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Questioner: Is that not called obstinacy?
Dadashri: No, obstinacy (aadayee) is to maintain, 'We will go on a fast.' This is where the whole world is stuck.
Questioner: Is it not aadayee when a person does not follow your directions?
Dadashri: That is indeed an aadayee, what else? Is Dadaji likely to tell you to do anything otherwise? He would only say something if it is for your own benefit. Therefore, you should not be obstinate where Dadaji is concerned.
Becoming straight through understanding
Have you ever seen aadayee (obstinacy) in someone? Have you seen that it exists in people?
Questioner: Dada, I had it within me. I was very
obstinate.
Dadashri: Is that so? You are the knower of the one who was obstinate. Is the knower not separate? Or is the knower the one who is obstinate? No. The one who is obstinate is not the knower. The knower is separate; the knower is the Self. So did all your obstinacy go away?
Questioner: It is still there, Dada.
Dadashri: Then you still have to become straight. Aadayee (obstinacy) is not acceptable. If you do not become straight with this Gnan of ours, then people will beat you into becoming straight. So, it is better if you straighten up through understanding. That will save you all the hassle. One always gets hurt when he interferes (dakho-dakhal; becomes Chandulal). Hence, interference straightens him constantly. When the horns of obstinacy are broken right here, then all work is done. All aadayee (obstinacy) is bestial. When a couple of wise men plead with the one with obstinacy, 'Please listen to us, ' do you know what he will say? He will say, 'No I find it hard to
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believe.' He exposes his obstinacy in front of us thus. Moksha will be attained only when that obstinacy goes away.
Necessities for progress along the path of moksha
If someone were to tell us, 'Dada, bow down to all these people', then I would do so and I would do it five times over. 'We' would bow down to even a vagrant. 'We' have ways to bow down in any manner that is necessary. 'We' have a way to bow down to the Soul and a way to bow down to the vagrant. If he says, 'Do not bow down to the Soul, bow only to the vagrant,' 'we' would do that too. So you must have humility. Complete humility! The one who completely 'dissolves in water' (becomes completely egoless) will be blessed with the ultimate. If a lump (ego) remains in water, it means it has not completely dissolved and so it will just keep going round and round. Obstinate people will simply keep wandering round and round, life after life.
As a lot of worldly respect is gained, a spiritually elevated person will become more humble; his ego will not be evident, he will not be inflexible. Egoistic inflexibility (akadai) is a characteristic of an inferior human being. When a person attains this spiritual knowledge but still exhibits inflexibility, then he is an inferior human being. How can one have this Gnan and continue to remain rigid and inflexible?
The one who readily accepts the truth is called a straight (sarad) person.
Questioner: If we accept what others tell us as the truth and follow through, then we become vulnerable to hurt, will we not?
Dadashri: It is better to stumble and learn. If a saint says, I have full faith in human beings' someone may ask him, 'What if someone deceives you some day?' He will reply, 'One man may swindle me, and another may do the same, but some day