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Questioner: Does the expression 'filled with mustard' mean that a person has more abhimaan ?
Dadashri: Abhimaan is different and those with mustard seeds rai are different. One with mustard seeds does not have any wealth. There is nothing to be proud about and yet his head is full of mustard seeds. Who can be an abhimaani? Someone who has a few large homes. Those who have some real estate can be abhimaani. What is the point of filling your head with mustard seeds when all you have is an apartment of a ten-twenty thousand rupees? It is acceptable for a person to have abhimaan when regardless of no matter what rules and regulations the government imposes, his wealth is not affected much.
Other people have a right to be proud of their possessions like a car or a flat etc., but there is no reason to be abhimaani. Even if you have a lot of real estate, what will you gain by abhimaan? On the contrary, your possession went away, did it not? Besides when a person has abhimaan, his crown will be one with thorns. There is no telling when someone will come to attack you and that is why it is better if you don't wear the crown. It is only recently that people have started to refer to call their living quarters as 'flat', otherwise they used to call them 'nests' - a nest of a sparrow and pegion. But here even if a person has a one room kitchen, they call it 'diwan khanu' (prime minister's living room).
The thermometer to measure pride
Questioner: Do people not have pride for things other than material possessions? Saints and ascetics do not have any material possessions and yet they have tremendous pride. What kind of pride is that?
Dadashri: They have pride about knowing the scriptures. But this too is a kind of wealth, is it not? 'I know all the scriptures', is that not wealth too? They are all considered materials. That is all pride maan.
Questioner: It is also possible for a person who knows nothing to have pride maan too.
Dadashri: Yes, that happens because that is what he believes. If he does not accept the respect people give him, in his mind, and so he starts believing that he has overcome pride. He may think to himself that he has no
