Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

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The sound at (Om) is used to perform salutation or to express gratitude to God and it is the iron-hook by means of which the elephant of pride is controlled.
In order to keep away from pride man describes the material property he has acquired with great difficulty thus, "I have acquired all this by God's grace." The truth is Vitragadeva does not bestow kindness on any one nor does he look upon any one with kindness. In his eyes all living beings are equal. The Lord seated on Siddhashila knows all and sees all and is dispassionate, detached but devotees employ this kind of language to exercise control over their pride.
The man who thinks that he knows too much; that he is enlightened and that he is a great scholar never achieves any progress.
If the food that we eat is not digested, in spite of having the joy of tasting it, we would not get any strength from it. Digestion is essential to gain strength from food. Similarly, it is necessary to digest and assimilate knowledge.
Most people in this world exhibit their knowledge but where there is an exhibition of that kind, there can be no self-realization which is the essence of knowledge. Where there is an attempt made to show off knowledge there truth perishes. Those scholars that are vain pose questions that are prompted by pride. They might have heard those questions from somebody and the questions are not born out of their sincere desire to acquire knowledge. If a patient suffering from stomach-ache tells the doctor that he is suffering from headache how can his ailment be remedied? If you want a remedy you must describe your illness not the disease of your neighbour. If you seek remedy from your doctor for the disease of your neighbour, neither ir disease nor the disease of your neighbour can be cured. The implication is that if you want a clarification for your doubt, you must place your doubt before Gurudev.
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