________________
Aptavani-9
395
396
Aptavani-9
this wedding. 'I tell them, 'No it does not look bad. People know me and they understand that I am a man of God and that I am not in tune with worldly things.' But they would insist and say. 'No but it makes us look bad.' So then I made one of them understand, I told him, "Normally I would not say anything but since you ask I will tell you the truth. If I were to sit in the middle there, and if the jeweler Laxmichand were to come along. I would have to move. Then I would have to move again when Maganbhai Shankarbhai comes. So I have to keep changing my seat, so instead of suffering insults this way, what is wrong in simply standing here with dignity? I will not enter into competition in such a racecourse. I am better off standing here than sitting in the middle and taking the number nine seat and feeling insulted.' I did not say this directly to him, but I came to the conclusion that only the horse that comes in first, wins the prize and not others. I do not like such races. The one that comes first gets the prize and others that run just as hard and come in second and get nothing. So, he said, "That is very shrewd of you. I told him, 'Call it what you want but that is my way.' He said, 'You have found a very shrewd way of getting out of it.'
This is our' art of tackling all situations. We do everything: we eat, drink, and eat ice cream with leisure. I sit back and see which horse comes first. But I will not run in that race. I will remain the knower and the seer (gnata drashta) of the race. Why would I want to run with those horses?
Still, I did try it once. I have calluses on my feet from when a nail had poked through the sole of my shoes. (Dada is referring to his self-imposed penance that he subjected himself to before Gnan. Following the philosophy of the Kramic path, in search of the Soul, he thought physical penance was necessary. When a nail in his shoe had poked through the inner sole, he left it there, he endured it, entering the race course of penance as seekers do in the Kramic path).
There is no winner when there is jealousy
Wherever you look there is a racecourse. All these people have entered the racecourse. At home, there is a racecourse even with the wife! If two bullocks are walking side by side and one tries to get ahead of the other just a little, the other will also exerts more.
Questioner: Why is that?
Dadashri: It is because they have entered the racecourse (into competition). If the two are walking side by side and one of them gets ahead a little, the one left behind will feel jealous firsha) and wonders how he can make him fall behind.
There is no winner in this race of jealousy firsha). I do not enter into such a race. It is a race where one will die huffing and puffing without getting anywhere. Even the one who is full of intellect will get exhausted and in his latter years of life will accuse others, 'He cheated me and the other fellow cheated me' and on and on. Hey you! You got cheated even at the age of eighty?! You will run in the racecourse for countless lives and you will still be cheated at the end. This is how the world is. Everything will go to waste and on top of that, you will also suffer miserably in the process. Instead discover your rightful place, your home of bliss, the Self and then run to it.
No one has been able to win the world and that is why this discovery of ours' is very profound, it is one which allows the world to win. Just say, 'I sit here having lost but if you want to win, then come here. This discovery will amaze the world and 'we' have won the world through it. Otherwise, no one has won it. Each of our' discoveries is such that they help the world to win. This is Akram Vignan! The whole science is Akram. This is not the case in the Kramic path. You can never say that you have no competence and aptitude (barkat) in the Kramic path.
