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Aptavani-6
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Aptavani-6
own mistake; no one else is at fault.
Questioner: These sticky files I have, is that also because of my own mistake?
Dadashri: Yes, you have made it sticky, so you have to get rid of your stickiness. A simple and straightforward (bhodu) person will have simple and straightforward files.
Questioner: Are people with sticky files deceitful?
Dadashri: No, we cannot call them deceitful. They keep making everything stickier through the ego, whereas a straightforward person will say, "Okay! That is fine!' and will let go. He does not care about the ego. Speech, Pleasant or Unpleasant, is an Effect
Mistakes (dosh) are mainly of the speech. If speech does not improve, if it does not become pleasant, then it will not bring beneficial results. The Lord within pardons mistakes of the body (deha), but speech hurts people, does it not?
Meaningful progress occurs once speech becomes pleasant. Progressively, it becomes so pleasant that in the final life, in the life before ultimate liberation, there is nothing that can be compared to its sweetness, whereas some people, whenever they speak sound like a groaning buffalo! This is a speech and so is the speech of the Tirthankars (Totally enlightened beings)!
Questioner: If one has made the intent (bhaav) for attaining such speech that does not hurt the ego of any living being (syadvaad speech); if I made the bhaav that my speech too should be so pleasant; will that bhaav not result in such a speech?
Dadashri: No, it is not like that. To acquire such speech, every day you have to ask for the energy to have speech that hurts no one and that it gives pleasure to everyone. But nothing
is attained by simply asking for it. One has to nurture the causes that lead to the attainment of such speech. Then the fruits that come will be in accordance with that.
Speech is an effect. Speech that makes others happy will continue to become sweeter and speech that hurts people will continue to become bitter. Then, whether he groans or the buffalo; it all sounds the same!
Speech Energy: Use and Abuse
Questioner: How does energy or power (vachanbud) of speech arise?
Dadashri: Vachanbud will arise when not even a single word is used in making fun of others, when it is not used for one's self-serving interest, when it is not used to feed one's pride (maan), when it is not misused in anyway.
Questioner: I can understand the part about not using it for self-interest and to feed the pride, but what is wrong with making fun of people?
Dadashri: Making fun of others is very wrong. Instead it is better to use the speech to feed the pride (maan) within. Making fun of someone is making fun of the God within. You may think, "This man is like a donkey, but he is God!' Check to see who he is after all! After all, is he not God?
I used to have the habit of poking fun at others. Not the kind of fun that would cause harm to anyone, but it is bound to affect and hurt the person on the inside, is it not? If the intellect increases, where is it likely to be abused? It will be abused in making fun of those with lesser intellect. When I understood the danger in this, I stopped making fun of people. Is making fun of others a worthy thing to do? It is very dangerous; it is a grave mistake. You must never make fun of anyone.
Questioner: But what is wrong in making fun of people
