310 Aptavani-9
tranquility’, it is confined to only this. He keeps only this much pride so that no one can irritate him. Abhimaan is when a person will say,‘ The property of my bungalow starts from here and it goes all the way up that line. And you haven’ t even seen what is behind it.’ Then he shows off all the jewelry he bought for his daughter. He does that to feed his abhimaan. He will show you all the real estate he owns,‘ these 200 acres belong to me’. He will keep looking in the mirror to see how goodlooking he is. When people talk about their grandfather and family lineage and how great it is, that is abhimaan; that is not swamaan.
A person with swamaan is involved in a worldly exchange of give and take. Swamaan is to respect others and be respected in return. Therefore, to respect people is a worldly interaction of the worldly life. You have to make do with things to the point where you do not violate anyone’ s swamaan. For us all, having attained this path of liberation, we are not concerned with swamaan. But we do have to accept swamaan as a necessary thing for worldly interactions, otherwise, one is considered shameless. In the non-realized state( agnan) one should have swamaan. Should one at least not maintain this boundary? How can you cross that boundary? Swamaan is the protection one employs to insulate oneself from insult.
Swamaan is a great thing. It is the limit of a positive attribute of a non-Self-realized state. I have praised swamaan a lot in a sense that it is the limit of positive attribute of a nonself-realized state. Are there not positive attributes of a non-selfrealized state? This is the limit of it.
Questioner: Is swamaan a pardonable or not?
Dadashri: If one has taken Gnan, then swamaan is pardonable. Even otherwise one should maintain swamaan. Even in the absence of Self-realization, one should have swamaan. If a person does not have swamaan, he will become