Autobiograpy of Gyani Purush A M Patel

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

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Autobiography of Gnani Purursh
Autobiography of Gnani Purursh
them and liked living amongst them, but I disliked the interaction with them. I was young and only twenty-two years old then. Let me give you an example. Whenever I went to Bombay I would bring back some halva (Indian sweet) with me. My sister in law Diwalibhabhi would send some to the neighbors. She had done this a few times. Once I forgot to buy the sweets. Now whichever neighbor she met would pester her, "Did he not bring any sweet this time?' So I started to question how this problem came about in the first place: 'We never used to have this problem before! Before nobody used to insult me if I did not bring back anything. So it was a mistake to bring anything in the first place. I brought it twice and when I forgot the third time, I had problems. So it is not worth having worldly interactions with these people'.
Do you know how kshatriyas deal with people? They will lay down their lives for others but they will also expect the same from them in return. They will not hesitate to give their own life or take someone else's. They are big speculators in business and their dealings are extravagant in all aspects of life. I could not afford this 'l-will-give-you-my-head-but-I-will-also-takeoff-yours' mentality. I did not want anyone's head and what if he was to come for mine? I wanted no part of any such transactions and that is why I decided that it was best to live with the vaniks.
Someone asked me if I knew why Ravan lost his empire. I asked him, "Why did he lose his empire? Why don't you tell me?' He proceeded, "Ravan would not have lost his empire if he had a vanik as his advisor.' I asked him in what way and he said that when Narad told Ravan about Sita and her exquisite beauty and charm, Ravan became very tempted and made up his mind that one way or another he was going to have her.
Now if Ravan had a vanik as his advisor, he would have said,
Sir, be patient a little longer because I have seen another, even more beautiful woman. This way he would have been successful in diverting Ravan from that critical moment which led to his demise. If a person is diverted at the most critical of moments, he will live to be one hundred. This is what the man told me. I told him there was a lot of wisdom in what he said and that we definitely need to be guided during such critical moments. That is why I chose to live between two vaniks for forty years.
I had instructed my family that if anyone were to come to our home asking for something, they should give it and if they returned whatever they took, that was fine but the family members were never to ask them to return it. Even if they had to give a hundred times over, they should still not ask for it to be returned. If that person returned what he had borrowed, they should accept it. The worldly interactions of the vaniks are beautiful, they will never complain whether you send them a large piece of halva one time and a half the next time. And even if you do not send anything, they will never complain. I could afford to interact with such people. How can you interact with anyone who complains and grumbles?
A man once asked me to hire a vanik accountant because he knew of my partiality towards them. I told the man he was welcome to work for me. I had many workers in my factory and he was a vanik on top of that! I always used to keep vaniks by my side.
All This I did For Feeding False Pride When I lived on Mamani Poda in Baroda, every day there would be two or three cars parked in front of my house