Gadhada I-13

Planting the Branch of a Banyan or Pipal Tree Elsewhere

On the night of Māgshar vadi 1, Samvat 1876 [2 December 1819], Shriji Mahārāj was sitting on a large, decorated cot placed on the platform beneath the neem tree near the mandir of Shri Vāsudevnārāyan in Dādā Khāchar’s darbār in Gadhadā. He was wearing a red survāl and a red dagli. He had tied a golden shelu around His head, and another golden shelu was tied around His waist. Pearl necklaces hung around His neck, and tassels of pearls were also dangling from His pāgh. At that time, an assembly of munis as well as devotees from various places had gathered before Him.

Thereupon Nityānand Swāmi asked Shriji Mahārāj, “Is there only one jiva within each body or are there many? If You say there is only one, then when the branches of banyan, pipal or other trees are cut and planted elsewhere, exactly the same type of tree grows there as well. Has that one jiva been dissected into two, or has another jiva entered the new tree? If You say that it is the same jiva, then how has the jiva, which is whole and indivisible, been cut?”

Hearing this, Shriji Mahārāj said, “Here, I shall answer the question. Purush and Prakruti are the instruments of Shri Krishna Bhagwān. He is the cause of the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of this cosmos. Through His two instruments of Purush and Prakruti, He assumed the form of Virāt. Then, during the first Brāhma-kalp, from his body in the form of Virāt, God gave all beings from Brahmā to the smallest blade of grass their respective bodies. Thereafter, during the Pādma-kalp, God, through the form of Brahmā, gave Marichi and others their respective bodies. Then through Kashyap and Daksha, He gave the deities, demons, humans, animals, and all of the mobile and immobile life forms their bodies. That Shri Krishna Bhagwān, along with His instruments in the form of Purush and Prakruti, resides as the antaryāmi in all jivas and grants each jiva a body according to its past karmas.

“That jiva, in its past lives, has performed many karmas - some with sattvagun predominating, some with rajogun predominating and some with tamogun predominating. As a consequence of those karmas, God grants that jiva a body of the udbhij category, or a body of the jarāyuj category, or a body of the svedaj category, or a body of the andaj category. God also grants it the fruits of its karmas in the form of happiness and misery.

“In addition, God makes the body of that jiva give birth to another body - again, according to its own karmas. Just as God created the various life forms from the bodies of Kashyap and the other prajāpatis, similarly, that same God, while residing in all jivas as antaryāmi, creates other bodies from one body by methods appropriate to that particular body. However, the jiva, through which other bodies are created, does not itself multiply into many forms. So, in reality, God grants birth to a jiva, through an appropriate body of another jiva, according to the relation of the karmas between the two jivas.”

On the night of Magshar vadi 1, Samvat 1876 [2 December 1819], Shriji Maharaj was sitting on a large, decorated cot placed on the platform beneath the neem tree near the mandir of Shri Vasudevnarayan in Dada Khachar’s darbar in Gadhada. He was wearing a red surval and a red dagli. He had tied a golden shelu around His head, and another golden shelu was tied around His waist. Pearl necklaces hung around His neck, and tassels of pearls were also dangling from His pagh. At that time, an assembly of munis as well as devotees from various places had gathered before Him.

Thereupon Nityanand Swami asked Shriji Maharaj, “Is there only one jiva within each body or are there many? If You say there is only one, then when the branches of banyan, pipal or other trees are cut and planted elsewhere, exactly the same type of tree grows there as well. Has that one jiva been dissected into two, or has another jiva entered the new tree? If You say that it is the same jiva, then how has the jiva, which is whole and indivisible, been cut?”

Hearing this, Shriji Maharaj said, “Here, I shall answer the question. Purush and Prakruti are the instruments of Shri Krishna Bhagwan. He is the cause of the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of this cosmos. Through His two instruments of Purush and Prakruti, He assumed the form of Virat. Then, during the first Brahma-kalp, from his body in the form of Virat, God gave all beings from Brahma to the smallest blade of grass their respective bodies. Thereafter, during the Padma-kalp, God, through the form of Brahma, gave Marichi and others their respective bodies. Then through Kashyap and Daksha, He gave the deities, demons, humans, animals, and all of the mobile and immobile life forms their bodies. That Shri Krishna Bhagwan, along with His instruments in the form of Purush and Prakruti, resides as the antaryami in all jivas and grants each jiva a body according to its past karmas.

“That jiva, in its past lives, has performed many karmas - some with sattvagun predominating, some with rajogun predominating and some with tamogun predominating. As a consequence of those karmas, God grants that jiva a body of the udbhij category, or a body of the jarayuj category, or a body of the svedaj category, or a body of the andaj category. God also grants it the fruits of its karmas in the form of happiness and misery.

“In addition, God makes the body of that jiva give birth to another body - again, according to its own karmas. Just as God created the various life forms from the bodies of Kashyap and the other prajapatis, similarly, that same God, while residing in all jivas as antaryami, creates other bodies from one body by methods appropriate to that particular body. However, the jiva, through which other bodies are created, does not itself multiply into many forms. So, in reality, God grants birth to a jiva, through an appropriate body of another jiva, according to the relation of the karmas between the two jivas.”