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abhimaan. His abhimaan (pride with 'my-ness') is at work there. Abhimaan is to show off your possession in order to impress others. Why does he show off? For pride - maan! When he goes beyond maan, he will not be satisfied even with abhimaan. Nature will sort him out by punishing him and then he will get back on track. Just because you have four cars, you should not have any ego or abhimaan about it. If one exhibits abhimaan, it is the beginning of departure of the very things he has abhimaan over. One should maintain humbleness. As you begin to acquire worldly comforts, you should maintain humility.
When a man claims 'I have four sons, this son is a Chartered Accountant, etc.,' it is all abhimaan. 'I am fair skinned, I am slim..., all that is abhimaan too. 'I am fairer than other people; they have a dark complexion', all that is abhimaan. Do people not have pride (mada) because of their looks?
Questioner: Yes they do.
Dadashri: If someone has a beautiful wife, he has mada (pride) of, "There is no one like my wife.' Does that happen or
Questioner: This abhimaan is clearly visible when they take a group picture.
Dadashri: Yes. The photographer can also see that a person is affected with the abhimaan. But photographers will take my pictures the moment they see me because they do not see any abhimaan (ego) in me. A person with the abhimaan will stiffen up this way or that way, whereas I remain natural.
Questioner: Is abhimaan not like the ego (ahamkar)?
Dadashri: No, ego is better. It can be removed. However, abhimaan causes tremendous misery. What is the job of nature? Nature's job is to reduce abhimaan. As soon as abhimaan increases in a person, he will be brought down with a beating. There is no problem with ego (ahamkar).
What is the difference between abhimaan and ego? 'I am Chandulal', is ego (ahamkar). To claim to be where one is not is ego and to show off, this is my bungalow, this is my car etc.' is abhimaan. If that is the case, then why don't you show people your grey hair? 'Look I have grey hair' but nowadays people dye their hair black instead. Ego has arisen out of ignorance and abhimaan has arisen with understanding. When a person takes garva (pride here), 'Look at this look at my estate,' we should recognize that abhimaan is rising.
If someone here were to sing a song and it pleases everyone and so he sings two or three more songs; that is abhimaan.
Do you understand now what abhimaan is? It is to believe the weight of the non-Self (pudgal) to be your own' weight. You have gold, jewelry, expensive watches, house, car etc, these are all non-Self weights and to believe those weights to be your own weight is abhimaan. A person may believe the weight of his bungalow to be his weight. People consider it an ego when someone brags about his home, they will call him ahamkari, but it is not ego; it is abhimaan. The material
not?
Questioner: Yes it does.
Dadashri: Now, this beauty is not going to remain the same. It does not take long for this beauty to become ugly. What will happen to that beauty when the face becomes covered with small pox blisters? Would the beauty remain with the scars of pockmarks even if the face used to be very beautiful? Is any of this under our control? Therefore, one should not have an ego about beauty. "There is no one better looking than me,' is abhimaan-pride with 'my-ness'. So when someone says, 'I am fair' it is not considered ego. It is abhimaan. People have no understanding at all of what ego is. A person with abhimaan is easily recognized.
