82
Aptavani-4
You have the thought, ‘he should not be giving it to him,’ but the
Gnan springs up to remind you that you are creating obstacles.
So you must quickly erase it. If one did not have Gnan, what
would one do? If you ask him, ‘Why were you thinking that
way?’ and he will say, “What do you know? I have to think that
way,” moreover, he doubles the damage. What can a crazy ego
not do? He is shooting himself in the foot. We however, can
erase all this. When you repent (do prashchyataap) in your
mind, ask for forgiveness (pratikraman), and vow never to
speak that way again (pratyakhyan), you can erase it. You can
make changes to a letter before you mail it. And if you start
thinking that it is good to give donations, then the previous
(negative thought) one gets erased.
Questioner: What if we encourage and support good
deeds?
Dadashri: Then it benefits the giver as well as you. If you
do not give encouragement then you will not find anyone to
encourage you. However, as far as the Gnanis are concerned,
all this is worth discarding. It is all for augmenting worldly life
(sansar). Nevertheless, for those who do not have Self-
realization (Atmagnan), it is a tool for a wonderful worldly life.
I will explain to you how obstacles are created in this
worldly life. At work if you call your assistant ‘stupid,’ then you
would create an obstacle towards your own intelligence! Now,
the entire world is entrapped in such obstacles and one’s own
existence in it is being wasted away. You do not have the ‘right’
to call anyone stupid. When you utter such things, the other
person will tell you the same thing as well, and so he would be
binding an obstacle for himself too! Now tell me, how can the
world stop creating such obstacles? By calling others ‘worthless’,
you create an obstacle towards your own worth. If you do
pratikraman immediately for it, then it is erased before the
obstacle is created.