhano marg
Edition 7 ; page 9 - 10, excerpts from page 8.

ROOT CAUSES OF DUKKHA (દુઃખ) -- 2

Swajan :  My purpose now is to spend my days in peace and happiness. I try to be peaceful and do not advise anybody. If someone tells me unpleasant things I tend to be nice. Why don't  people leave me alone? I act with goodwill and yet people act with malice towards to me. Why do things happen this way?

Pujya Shree Mota :  My dear one, you told the first thing right and yet the other thing was faulty. It is true that you have decided to live in peace and happiness. But you are not aware of this goal all the time. You must constantly make an effort for that purpose with awareness. You will not find faults with other family members because of these efforts to stay peaceful and happy. This happens as you do not engage your mind completely to achieve your goal of peace and happiness. Mind then tends to engage itself in finding faults of others. So it very important to be aware of the goal and the efforts to achieve it.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukhano marg
Edition 7: page 9.

ROOT CAUSES OF DUKKHA ( દુઃખ ) -- 1

Swajan :   Mota, I am pretty well set up economically and yet when somebody insults, reprimands or speaks to me with anger there is feeling of dukkha in me. If there is a dispute in the family, everybody always blames me for that. I do not understand the reasons for the blame when there is no wrong committed by me. Why it always happens this way?

Pujya Shree Mota :  You experience dukkha because of the behavior of your family members towards you. You also tell me that there is no fault from your side. This experience of dukkha and the cause of it is contradictory. As I understand you feel that the fault lies with your family and not with you. This understanding and thinking have a fundamental flaw. As long as we live in this world with the intent of worldly bhava, nobody is faultless.

Swajan :  I did not understand the meaning of worldly-bhava.

Pujya Shree Mota :  It means we live with ego and affection in this world and act with that bhava. It can be expressed as "I say this or believe this," "only my way is the right one," "everybody must behave as per my way," etc. It may also mean that the family members must respect my wishes. To think this way and hold on to this belief is worldly-bhava. The belief and understanding that you are educated and people take your advice outside the family and nobody listens to you in the family, is also full of ego.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukhano marg
Edition 7, page 7 - 8.

CONFRONT YOUR SELF

Sabarmati,
30/4/1942.

Dear Bhai,

You continue to confront your self. It is useless and futile to fight with somebody else. There is increase in discord and quarrel when you do that. You get unique and complete understanding about yourself when you confront your own inner implements like mind, emotions, etc. You also get the understanding of the tricks that you play with yourself. Your own inner understanding improves and you get the instant comprehension in any given situation. Because of these reasons you should continue to confront your inner self from within.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan pagathi
Edition 6; page 127.