with her son and scolds him to study. She
unnecessarily quarrels with him. Then her
husband interferes saying “Why are you
having this unfruitful discussion with him?
Let him get bad results, but you have to
stop quarrelling with him!” “You don’t
bother!” She shouts back at her husband,
“You are not at home all day, so I have to
handle him. If I don’t keep an eye on him,
how will I know whether or not he is
studying?”
Here, when she gets angry with her son,
he suffers and she is fully aware of this
and she knows that what she does is
wrong. But the moment anyone points
out her mistake, she immediately
protects it.
Questioner: Does that mean that only
when someone is present she takes
‘upraanu’ or can she do that in her mind?
Pujyashri: That may be so, but as a
precaution she prepares herself mentally
that if he says something to me, then, I
will say this, and actually when the
situation arises, she justifies her mistake
by saying exactly what she had planned,
and therefore, taking ‘upraanu’. So then
what?
Dada says it is wrong to smoke a
cigarette. A person is penitent about his
smoking, because he knows that it is
wrong, but when someone tells him, “I
saw you smoking a cigarette.” He then
protects his habit by justifying it by
saying, “I don’t drink tea, and I don’t
chew tobacco. I don’t have any
addictions. I smoke only once after lunch
and once after dinner, no more.” Thus, he
knows his mistake, yet he protects it.
Questioner: Then what should he say?
What kind of readiness must he have?
Pujyashree: If someone points out my
mistake, I should be prepared to accept
it by saying, “It is true. This is my
weakness. I repent for this mistake.” I
should admit that I am doing wrong and
must repent from within for this
mistake. Moreover, I should be
thankful to the other person for
pointing this out to me because it is my
mistake.
Where on the contrary, we push
the person away and we stop him from
speaking further saying, “Don’t say
another word to me! You should focus
on your own mistakes!”
So, when someone points to our
mistake, our intellect protects it and
thereby that mistake remains on hand
with an extension of 20 years!
So, when
someone points
out our mistake,
our intellect
protects it and
thereby that
mistake remains
on an extension
of 20 years!
Akram Youth | 19