Questioner: What do you love the most?
Dadashri: I do not love anything except the Atma (Soul; Self).

Questioner: Tell us about your spiritual thoughts and experiences.
Dadashri: I remain completely separate from the mind, body and speech. Nevertheless, I have not attained absolute knowledge (kevalgnan). Owing to the effects of the prevailing time cycle, I am still four degrees short of attaining it (the full 360 degrees).

Questioner: How do you manage to live in such a detached state from this worldly life (sansar)?
Dadashri: With complete vitaragata (state of absolute detachment). I do business; I pay income tax, sales tax and all that. Even with all the ‘swords’ of the worldly life hanging over my head, I remain vitarag. This vitaragata would remain, even if someone were to cut off my hand.

Questioner: Despite having all this, do you feel the importance of business?
Dadashri: Nothing is important to me, but I still have to do it. It is like being taken away by the policeman and made to do something against your will.

Questioner: What happens when you make a profit in your business?
Dadashri: I do not have those sorts of tendencies. I have never had thoughts about making a profit; everything happens spontaneously and naturally. I do not have any kinds of desires either. I have attained a state that is desire-free.

Questioner: Since when have you attained such a state?
Dadashri: All my life, I had virtually spent in dharmadhyan (virtuous meditation), but in 1958, the Gnan manifested within me! I felt as though I had become completely detached from this body. Absolute separation; it is a completely-different state altogether! It is not possible to describe it!!

Questioner: How much spiritual pursuit (sadhana) was there behind the manifestation of the Gnan?
Dadashri: ‘This’ (Gnan) is the fruit of the sadhana (spiritual seeking) from countless past lives; however, it is still there even in this life. And besides this, I also had acquired high moral and spiritual values from my mother.

Questioner: Did you ever practise rules or rituals, fast or take any vows?
Dadashri: I have never fasted even for the sake of it. Granted, throughout my life, I have observed the penance of unodari (eating less than what one’s hunger demands). I strictly followed the practices of chovihaar (eating before dark); I only drank boiled water, and I avoided kandamood (root vegetables, specifically onions, garlic and potatoes). With the attributes of Gnata (Knower), Drashta (Seer) and Parmanand (Supremely blissful), I had become separate. I was not in my body, I was not in my speech, nor was I in my mind. That was how detached I had become. That is indeed the attainment of Gnan (the Self-knowledge). Gnan is the Atma (the Soul; the Self) itself.

Questioner: How can someone who studies spirituality know that he has reached the absolute state?
Dadashri: Such a person’s speech will be vitarag (detached and without abhorrence towards anything), his expression will be vitarag, and conduct will be vitarag. Everything about him is vitarag. He has neither attachment for nor abhorrence towards anything, whether you insult him or shower him with flowers. His speech is syadvaad, which means that it does not hurt anyone’s religion or anyone’s viewpoint at all.

For more information on Dadashri’s spiritual science, visit dadabhagwan.org