________________
Aptavani-9
311
312
Aptavani-9
shameless and brazen. Once that happens, he crosses the boundary.
Questioner: But is there a part of the ego in swamaan?
Dadashri: Let it be; there is ego there for sure but at least he will not become shameless. Because of the swamaan, he will remain within the boundary: he will never cross that line. Therefore swamaan is needed even in worldly interaction in the absence of Self-realization.
Questioner: Now everyone has swamaan. So should we not keep ours too?
Dadashri: Why should You keep your swamaan now that you have attained this Gnan? Now there is no swamaan.
Questioner: But under certain circumstances if something happens, should we not maintain our swamaan?
Dadashri: But now we all have nothing to do with swamaan. Pride and limits of pride are all gone. It is like this, if the 'swa' (the self has not changed, then one must maintain swamaan. Chandulal has to maintain his boundaries swamaan, not You. Now, for you the 'swa' has changed. The self is no longer Chandulal. You are the Self. Do you understand this?
Questioner: But should one not keep a dramatic' swamaan?
Dadashri: That will be there. Whatever there is, it is good. But there is no need to keep swamaan. Why would you want to start such new business?
Swamaan means 'I am Chandulal' and to maintain the boundary of that pride and respect. But that is as long as you are 'Chandulal', and now that you are a Shuddhatma, where is the need for such a discussion? After this Gnan, one has become the Self. Then where is the place for swamaan? Swamaan is the pride of 'I am Chandulal; I am the body. But now that
'You' are the 'Self", there does not remain any swamaan. Whatever swamaan there is, it is a discharge. And we are not concerned with that which is a discharge.
Abhimaan and false abhimaan Questioner: What is the difference between abhimaan and mithyabhimaan (false abhimaan)?
Dadashri: Abhimaan is when one shows off his possessions where as mithya-abhimaan is when one does not have anything: not even food to eat but he still goes around telling people, 'We have so many comforts, have you not seen such people? Mithya-abhimaan means to show false pride and boast without having anything to show for it; it means to brag unnecessarily. Whereas people know that, as an abhimaani he has wealth and he is being ostentatious. He has something to show for his abhimaan, although he should not be abhimaani. He should not boast about his wealth.' Abhimaani means people will always give him more respect because he is wealthy. But when he brags about his wealth, they are put off and think 'why did you have to say that? We may give you a lot of importance but all you have to do is to listen! That is false abhimaan (mithya-abhimaan)
Questioner: Can you please give an example of false abhimaan?
Dadashri: What is false abhimaan? It is when a person has nothing and yet he brags, 'I have lot of wealth'; that is false abhimaan.
One Patel from our village was sitting with a nice man from another village on a train. The man asked, 'Uncle, where are you going?' Our Patel said, 'I am going to Bhadran.' When the man asked, 'How long are you going for?' he responded, 'I am going only for ten to twelve days but it will take two days just to have our home cleaned.' The man said, 'It takes only two