pride

As long as man has pride, he will appear unattractive and no one will be attracted to him. He may have a handsome face, his pride makes him unattractive.

To know "How did Pujya Dadashri get rid of pride?"

How did Pujya Dadashri get rid of pride?



I used to think very highly about myself; I felt there was no one better than me in this world. I thought so much of myself! I was not wealthy; all I had was a home and a small piece of land, only about two acres! But my mind was as if I was the king of Charotar, Central Gujarat. This was worsened because the people of the surrounding villages goaded me on and fed into my conceit. They would tell me that I was a man who could demand whatever dowry I pleased. This filled my mind with arrogance. That coupled with something I had brought forward from my past life, filled my mind with a lot of false pride and arrogance.

My brother Manibhai, exuded a lot of aura of pride too. I used to call him a proud man, and he accused me of being the same. One day he told me, 'I have not seen a more proud man than you in my life.' I asked him where he detected my pride. He told me it was evident in everything I did.

Then when I investigated this, I could see my pride in everything I did and this was the very thing that agitated me all along. And what wouldn't I do for some respect and importance! People used to address me as 'Ambalalbhai' and I had become accustomed to being called this way and because I had tremendous pride, I would protect that pride also. But sometimes a person may not be able to say all the six syllables of 'Ambalalbhai' or if someone was in a hurry and did not say the name in full and just said' 'Ambalal', is it a crime? How can one say such a mouthful in a hurry?

Questioner: But you expected them to, did you not?

Dadashri: Oh yes! I would then start weighing things in my mind: 'He called me Ambalal. Who does he think he is? Can he not address me as Ambalalbhai?' I owned some land in the village but nothing much else to speak of and yet so much arrogance? 'I an Amin of the six elite villages of Vakadavada'. Do we not have Desais of Vankdavada? They too are very conceited.

If by some chance someone did not address me as 'Ambalalbhai', I would not be able to sleep at night. I would

be agitated the whole nightlong. Just imagine! What was I going to gain from this? What sweet pleasure was I going to get out of it? Can you imagine what kinds of self-interest people have? There is absolutely no joy in such self-interest and yet even then I had this fixation in my mind and that too because of societal influence. People put me on a pedestal and they believed me to be very important! Of what use to me are other people's impressions of me?

It is like this. When these cows and buffalos look at you for a while and then wag their ears, does that mean that you have to believe they are showing respect towards you? That is exactly how everything is around you. We may believe in our mind that people are looking upon us with admiration and awe but in reality everyone is caught up in his or her own turmoil. These poor people are caught up in their own worries, each and every one of them. Do you think they have time for you?