Shastriji Maharaj used to say, "Masanga shastrena dradhena chhitva." This is mentioned in the Vachanamrut. A Kothari of Vadtal gave a Vachanamrut to Swami. It was from Nirnay Sagar Press. The books of Nirnay Sagar Press were highly acclaimed in the past. Once the name Nirnay Sagar was mentioned, it was considered the best. So, he gave a Vachanamrut book from Nirnay Sagar. So Swami said, "I don't want it. I have one." But he said, "This is good." He had a lot of affection and highly respected Swami. He thought Swami was a very good Sadhu, who was studying in Vadtal. He said, "This Sadhu is very good and reads the scriptures." Swami said, "I attend five spiritual discourses daily." And I read the scriptures. So he had a lot of affection. He said, "Take this, Dharamjivandas, this is Vachanamrut, it will be useful to you." So Swami said, "I have one, Bhagat. I don't want it." "No, no, take it, keep it." Since he was elder, Swami said, "I didn't say much and accepted it." To avoid offending him... then I thought, "I already have one, where will I keep another?" So one day, while the Bhagat was talking to someone, Swami went there and left it. He left it. Then in the discourse... He recites this verse, "Masanga shastrena dradhena chhitva, tatah padam tatparimargitavyam." If we want to go to God, if we have become attached to this world, we will have to leave it, right? Otherwise, how? How can we go? These are all roots. The roots must be cut. Attachment makes one perform actions. And the same action, if performed with detachment. If actions are done with detachment, those roots are broken. If done with attachment, all those roots keep growing. They become deeply entrenched, completely. Look at this banyan tree, does it think from above that we should send roots down? But not where it wants to go up. How many aerial roots it has! Even if we keep cutting them... and what if they mistakenly touch the ground? Then another banyan tree grows. Then it never goes away. You have that big banyan tree, what is its name, in Bangalore? Huh? Big Banyan Tree. Have you seen it or not? Have you never seen it? The Big Banyan Tree is worth seeing. Have you seen it? No. Huh? Then never mind. We will make a Big Banyan Tree ourselves. One that no one can lift. Big Banyan Tree. Huh? Such a huge banyan tree. Just one banyan tree. Wherever there are aerial roots, they have all taken root. "Masanga shastrena dradhena chhitva." One should keep the weapon of detachment. One should not get bound by it. If one is not bound, one can do more work. Shastriji Maharaj did not bind himself to a single book, so he could do such great work. Pride of clothing, pride of books, this and that, all of it. That is considered worthless sin. Because he did not get bound by it, he could do so much work. If he had been bound, what work could he have done? He would just wander around and sit there like a pigeon making cooing sounds. If one is not bound, great work is accomplished. If one is bound, great work cannot be accomplished. He had so many disciples, yet no one could say that Swami was partial. Wonderful balance. Towards anyone... whether they were good and service-minded, or they were mischievous, they were all equal to him. To all... no attachment even to those who were good. Even if they were good, he would not develop attachment towards them. He would do what was best for them. And he would also give them justice. Just because they were good, it didn't mean he treated everyone the same way, like "Take sher bhaji, take sher khaja, andheri nagari, gandu raja," nothing like that. Those who were good would get justice, those who were weak would also get punished, and yet, there was balance. And yet, there was balance, a wonderful balance. When does that happen? That, "Masanga shastrena dradhena chhitva." He cuts the roots of attachment before they can grow long. If allowed to reach the ground, they cannot be cut. If allowed to cling to the ground. "Adhashcha moolanyanusantatani karmanubandhini manushyaloke." They are attached there, wandering in the human world. And it is based on the human world. This jiva keeps performing actions. By performing actions in one human body, even if it takes 84 lakh types of bodies, they do not end. Again in balance... if they pile up, then when the human body comes again, it starts over. It does that much. Here, the meaning of the word 'moolani' is attachment, possessiveness... Actions performed with attachment. 'Moolani' means 'karmanubandhini moolani'. "Manushyaloke anusantatani." 'Karmanubandhini moolani' means those actions lead to bondage, performed with such attachment. And those actions make him free, performed with such detachment. Then he becomes free. "Tatah padam tatparimargitavyam, yasmin gata na nivartanti bhuyah." Perform actions in that manner. AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details