Stumbling Keeps the Ego in Check
The ego is nature’s food. The ego itself is nature’s food. The ego does not have any fear of being insulted. The one who is laden with pride ( maani) has the fear of being insulted. Nature will swallow the one who walks around with the arrogance of the ego. Nature itself ‘slaps’ him.
These laws of nature are of a different type. The rules for taking [an embodied soul] towards a higher life-form ( urdhva gati) are different and the rules for taking it towards a lower life-form ( adhogati) are different.
The fact is, this is Kaliyug ( the current era of the time cycle, characterized by a lack of unity in thoughts, speech, and action). In this, if whatever desires that arise in a person are fulfilled, then his ego increases and he goes off on the wrong track. Thus, in this Kaliyug, it is always better for a person to stumble. So this statement exists in different forms in each era of the time cycle. So the statement for the current era can be expressed in this way. These days, if a person gets something according to his desires, then his ego increases. Everything is received based on the account of punya ( merit karma), and what is it that increases? The ego, [the belief] ‘I am.’ So however many desires arise, if things do not happen according to those desires, then one’s ego will remain in check and he will be able to understand the facts. It is when he stumbles that he will understand, otherwise he would not understand at all, would he! The desire arises and gets fulfilled; that is certainly why these people have become bigheaded. It is because they have gotten things according to their desires that they have ended up in this position, the poor things! The merit karma they had has been used up, and moreover, they have gotten into an entanglement, and their egos have become crazy! It does not take long for the ego to increase. Who gives the results? Merit karma gives them, and yet in his mind, one thinks, ‘I am indeed the one doing it.’ So for the one with ego, it is better that the beating comes to him. Therefore, there is benefit from what one receives through beatings.
The law of nature is that if one desires something and the desire is immediately fulfilled, one is slipping down, one is going to a lower life-form. And if one has a desire for something and he is unable to get it, and when he does get it, he no longer has the desire for it; this will take one to a higher life-form. That is considered a good thing.
Questioner: For some people, their desires are fulfilled the very moment the desires occur. What would you call that?
Dadashri: When a person’s desires are fulfilled immediately, he becomes so full of himself [intoxicated with ego] that he later gets beaten severely and goes to a lower life-form. This is because the nature of the mind is such that once it finds a place to jump around in, it will keep on jumping.
When a person receives something immediately after the desire for it arises, then he walks with both feet above the ground. He neither pays heed to his father nor anyone else. So if a desire arises and it gets fulfilled, then know that one is heading to a lower life-form. His head will keep inflating to the point that he becomes nutty.
What a wonderful arrangement nature has made! For those who are to go to a higher life-form, nature arranges everything for them according to their desires, but only after their desires are gone. And for those who are to go to a lower life-form, [nature] arranges it so that their desires are immediately fulfilled. Therefore, understand this fact about nature.