When Bhaskar Patil, beloved devotee of Shri Gajanan Maharaj, was bitten by dog, other devotees, out of love, requested Shri Gajanan Maharaj to save Bhaskar from death. Maharaj asked Bhaskar what he wanted. Bhaskar, a completely surrendered devotee of Maharaj, requested Maharaj to do what He, Maharaj, thought best for him, Bhaskar. Shri Gajanan Maharaj, pleased by Bhaskar’s answer, explained other devotees in detail why Bhaskar’s death was inevitable and how he, Bhaskar, was destined for The Great Escape namely moksha.
The desire makes one go through the cycle of birth and death. Any desire left at the time of death becomes a reason for the next birth. But Bhaskar had no desire left. When one achieves such a stage one does not take birth again for fulfilling one's own desire, but rather takes birth as per God's will. Maharaj, himself a God sent satpurusha, advised Bhaskar to spend his emaining time in remembering God till he, Bhaskar, faced his natural death and requested others not to stop Bhaskar from his escape from the routine cycle of birth and death.
The birth and death are in themselves, they say, an illusion. In theory one may understand this but it’s not easy to bring this understanding into practice. Unless one gets rid of moha (greed) from its root, it is not possible to bring this understanding into practice.
This is where paramartha has been recommended by shastras. Paramartha helps one achieve a state of desireless-ness, slowly. But paramartha may not be that easy.
Hence shastras recommend balance of prapancha and paramartha. They say that only those who are adept in living balanced societal life by keeping their mental equilibrium are qualified for paramartha and slowly they achieve the state of desirelessness and hence moksha.
Prapancha is where one gets an opportunity to fulfill all their desires. If one leaves prapancha without fulfilling desires, those unfulfilled desires will eventually become roadblocks in moksha. So they do not recommend doing paramartha by leaving prapancha.
On the other hand if one does not do any paramartha while doing prapancha they may end up in a miserly state of getting entangled in perpetual, never ending cycle of desire. So they recommend to do some paramartha while doing prapancha with the help of which one can naturally set ceiling on one’s own desires.
Even at times prapancha may not be that easy as it seems. When going gets tough, people think of ending their lives to get rid of the suffering. But shastras say that performing suicide is nothing but postponing the suffering. One way or the other that suffering will come back. On another occasion Bandutatya, a simple hearted Brahmin from Kherdegaon, unable to bear the suffering being caused in the prapancha due to lack of money, decided to commit suicide. He lost all his wealth and so he lost his value in the family and society. He realized that person has value only till he has wealth, once wealth is lost nobody gives a respect. He could not bear the abuse by his family members and society and so decided to commit suicide. Shri Gajanan Maharaj, all knower of the happenings, made Bandutatya to come in his presence and stopped Bandutatya from committing suicide. He explained him how suicide is sin and it is nothing but postponing the suffering. He revealed to Bandutatya’s about hidden treasure lying beneath Bandutatya’s home that even Bandutatya didn’t know about and advised him to be cautious about spending money henceforth and do prapancha with care and to be always grateful to Lord Shrihari, bestower of wealth.
