Pride Is Violent Intent Indeed
Pride is contemptuous rejection ( tiraskaar); it is the intent of contemptuously rejecting others. That is all raudradhyan (adverse internal meditation that hurts the self and others). Anger, pride, deceit, and greed are raudradhyan.
The fact is, anger, pride, deceit, and greed are raudradhyan. Anger, pride, deceit, and greed are considered violence indeed.
Questioner: You said that there is violent intent in kashay (anger, pride, deceit, greed), so please explain what kind of violent intent there is in pride.
Dadashri: Pride itself is a violent intent. A proud person does violence to others. If the other person needs help with some work, if he is selfish, if he is self- centered, then one will put up with it. But how do others feel about a person who is proud? Anger is indeed interlinked with pride; contemptuous rejection is inevitable. [One believes,] ‘I am something,’ thus, he contemptuously rejects others. Pride means contemptuous rejection. And a person with pride and my- ness ( abhimaani) contemptuously rejects people a great deal.
The Lord has said, “It is anger and pride that hurt people. It is because of pride that contemptuous rejection ( tiraskaar) happens. Pride leads one to reject others with contempt. Anger burns [the self] and burns [others]. Upon hearing the words of the Lord, people tried to implement solutions. “One should not get angry; one should not be proud.” So, they started triyog sadhana (the practice of moving towards a goal by aligning the mind, speech, and body). Through triyog sadhana, the anger and pride decreased to some extent and the ‘light’ of the intellect increased. Due to the increased ‘light’ of the intellect, their deceit increased to protect their greed. Anger and pride are guileless; someone or another will definitely point these out to him. Whereas greed and deceit are such that even the owner will not be aware of them. Once they take hold, they will never think of leaving.
Amongst anger, pride, deceit, and greed, the prakruti ( the non- Self complex) of greed is such that the owner himself is unaware of how much greed he has inside him! So greed is heavily laden with deceit. Anger is guileless by nature. Not only is the owner aware of it, but even other people will say, “Why are you getting so angry?” However, a person never figures out that he has greed. Greed can lead a person astray! And the prakruti of greed is not such that it will go away; the prakruti of greed will not go away for infinite lifetimes. This is because the prakruti characterized by greed is raag prakruti, the prakruti of attachment; it is not dwesh prakruti, the prakruti of abhorrence. And the prakruti of attachment is characterized by coolness. Therefore, that prakruti does not let one become free, it is a very strong prakruti. Greed and deceit both fall under the prakruti of attachment, whereas anger and pride fall under the prakruti of abhorrence. We can recognize the prakruti of abhorrence, but we cannot recognize
the prakruti of attachment. Even the owner cannot recognize it, can he! This is because one feels so much sweetness in it! People are only concerned about respect and insult, aren’t they!