Aptavani-9 269
hands are not for taking, they are for giving; you can ask me for anything you need.’ And this is how everyone stopped having any kind of fear about me.
Everyday there would be several cars parked in front of my home in Mamani Poda in Baroda. I used to pay fifteen rupees rent for that house in a well-respected area. How many people lived in bungalows some forty-four years ago? Mamani Poda was considered a very good location. People normally lived in homes paying seven rupees for rent and I was paying fifteen rupees for our home. I was looked upon as a very successful contractor. So those who lived in that area would drive their cars to my home whenever they had any difficulties. They would come to me having done something illegal and yet I would help them escape through a‘ back-door’( find an underhanded solution or a loop-hole for them) solution for them. I would show them the‘ back door’ and tell them to‘ leave’ from there. Now they were the ones who committed the crime and I would find a way for them to escape. So I took the responsibility( karmic) of their crime upon myself. Why is that? It was to feed my maan! Is it not a crime to find a‘ back-door’ for others? I would use my good judgment to show them the way out and help them escape. So they would treat me with respect, but I was the one left to face the consequences; I took on the liability of facing the consequences. Later I realized that it was sheer unawareness on my part that led me to take on the liability of such consequences and all because of maan. That was when I recognized the maan within. What worries it had caused me!! What anxieties I had for just wanting maan( respect)!
Questioner: How did you destroy that maan once you‘ caught’ it?
Dadashri: Maan cannot be destroyed; it can be covered( upsham) so that it does not hurt so much but it cannot be