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I am the Soul
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is active in such cases? Is it compassion, love, pity for the sorrowing or the need to feed the ego? If I were to ask you, you'd say, "No, just pity alone!"
But that is not true. Let us consider another viewpoint. If you happen to go over suddenly to the people whom you have been helping in whatever way, and if they don't pay you respect, don't even acknowledge your presence, then what do you feel? How your ego is hurt? “I did so much for these people; is there any regard for it? Such people do not deserve any help.' Now where is the pity? Where is the feeling for the sorrowing and the downtrodden?
Brothers! On the worldly path too, pride over paramartha is to be shunned, it is not respectable. Then it is bound to be worthy of shunning on the spiritual path too. But the matarthi jiva needs the worldly respect, the false prestige and hence he will never find paramartha interesting. He never wants to absorb the advice of the Sadguru!
Let us consider our customs and traditions for a while. How we have made the vratas, pratyakhyana, penance seem so material! What are we to achieve, if the dharma that is meant for beyond this world is valued in worldly terms? We achieve nothing on the contrary it is a loss.
Brothers! You do get social status because of expertise in worldly affairs, when you spend money, then why use the means of vratas and vows to achieve it? Man does the penance-sacrifice, devotion, pujas at the temple and so on just so that he may receive applause in the society, that he may be respected, that he may be cheered, respected in the councils or that he may get labelled as a religious person. All this prestige increases his social value and his worldly affairs go on smoothly. Hasn't he used dharma as a means and dragged it into worldly affairs after all? This vrtti prohibits you from achieving paramartha. It does not let atmartha awaken.
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