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apology and resolving never to repeat it) for your suffering, it will not feel like suffering anymore. People have haphazardly labeled everything as suffering without thinking or analyzing it. For example, you have a set of old sofas and your friend who never had any just bought a new set. When your wife sees them, she comes home and tells you how nice your friend's sofas look and complains that the ones you have at home have become old. Now the suffering has arrived in the home. There was no problem until she saw your friend's sofa but the moment she set eyes on them she brought the suffering with her.
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If your friend builds a bungalow and you do not have a bungalow and your wife sees it, she will come home telling you how beautiful your friend's new bungalow is and that you never build any thing. That is suffering. These are all self-created sufferings.
If I were a judge, I would first make everyone happy before I sentence the prisoner. If I had to sentence someone for his crime, I would tell him that it would not be possible for me to sentence him for less than five years. Then if his attorney pleaded for a lesser sentence, I would gradually negotiate the sentence down from four years to three years to two years and finally down to only six months. This way he would go to prison feeling happy that he got away with having to serve only six months. Therefore suffering is a matter of beliefs. If I were to say six months from the start, he would find it too long.
Maintain Equanimity When Settling Karmic Accounts
You have all the happiness of a king but what can be done if you do not know how to enjoy it? It's like putting
life without Conflict
sand in Basmati rice you paid a lot of money for. If suffering besieges you, you should say to it, 'Why have you come here? I am Dada's mahatma. You are not to come here, go somewhere else. You have lost your way.' Suffering will go away when you say this. If suffering comes your way, do you have to let it in? You have to tell it to leave. You will not violate your practice of ahimsa by doing so! If you insult suffering and unhappiness, it will go away, but you are too kind to them. You do not have to take your practice of nonviolence that far!
Questioner: Will suffering not leave through
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persuasion?
Dadashri: No. You cannot pacify it or persuade it. You have to be stern with it. If you try to pacify it, it will oppose you even more and continue to visit you.
'Varas aho Mahavirana, shurvirata relavajo,
Kayar bano na koi di, kashto sada kamp a vaj o
'You are the glorious heirs of Lord Mahavir, let courage flow from you all,
Never allow even a trace of cowardice, and let difficulties tremble in your presence.'
Any suffering or difficulty that crosses your path will tremble at the sight of you and will wonder how it managed to get trapped in your home. These difficulties do not own you. You are their master.
How can you be Dada's mahatma if difficulties do not tremble in your presence? You can tell the difficulties, 'Why
