312
Aptavani-9
‘You’ are the ‘Self’, there does not remain any swamaan.
Whatever swamaan there is, it is a discharge. And we are not
concerned with that which is a discharge.
Abhimaan and false abhimaan
Questioner: What is the difference between abhimaan
and mithyabhimaan (false abhimaan)?
Dadashri: Abhimaan is when one shows off his
possessions where as mithya-abhimaan is when one does not
have anything; not even food to eat but he still goes around
telling people, ‘We have so many comforts’; have you not seen
such people? Mithya-abhimaan means to show false pride and
boast without having anything to show for it; it means to brag
unnecessarily. Whereas people know that, ‘as an abhimaani he
has wealth and he is being ostentatious. He has something to
show for his abhimaan, although he should not be abhimaani.
He should not boast about his wealth.’ Abhimaani means
people will always give him more respect because he is wealthy.
But when he brags about his wealth, they are put off and think
‘why did you have to say that? We may give you a lot of
importance but all you have to do is to listen!’
That is false abhimaan (mithya-abhimaan)
Questioner: Can you please give an example of false
abhimaan?
Dadashri: What is false abhimaan? It is when a person
has nothing and yet he brags, ‘I have lot of wealth’; that is false
abhimaan.
One Patel from our village was sitting with a nice man
from another village on a train. The man asked, ‘Uncle, where
are you going?’ Our Patel said, ‘I am going to Bhadran.’ When
the man asked, ‘How long are you going for?’ he responded, ‘I
am going only for ten to twelve days but it will take two days
just to have our home cleaned.’ The man said, ‘It takes only two