Let’s Untangle the Imaginary Entanglement of Pride and Insult

Since time immemorial, from the moment a living being attains the human life-form, the problems arising from pride (maan) and insult (apamaan) have perpetuated. The kashay (inner enemies of anger, pride, deceit and greed) in the form of pride causes one to wander in the worldly life by making him ‘blind’. The main support of kashay is egoism! In spite of having attained such wonderful Gnan (Knowledge of the Self attained through Self-realization), at the time of insult, one becomes engrossed in the ego, and when the effects arise, he wastes time in attachment (raag) and abhorrence (dwesh) causing veils over the bliss of His own Self. For this, on the occasion of Dada Bhagwan’s Gurupurnima in 2023, Pujyashree had given a special message in line with Dadashri’s Gnan, “Bring a solution with Gnan by Seeing pride as separate.” From the innumerable keys pertaining to the relative and Real found in absolutely revered Dadashri’s speech, a few keys have been compiled here in order to nurture the understanding of how to remain free of the effects of pride and insult.

Absolutely revered Dadashri says that words are just like empty boxes. How can they hurt you? If someone were to hit you with a stone, then it would hurt, but how can words have an effect on you? When another person insults you, it is certainly your own worldly interaction (vyavahaar) which you had previously sent that is unveiling. Over there you should divide that worldly interaction down with worldly interaction and accept it. However, seeking justice in worldly interaction you become trapped.

At the time of insult, the intellect makes an intense mental note (nondha) of the past; that is referred to as a lingering effect (tanto). The other person’s old karma has ended, and today he is in a new karma, yet you hold onto the intense mental note of the past and have negative thoughts; that is a sign of the negative ego! You incur tremendous loss in that. If you want to become free, then you should put down your ‘weapon’, do pratikraman for the person who insulted you, and be grateful to him, so that your mind does not spoil and you do not feel abhorrence towards him.

After attaining this Gnan, when you occasionally face insult, the ‘heart’ [internal state] becomes red hot. At that time, become steady in Gnan and continue to See how hot the ‘heart’ is becoming! The Lord has referred to this as Knowledge based penance (Gnan tapa). It is only during such ‘bitter’ circumstances that by taking up the opportunity to follow the Agnas (five principles that preserve the awareness as the Self in Akram Vignan), does the Purusharth (the Real spiritual effort to prevail as the Self) of internal penance (antar tapa) begin. Lord Mahavir and Lord Parshwanath became completely vitaraag (absolutely free from all attachment and abhorrence) and went to moksha (final liberation) by remaining in equanimity and doing internal penance when faced with externally induced afflictions (upsarga).

After attaining Gnan, are the precious lives of mahatmas (Self-realized Ones in Akram Vignan) meant for pride and insult? No. We [mahatmas] want to become tested [in Gnan] to such an extent that no circumstance in this world can shake us. After attaining the awareness of the Self, the aim of our life is to continuously increase the experience as the Self. There are infinite energies of the Self within, so One just needs to decide that whatever joy is felt during pride, the same amount of joy should be felt during insult as well. Therefore, the ardent prayer is that You follow the Agnas, do penance (tapa), remain in Your Real form as the Self, become free of attachment and abhorrence, and proceed in Purusharth towards attaining vitaraagata (the state of absolute detachment).