Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 54

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attain it. Maharshi Aurobindo Ghosh performed tapasya and yoga for forty years in quest of paramatatva or the nature of Paramātmā; yet he said that his search was incomplete. Even after knowing all this, if any one feels proud of his intellectual attainments he is a fool.
There is a proverb in Hindi which means, "Pride goes before a fall." An arrogant man will ultimately fall.
Wisdom is the true eye and by means of our wisdom we can realize the difference between our feelings and those of others but pride blinds that eye:
लुप्यते मानतः पुंसाम्
विवेकामललोचनम् Lupyate mānataḥ pumsan
Vivekāmalalochanan. Pride blinds the pure eye of wisdom.
If a man is proud of some eternal principles then such a pride is desirable. If a man is proud of his family, friends, wealth, youth etc. such a pride is undesirable because they are transitory possessions. Shankarāchārya says:
मा कुरू धन जन यौवन गवंम् । हरति निमेषात्कालः सर्वम् ॥ मायामय मिदमखिलं हित्वा । ब्रह्मपदं त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा ।। Mā kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam Harati nimesātkälah sarvan Māyāmayamidamakhilam hitvā
Brahmapadam vam pravisha viditvā. “Do not feel proud of your wealth, youth and people. Time takes away all these things in a moment. Renouncing this samsāra which is steeped in illusion, try to realize the meaning of salvation and to enter that state."
War is born out of the pride that is concealed in the heart. If you realize how Hitler who master-minded the Second World War died you too will pity him. His end