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Now Munishree saw why he had lost reverence for his own Self. He stopped to question himself.
What shall I do to lift him up? My effort has put him down. If being the winner has put him down, I might have ignited the fire of jealousy in other hearts as well. What to do with that glory which carves pain in somebody else's life?
So he took the box and went straight to his teacher to give it back.
"Guruji, please take it back. It does not give me any knowledge. It only gives me ignorance to put others down. It is closing my eyes and making me blind in ego.”
He made up his mind then and there not to enter any competition in the future, for he saw how it made the ego swell and create inferiority complex in others.
The next day his friend came over to him, “Why have you given the box back to our teacher?”
“Any victory which makes you down has no meaning. My need to win did not help me to see this until now.”
That day his teacher came over to him and gave him a big hug. He told him, “That was my ignorance to put you in this competition. Even the teacher can make a mistake and create a competition among the students. What we have to see is that our gift of knowledge not be a cause to tears but a means to wipe away tears."
Again Munishree was in admiration before his teacher, for he saw that he knew how to admit when he had made a mistake. From that moment, Munishree observed that one of the best results of his silence was knowing how to use language not to hide but to reveal the truth. From the time he ceased to work at camouflaging his anger, ego, and greed, these three began to drop from his consciousness. He made a number of observations.
Anger, ego, and greed were helping me protect my lie, my camouflage. I was afraid to see my lurking greed and subtle ego. For a long time, even silence helped me cover up what was there. Now that I don't care about protecting my mask, I can drop it. I can feel the bricks and plaster of my inner structure fall apart and leave me in a beautiful roomy space. After that, he started to feel a new power and strength.
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