THE  FLAWLESS  VISION

 

The Reality of This Universe

 

Questioner:  Tell us about the reality of this world. 

 

Dadashri:  People relate to this world in two ways; a worldly way and in a way that is not of this world. 

 

The worldly views is that God resides in the heavens and that He ‘does’ everything, and yet at the same time people believe that they are the ‘doers’ as well.  They are not aware of this contradiction. Believing in God as the Higher Authority above them, they live in the fear of God who punishes them for bad deeds.

 

For the thinkers of this world, for those who do not want the burden of anyone’s authority over them, should there not be a reality that is beyond the common worldly view?  In fact, in reality there is no single all-powerful authority.

 

In this world only your own mistakes and blunders have authority over you.  There is no other authority whatsoever.  

 

Who Is Our Boss?

 

 

Who can make such a bold statement?  A person would have to be absolutely fearless to make such a statement.  Why should you be afraid of anyone? I have searched far and wide and have discovered that there is no one in this world above you to whom you are answerable. The entity that you consider God above you is your very own Self. And God can never be anyone’s superior.  So then who is your superior? – Your own blunders and mistakes are your superiors. I have no boss because all my mistakes and blunders have been cleared. You too can be free as me.

 

On your way here to satsang, you are involved in a minor car accident and you fail to stop when the police signaled you. If the policeman were to come here, you would immediately realize that he has come for you. You will be aware of the mistake you made. Now you have to rectify your mistake. Until now, you have always looked at other people’s faults and blamed them. You could not see your own faults. When you see your own faults and you destroy them, you will become God.

 

What is the Fundamental Mistake?

 

The ascetics and seekers keep suppressing and pushing aside their desires, but on the contrary, their desires keep increasing. Desires are not easy to push aside. People do not know the root cause of such desires. To desire is not a mistake. The root cause of the desire needs to be dealt with. You cannot stop a revolving fan by holding back the blades with a stick. You need to switch off the power to the fan..

 

You must first erase the fundamental mistake: the belief that I am Chandulal. Such a belief is a projected belief. It is not real.

 

If you disguise yourself as Indira Gandhi and go around telling everyone that you are Indira Gandhi, taking advantage of the situation, would that not be a blunder? Would you not be held accountable for it?  By the same token, you have been taking advantage of your false imposition of ‘I am Chandulal’ and that is your blunder. Through this false imposition, faults happen..

 

Only these two are your superiors, your blunders and your mistakes. Your assertion that ‘I am Chandulal’ is your blunder. Then, your assertions, I am her husband’, ‘I am his son’, “I am a doctor’ etc, etc are your mistakes. How many such mistakes are there?

 

Questioner: Innumerable.

 

Dadashri:  You will not be able to get rid of the blunder by yourself.  I will destroy your fundamental blunder and thereafter you can tackle the mistakes on your own. There is no other boss, except for the blunder and mistakes. People have unnecessary anxieties about some superior power over them.

 

When can you realize your mistakes?

 

People believe that God is their superior and that if they were to pray to him, he will free them from everything, but there is no superior. You yourself are your superior. You are your own protector and your own destroyer. You are whole and sole responsible for yourself. You are the only boss. Absolutely no one can meddle in this.    The reason that you have a superior over you is because of your mistakes.  You will have to destroy these mistakes, will you not?

 

If you want absolute independence and freedom, then you will have to destroy all your mistakes. You can only realize and see your mistakes upon discovering who you really are. This happens  when you become Self Realized.

 

Who is the owner of this world?

 

Every living being in this universe is the Lord of this universe.  It is because of your ignorance of your Real Self that you live life like a struggling creature.  He that has no sense of ownership of his own body is the owner of the entire universe.  This whole universe belongs to you.  To understand this is liberation. Why then do you still not understand this?  It is because you are still bound by your own mistakes.

 

I have no superior over me.  There is absolutely no one above you up there, only you. There is no one to impose any punishment on you, nor is there anyone to grant you life. You yourself are responsible for your birth and for the cycle of your birth and death. All these contracts and agreements are yours.

 

If you asked me whether anyone was capable of interfering in your life I would give you three categorical no no, no. If you ask me whether I have any superior over me, again I would give you three categorical no, no no. Your superiors are your mistakes and your blunder..  How can you destroy them?  You have to come to me. I will destroy the blunder and I will show you the way to destroy the mistakes.

 

Misunderstanding Creates Misery

 

All misery and suffering in this world is a consequence of lack of understanding. All suffering is self-inflicted because of an inability to perceive the reality.  If you ask a person who has burnt himself why he did so, he would tell you that it happened because of his mistake and not deliberately.  In the same way all suffering is a result of similar mistakes.  All suffering is a result of our own mistakes. Once these mistakes are gone, your work is done. 

 

Questioner: Do we suffer because of our karmas?

 

Dadashri: These are all our karmas and that is why the mistakes are ours and no one else’s. In this world, no one else is at fault. They are but merely instruments in delivering the effects of our karmas to us. The suffering is yours but it comes by way of others.    How can you blame the postman who delivers news of your son’s death? 

 

Others are merely instrumental

 

If you have no place to stay and someone offers you accommodation, you will feel a sense of gratitude and attachment towards him.If he asks you to leave, you will feel resentment and abhorrence towards him. There is no need for attachment or abhorrence.  He is merely an instrument in the process.  When your merit karmas come into fruition you will encounter people who will help you and when your negative karmas come into fruition, you will meet with your adversaries.  In either case they are all just instruments; they are not at fault.  Everything depends upon your karma and the timing of their fruition.  This is what our spiritual science says.  How wonderful and simple it is!    

 

A person who does not have true knowledge will be overcome with attachment if someone praises him and if someone insults him, he would be overcome with abhorrence.  Whenever a person praises you, it is indicates that your merit karma is in operation and whenever someone insults you, it indicates that your demerit karma is coming into fruition.  The important fact is that in either case, the other party is not at fault. You will receive praise at the hands of your instrument who is meant to praise you and defamation at the hands of your instrument who is meant to denounce you.  They are not at fault.

 

Questioner: Is everyone an instrument?

 

Dadashri: There is nothing else in this world besides an instrument.

 

Questioner: What is the instrument of my coming here to satsang from the market place?

 

Dadashri: That is actually your karma coming into fruition.  It has nothing to do with an instrument.  The fruition of your karma for spending time at the market place came to an end and the one for you to come to satsang started, so you automatically had the thought to come here.  An instrument only comes into picture if for example you were on your way to attend this satsang and you meet with someone who insists that you go with him to take care of a very important and urgent matter. That person is the instrument.  Otherwise everything runs in accordance with the fruition of one’s karmas.  

 

There is no suffering, where there is no fault.

Questioner: Would a person be considered an instrument, if he comes and insults me? Even though I am not at fault?

 

Dadashri: No one, absolutely no one in this world has the right to say anything to you if you are not at fault. So whenever someone says anything to you, it is because of your own mistake and you are being returned that which you gave.  Your mistake of your past life, is being returned to you. He is merely instrumental in the process.  You are the one at fault and that is the only reason why he speaks to you in this way.

 

He speaks to you in this way because the fault is your own. In doing so, he is liberating you from your mistake of your past life. You must not have any ill feeling towards him. You have to pray to God to grant him right understanding.  That is all you have to do, because he is only an instrument

 

   

Attacking the Instrument

 

I do not have any negative thoughts about anyone.  Even when someone creates problems for me, I do not have any negative thoughts about that person. He is just acting according to his perception.  How can you blame him?  And what is the reality of this world anyway?  No one in this world is at fault.  It is because of your incorrect perception that you see others at fault.   I do not see anyone at fault.  From now on conduct your dealings with the understanding that no one is at fault. Will you do this?

 

Questioner: Yes I definitely will.

 

Dadashri:  You will begin to see others as being without faults only when you realize that truly people are without faults. They are merely instrumental in the process and yet we see people readily attack their instrument, do they not?

 

Questioner: Yes, we do that even when we should not.    

 

Dadashri:  To see a fault in other is the same as attacking the instrument. The other person insults you because of your own past karma coming into fruition, and yet you attack him? You are the one that must suffer the effect of your past karma.  The other person is merely caught up in the middle.  On the contrary, you should be indebted to that person for freeing you from your karma and yet you behave with contempt towards him. This is the same as attacking him.  Mahatmas (those who have attained the knowledge of the Self from me) have become fearful after understanding this and resolve not to attack their instrument from now on.

 

You will bind terrible karma when you accuse your instrument of cheating you. You would bind lesser karma if you slapped him instead.  A person can only cheat you if and when your own past karmas come into effect.  It is only the fruition of your past karmas coming into effect that allows the other person to be able to cheat you.  How can you then blame the other person? On the contrary he became instrumental in liberating you from your own karma.

 

 

The Consequence of Inciting Others

 

Questioner:  Can a person be punished or held liable for others’ mistakes? 

 

Dadashri: No, no one else can be blamed.  It is because of your own fault that the other person becomes your instrument.  The fault is of the sufferer.  To do, to make others do and to instigate others into doing, will bind karma, which brings new results in next life.  There is no effect without a cause

 

Questioner: Can you explain what constitutes an instigation of karma?  

 

Dadashri: If someone hesitates in doing something and you encourage him to do it, it is called instigation. The person who encourages the action bears a greater liability than the person who carries out the action. Who carries greater liability in the causal karma? The one who uses his intellect more becomes more liable in the blame.    

 

 

Attain Perfection Through Abstinence From Retaliation

 

In this world, any person that harms you in any way, is simply an instrument. You are responsible because you suffer the damage. In reality, this world is truly independent and no one can interfere with another. And if this were not so, there would be no end to people’s fear and no one would achieve liberation. Even Lord Mahavir would not have attained liberation. Lord Mahavir was completely impervious to any feelings projected towards him by others. People’s feelings towards him ranged from reverence to contempt; from love to sexual desire; from respect to insult. Nothing affected him. There was no element of retaliation in him to anything. The one who is free from retaliation attains final liberation. The one who retaliates has to stay behind to suffer the consequences.

 

The world will go on binding you with all sorts of negative and positive feelings. If a pickpocket sees you putting money in your pocket at a train station, would he not make the intent to steal it? And suppose you were to suddenly board the train as it was pulling away, leaving the pickpocket behind, even though he missed the opportunity to steal your money, he still formulated the intent to steal and this will bind him for new karma effects.

 

Everyone in the world is going to have such positive or negative inner intent but if there is no retaliation from you then you will be left alone. If you do not put your own intent in others’ intent, no one in the world can bind you; otherwise there would be no end to it. 

 

 

From One to Infinite Through Ignorance

 

If you press your eyeball with your finger, you would see double. The eyes are not the real form of the Soul; they are the relative form.  Nevertheless even when there is only one mistake, do you not see two?  If there were fragments of a broken mirror lying on the ground, you would see so many eyes peering at you. From a slight mistake made by the eyes you would see countless eyes. In the same way, it is not that the Soul becomes compressed, but the pressure of circumstances distorts the single real view of the Soul into a multitude of forms. This entire living world is in the form of the divine. With just the mere thought of chopping down a tree, you will bind karma. To have good intentions about others will bind merit karma and through negative intentions for others you will bind demerit karma.

 

When you come to satsang and see people standing around, you may ask yourself why they are standing around and thereby spoil your inner intent.   You must immediately pratikraman for this mistake.  

 

 

There Are Only Two Things In The World

 

There are only two things: the Pure Soul and circumstances.  Why do circumstances arise? Everyone faces different circumstances. One person never encounters hostility in his entire life, while another suffers abuse all the time. Why do two people encounter entirely different circumstances? The reason for this is that the one living the peaceful life has never had the intent to hurt anyone, while the one being abused has had nuemerous intentions to hurt other living beings. How do these circumstances arise? It is possible to find the causes of these circumstances.

 

Say you come across a very poor old man in the street and you give him eleven dollars. Your friend is astounded that you are giving him so much money and tells you to give the old man only one dollar. Now you are the giver and the old man is the receiver, but since your friend interceded, he created an obstruction for the recipient. An obstructive karma has been created for your friend.  This obstructive karma of  your friend will prevent the inflow of money to him in the life to come. 

 

 All that you encounter in your life are the collective circumstances of everything you had done in your previous life. They are not new circumstances. You have no superior power above you nor do you have anything that works beneath you. The world is entirely independent. Your mistakes and your blunders are your only superiors.

 

So if you are not at fault, no one in this world will bother you. Do people or policemen in the street bother you? Does anyone harass you?   If not, then you had not committed any faults.

 

Inviting a Slap with Compensation

 

Consider yourself very fortunate if someone insults you or speaks ill of you.  A few years ago I used to announce that anyone in need of money could come and give me a slap and I in return would pay him five hundred rupees.  Everyone refused and said they could not do it. Where can you find someone willing to slap or insult you even if you were willing to pay them for it?   So people who are insulted frequently in their homes without having to pay for them should consider themselves fortunate. As for myself, although I was willing to pay five hundred rupees, I was not as fortunate. 

 

Before attaining spontaneous Self-realization, I used to insult and belittle myself because no one else would do it for me!  Even though I was willing to pay to be insulted, no one would oblige me and that is why I had to do it myself.  I used to tell myself, ‘you have no sense whatsoever!  You are stupid!  You are an imbecile!’ I would ask myself: ‘what kind of a person are you?  Is the path to liberation so difficult to warrant such behaviour from you?’  I would insult myself in this way. What else could I do when no one would oblige me? You on the other hand don’t even have to search for insults or pay for them, because you receive them anyway.  Hence, shouldn’t you take advantage of this situation?

 

 

Even the Bandit Can Not Hurt A Morally Upright Person

 

The power of morality is so great that no one in this world can harm you.  If a moral and honest person were living amidst bandits and vagabonds, even if he was laden with jewelry from head to toe, not a single bandit would be able to harm him.  None of them would dare touch him!  There is no need to be afraid of anything in this world.  Whatever fear you experience is the effect of your own mistakes. This is what I have to reveal to the world.  People think that this world is not totally precise.. It is not so. It is precise and exact.

 

Questioner: They lack in their understanding.

 

Dadashri: It is because of this lack of understanding that this world continues. There is no need to be afraid of anything in this world.  Whatever fear you experience is your own mistakes. Settle all matters without any retaliation or else you will create a new account.

 

If someone says something negative to you just once, you may ask yourself why he is doing so, and in your mind you would even curse him a few times.  In so doing, you are creating a new account with him while settling an old one.  When he came to return what you yourself previously gave to him, instead of accepting and depositing it, you cursed him several times.  You are not able to tolerate even a single insult from him and yet you insult him several times over. Now how is the human intellect to reach such depths?  Instead people gradually bind themselves deeper and deeper and increase the confusion.

 

For the past fifteen years, I have not retaliated at all and consequently cleared up so many of my accounts.     I have accepted everything that has come my way. I had told ‘him’ (Ambalal- Dada’s relative self) to deposit everything as it comes. Everything is easy. Is this not an easy path to follow? You will not find such knowledge in the scriptures.

 

You are independent, and absolutely no one can do anything to you. You have no boss to command you. What does it matter when even God is not your superior? When you say that God exists as your superior, you are using him as your scapegoat. You are expecting his forgiveness when you do something wrong. On the contrary, you yourself are assuming the responsibilities.

 

The Gnani Has No Suffering

 

Whenever you hurt someone even slightly, you should realize that you are at fault. You will understand this because you will feel uneasy and agitated from within, because the other person is obviously suffering the hurt. Granted the fault is his, but you have become instrumental in his suffering.  You are the one who told him off and so the mistake is also yours.  Why does ‘Dada’ have no suffering?  It is because he has no more mistakes. 

 

If someone gets hurt or affected by your mistakes, you should immediately do pratikraman in your mind and settle the matter. As long as the inner enemies of anger, pride, attachment and greed exist within you, you will continue to create new accounts.  So in opposition to them, settle your karmic debts.  If you make a mistake, without doubt you will create a new account, but you can erase it by instantly doing pratikraman.  You should do the same, i.e. confess (aalochana), ask for forgiveness (pratikraman) and take a vow never to repeat the mistake (pratyakhyan), even if you are hurt by the mistakes of others.

 

 

He Who Destroys His Mistakes Becomes The Supreme Self.

 

Once a person decides that he wants to destroy all his mistakes, he can become fully enlightened.  We are all bound by our mistakes.  If you destroy all your mistakes, you become fully enlightened. The absolute Self has no faults whatsoever.  What do these faults cry out for?  They are crying for recognition..  People consider their mistakes as their virtues.  It is the nature of a mistake to overpower and rule you, but once you recognize a mistake as a mistake, it will leave. People however remain unaware of their mistakes and continue to defend them. This only reinforces the mistakes and strengthens them.

 

People Support Their Mistakes By Siding With Them

 

Questioner: Dada, how can you side with your mistakes?  

 

Dadashri: You would be siding with your mistake if after you scold someone, you try to justify your action by saying that the person needed the scolding and that otherwise he would not have understood. This would be siding with your mistakes.  The mistake knows that you are supporting it and so it will never leave; on the contrary it will become even stronger, because by siding with it, you are nurturing it.  By supporting your mistake even once, you are extending its longevity by twenty years.  You should never side with any mistakes.  

The Key to Destroying Your Mistakes

The most importance is given to the awareness of aggression caused to others through the medium of thoughts speech and acts and to ask for forgiveness in the direct presence of the awakened Lord within. You should maintain awareness in every step of daily living.  The inner component of anger, pride, attachment and greed within you will continue to create new karmic accounts without fail.  And it is against this very component that you have to do pratikraman immediately and erase everything.  You cannot afford to let this business of binding karma continue.   

 

Questioner: But the mistakes we make now, are they not of our past life?

 

Dadashri: These mistakes are the results of the very demerit karma that you committed in your past life.  Not only do people not destroy their mistakes in this life, but they also go on increasing them. In order to destroy a mistake, you must accept it and regard it as a mistake. You cannot go on protecting it. This is the key the Gnani gives you to solve all your problems. It can open up the most difficult of locks.

 

How can a Gnani Purush help you? All he does is to simply shed light on your mistakes;  and show you ways not to support and protect your mistakes. But should you ever say something like, ‘Oh but I have to live in this world, how can I possibly do that?’ you are supporting your mistake. You should never support your mistake in this way. When you do this, not only are you supporting your mistake, but also creating bondage for infinite rebirths.

 

Once you begin to recognize your mistakes; they will be destroyed. When cloth merchants swindle their customers by stretching the cloth before cutting it in order to sell them short, and brag about their ruse, they are essentially committing negative karma that is detrimental to one     and others. This actually supports their mistakes. There is no need to support your mistake like that. By cheating others, one is doomed to face infinite rebirths.

 

Stop Nurturing Inner Enemies

 

If a person wants to be free from mistakes, I would tell him that he should stop feeding his inner enemies of anger, pride, attachment and greed for a period of three years. When these are starved of nourishment, they will become ineffective and lifeless. When you no longer give sustenance to mistakes, they will abandon you. Any support for anger, pride attachment and greed is defined as a mistake. If for just three years, that support is not given to these inner enemies, they will disappear.

 

People will never realize their mistakes unless a Gnani Purush points them out. There are infinite such mistakes, not just a few.

 

Questioner: I of mine can only see a few mistakes of mine, not many

 

Dadashri: When you sit here in this satsang, many veils of ignorance are lifted enabling you to see more of your mistakes.

 

Questioner: How do we acquire the awareness, which allows us to see more of our faults?

 

Dadashri: You have a lot of awareness within you, but you have not developed the inclination yet to look for your mistakes. If a policeman wishes to look for a thief, he will find one. If on the other hand he just casually says, ‘ It’s not worth going after a crook. We’ll just catch him when he comes along.’ the thief would thrive. Likewise, these faults are hiding from you, and if you go in search of them, you will catch them in no time.

 

What is the fruit of all your life labor? You have really earned something only when you can see your faults one after another. This entire satsang is about trying to see your own faults. Only when you can see your own faults, will you be rid of them. When will you see those faults? You will see them when you become Self-Realized. You are a spiritually elevated being when you can see more and more of your own faults. When you become totally impartial towards your physical behaviour, your thoughts and your speech, you will be able to see all your mistakes.

 

Darkness Prevents Us From Seeing Our Faults

 

Dadashri: How many of you’re faults are you able to see and how many of them do you erase? 

 

Questioner: I see many of my faults. I see my anger and my greed.

 

Dadashri: That is just a handful and it’s the same as not having seen them at all. But when you see others’ faults, how many of them do you see?

 

Questioner: A lot of them.

 

Dadashri: Do you see many?  

 

Questioner: Yes.

 

Dadashri: You even criticize the way people walk and yet you cannot see any faults of your own. Your inner enemies of anger, pride, attachment and greed obscure your vision and blind you. You wander around blindly with your eyes open. What invited suffering!

 

With their eyes open, all human beings of the world are sleeping. This is what Lord Mahavir has said, because people are hurting themselves in this darkness. When you acquire the knowledge that you are the Pure Soul, you awaken from this sleep and are able to see your mistakes. Only then are you truly awake!  

 

When The Intellect is The Lawyer, The Mistake Wins

 

Once you are awakened to The Self, you become aware of your mistakes; otherwise you can never see your own faults or mistakes. Perhaps you will see a few obvious ones, and may even admit to others that on occasion you get angry or that you have a little miserly streak in you.  If someone were to tell you that you have a bad temper, you will immediately become defensive. You would protect your mistakes by arguing in their defense. Whatever you try to defend an inner enemy, it will always overpower you.

 

Everyone in this world seeks to rid himself of his anger, pride, attachment and greed. No one wishes to possess any of these. These are your archenemies. Despite knowing this, people continue to nurture them and make them stronger. In not being able to see your own faults, you continue to sustain them. You see only a handful of your glaring, big mistakes.

 

The Gnani Confesses His Own Faults

 

When a mistake arises, I know what perpetuates it. At times, a person would approach me and in the presence of other people, ask me how I had the audacity to call myself a Gnani when I could not even get rid of my habit of smoking through an elaborate smoking pipe.  I would admit to him that it was an obvious weakness on my part, which I had been aware of for a long time. If I had told him that the Gnanis were impervious to everything worldly, the smoking pipe would have immediately realized that it had been granted an additional longevity of twenty years, because its master is kind and would protect it in any way that he could. I am very shrewd and have never protected any of my mistakes. Do people not generally defend themselves?

 

Questioner: Yes, they do it very vehemently.

 

Dadashri: One man was sniffing snuff.  I asked him whether he really needed to do so.  He said that there was nothing wrong in sniffing snuff. I told him that he had no idea that he was increasing his addiction for snuff by another twenty years. How does that happen?  Any event that takes place, occurs only after its end has been decided. People lengthen the event even after its end has been determined. What can one do when the living augment and reduce things in this way? By protecting their mistakes, people lengthen the duration of their mistakes. To defend something which is wrong or to say ‘Don’t worry, nothing will effect me.’ is a terrible mistake. 

 

Questioner: Those who have slipped into theoretical knowledge, which by its very nature does not produce any spiritual results claim that the soul is impervious and it is the physical body that is affected.

 

Dadashri: There are many such people.  They create more confusion for themselves; that only perpetuates their confusion and entanglements.

 

After listening to everything they have to say, I tell them that the Lord has said that one must have the following qualities: Non-violence in speech and forgiveness. You see none of these qualities and yet so much arrogance!

 

Egoism and the Soul are poles apart.

 

Such laxity prevails because people have not known the real answers and so everyone continues to be negligent in matters of spiritual progress. But when someone like me comes along and puts them on the spot by asking them questions, it shakes them up.

 

 

 

Accept Faults Without Retaliation

 

I have no inflexibility in me.  I accept my mistakes readily when they are pointed out to me.  I am even thankful to the person who points out my mistakes to me, because if he sees them then it means that the mistakes are there.  I would not question whether he is right or wrong.

 

If someone wrote, ‘Dada is a thief’, on the back of my coat, would people not read it aloud? Now why would people call me a thief? Because it had been written on the back of my coat. I would only find out about it when I take my coat off and see the words. Someone wrote the words. Others simply happen to read them aloud. I must not react to such events.

 

Questioner:  Dada, I read somewhere in one of your Aptavanis that if someone were to write such a thing, you would be greatly indebted to that person.

 

Dadashri: Yes indeed that is written in the Aptavani.

 

Questioner: How is that?

 

Dadashri: Unless you feel grateful to him, your entire ego will rise up and result in abhorrence.  What does the other person stand to lose? He has nothing to lose but you will. You should be grateful, because you do not want to incur a loss. The other person does not care. He can only say such things because he is irresponsible.  We would be just as responsible if we imitated him. If we bark back like him, we are not better than barking dogs. So consider yourself indebted to him. Do you understand?

 

Questioner: Are we to be grateful to him because we see and understand the resulting effect of our past life mistakes?

 

Dadashri:  Yes. You should be grateful from within whenever your faults manifest; only then will these faults cease to exist. If you feel hatred towards a policeman you should be grateful to him and the fault will cease. Consider the person that you find disagreeable your benefactor and you will no longer find him disagreeable. Each and every word I utter is like a medicine. All these are remedies; how else is anyone to understand the statement that you must be indebted to the person that calls you a thief! Take this as a command from Dada as it is of the utmost benefit for you. 

 

Questioner:  If Dada himself is grateful to the other person, then what is wrong for us in following the same? 

 

Dadashri: Yes, this is how you should look at it: Tell yourself that he is just calling you a thief and not devious or evil.  It is good of him not to say anything else; after all it is his mouth and he can say whatever he wants.  Do we have the right to stop him?  You just have to feel grateful to him. By doing this you will not spoil your mind, and you will keep your peace. Do you understand?

 

This is a principle!  How is it so?  If someone called me a thief, I would be grateful to him.  Why so Dada?  No one would say such a thing in the first place.  All this is nothing but a result of your own projection, a result of whatever you yourself had uttered in your previous life.  I give you absolute written assurance that this entire world is in the form of results of projections. That is why I am grateful and you should also feel the same. If you felt the same way, your mind will not be disturbed.  If you are hurt when people call me a thief, consider the fact that I have been called many different things. Even Lord Mahavir encountered abuse from people and his followers had to stand back and accept it. All  the devotees accepted whatever was said about the Lord, because he himself had taught them to do so. 

 

You Are The Wrongdoer

 

Questioner: So do we now have to train ourselves to see the world without faults?

 

Dadashri:  If you yourself had not uttered anything in the first place, there would be no problem.  But instead you go around blaming others and questioning why they say such things to you.  You are the culprit behind these recurrent situations and now you accuse the other person for insulting you.  Someone else might teach you to ignore the other person who insults you, and instead just respond by telling him that he is a king and your statement will come back to you in the form of an echo that you are a king.  Everything is your own projection.

 

Take A Lesson From Me

 

People ask me why I need to disclose my faults openly and what benefit is there in doing so.  I tell them that I do it to encourage you all to follow suit. How can you not find courage from what I say? Whenever you disclose your faults, your mind gets exposed and thereafter it will live in fear of being caught. Thereafter it will live in fear of you because it knows you will expose it.  Your mind will think of you as a naïve person who has a tendency to divulge everything. I have told (my mind) that I will divulge everything and open everything to the sky. And that is when all my faults disappeared. Faults come to an end in this way.

 

The Method of Destroying Faults…

 

Dadashri: How many mistakes are you aware of? 

 

Questioner:  A few. About four or five!

 

Dadashri: Who determines whether or not they are mistakes? 

 

Questioner: You realize it is a mistake when you experience a loss.

 

Dadashri: Yes of course you would realize it then! But who is the one that tells you that you have made a mistake? The person committing the fault does not readily admit it, but when a ‘judge’ tells you that you have made a mistake, you would recognize it and accept it; otherwise you would not. Generally people do not admit their mistakes unless they can recognize them as such. As soon as you make a mistake you should admit it immediately; it should be ‘shoot on sight.’ Your mistakes will not decrease if you do not do this. Do people around you admit their mistakes?

 

Questioner: No they do not.

 

Dadashri: Indeed, no one admits his mistake. People think themselves intelligent and yet no one would be willing pay even penny for that intelligence! Everyone has intelligence, so why would they want to buy it? Do you admit your mistakes readily?

 

Questioner: Yes I do. Can I tell you one of my faults?

 

Dadashri: Yes.

 

Questioner: I love playing cards.

 

Dadashri: Is that so? Playing cards is simply your karmic account. You are experiencing the effect of the intent you had in your past life.

 

Questioner: I like playing cards but my wife objects to it.

 

Dadashri: If she does not like it, it is her problem, because she is the one who suffers. The fault is of the one who suffers. If she did not suffer, then it would not be her fault at all. Since she is the one who is suffering, the fault is hers.

 

Questioner: She insists that it does not bother her, but I think that it does bother her.

 

Dadashri: When she herself tells you that she is not suffering, let it go. Do not be concerned. Before she received Gnan, she may have suffered. Now she understands that habits are hard to break and have nothing to do with the Real. She understands that the habit is the result of past life mistakes. She knows that you cannot get rid of it even if you want to. The habit does not let you go. She knows that it is a mistake on her part to scold you. 

 

Questioner: But Dada is there no way around it? There should be a way to get rid of that habit, shouldn’t there?

 

Dadashri: The only way around this for him is that while playing cards he must be aware within that this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.. This should be the constant integral feeling within him.  And if someone were to criticize him for playing cards, he must not defends his action by saying that it is a good thing to play cards. If he does so,  the habit will be perpetuated. At such a moment, he should admit that it is indeed a bad habit. People keep a habit alive by defending it and then they complain about not being able to break it. So don’t reinforce your habits by defending them.  

 

I also dealt with a similar experience through which I managed to find a way out. Although I have some faults like my pipe smoking, yet from within I had the contrary opinion. Things should not make you dependent on them. However, if you do become dependent on things, you should know how to be free from them. You become free the moment you discover the method to freedom which is to harbor the contrary opinion.. In no time your habit will leave you. A habit is considered broken only when it breaks by itself. If you venture to break it forcefully through your ego, it remains unresolved and you will be forced to face it in your next life. It is better that you break the habit through understanding.

 

So whatever habits you may have, whether it is playing cards or anything else, you may indulge in them as long as you oppose it within your mind and tell yourself, ‘ this should not be so’, ‘this should not be so’, ‘this should not be so’.  

 

 

So in a scene while giving a spiritual discourse to a gathering of a thousand listeners if someone openly lashes at you saying, ‘what is the meaning of your preaching when you yourself cannot let go of your card playing habit?’ At such a time you must not defend and hide your habit. You must openly admit that playing cards is indeed your weakness.

 

 

Questioner:  Should I confess my mistake in front of a thousand persons?

 

Dadashri: All you have to do is confess so the cards will not overpower you. If you do not, then the cards will takeover. They will assume that you are a weakling and that they can stick around. So confess it at any time, even if it hurts your reputation. Not just your reputation, but even if it means that you will be insulted, you should confess.   You should be staunch in your confession.

 

If you want to be in control of your mind, you can do it through confession. If you confess all your weaknesses, your mind will come under your control, otherwise it will not. If you do not confess your weaknesses, your mind will become careless and unruly because it will know that you will not expose it.

 

Confessions To A Gnani

 

Your mistakes will leave you the instant you confess them to me. I really do not need to know, but it is a way for you to become free from your mistakes. You can only confess your mistakes to a fully enlightened being.  Only such a person is flawless. Everyone else has flaws. I am never astonished by any of your confessions. I never feel that one fault is graver than another. To me, both are equal, the one who confesses and the one who hides.  All human beings are prone to make mistakes, so why should you be afraid? Confess to the One who can destroy mistakes and ask him to show you how.

 

Your Intuition Grows In This Way…

 

Once you destroy your mistakes, you will have accomplished your work. How will you do this? You have within you a power called intuition.  Do you not find a way out of a problem when you are confused? Even if you do nothing, don’t you eventually find a solution?

 

Questioner:  Yes.

 

Dadashri:  Does anyone come to give you this insight? This intuition is the only power within you that has the potential to liberate you.  Every living being is endowed with the power of intuition.

 

Even a cow that is trapped will find a way out because of the intuition within her.  You can increase this power by destroying your mistakes. The more mistakes you destroy the stronger this internal power will become. When you confess your mistakes, your strength begins to grow.  

 

How Can You Lose Your Reputation When You Never Had One to Begin With?

 

Can people not at least tell that they have done something wrong when they get angry? They realize that they have overreacted.  This means that they understand their mistake.  If a guru is angrily scolding his disciple and a nobleman asks him why he is venting so much anger, the guru tells him that his anger is justified because his disciple deserves it. The fool!  He knows that he is doing something wrong when he gets angry and yet he covers up his mistake.  Instead he should admit that he made a mistake and that he will not repeat it. Thus he will overcome his mistake. 

 

Why should you defend your mistakes in the presence of certain people? Is it to preserve your reputation?  Do you not know that those very people have no reputation to speak of?  People in the guise of a façade portray a reputation, otherwise what reputation do they have? Do you see anyone here with a reputation?   

 

Ten Reduced to One

 

The world is ‘relative’. It is interactive socially. You cannot utter a single word to anyone and if you practice absolute humility  then you must not even look at other person’s fault.  It is not worth finding faults with anyone in this world.  You do not know the consequences of doing this.  

 

When you continually criticize and find fault in others you are suffering a loss. It is like giving a ten-rupee note and getting a rupee back for it.   Why waste energy in doing something when you get nothing in return?  When you engage in criticisms you are dissipating your own energies.  If you know that what you are crushing is sand and not sesame seeds, why would you waste your time and energy to grind it?  When you criticize others, you are in fact washing their clothes, while you soil your own.  When will you clean up your mess?

 

Do not look at anyone’s negative qualities.  If you must, then look at your own.  How does it affect your mind when you look at people’s faults? And how does