Disadvantages, defects of pride and means to eradicate them are discussed in this chapter.
Disadvantages, defects of pride and means to eradicate them are discussed in this chapter.
Nirmani Vartman of Tyagi Sadhu.
Sri Narayan muni said:-
Pride is the root of the great defect anger that in no times destroys, burns all the good things gained by giving alms, by performing penance and good deeds. 1.
Anger leads to crossing the limits of good speech and bad speech. It forces one to cross the limit and kill others, overpowering one’s ability to discriminate between good and bad. It leads once to suicide as well. 2.
Anger destroys teachers, own people and pious, saintly people; it makes one inefficient, engage in misacts and develop arrogance. 3.
Pride leads to anger and anger acts as the co-worker of extreme ambition and emulousness. People with fewer virtues behave in a manner possessing great virtues. 4.
Pride makes a man boastful, cruel and a hypocrite. Men envy and hate others because of excessive pride. 5.
Pride leads to injustice, destroys piety and perpetrates wretched nature. Sadhus become –non-Sadhus and men behave adversely, overcome by pride. 6.
Honorable, intelligent, old and knowledgeable people have to hear and bear insulting words and Brahmins have had to hear abusive words from the boastful and the proud. 7.
Non worthy of respect, irreligious people become respectable due to pride and saintly, pious people are disrespected. 8.
Even the gods are dishonored and great men are treated partially because of pride and boastful behavior. 9.
Saintly people are ill-treated and the unfit are honored due to this great defect of boastful and proud behavior. 10.
So the renouncers who wish to attain emancipation and be lovable to Lord Vishnu should get rid of boastful and proud behavior. 11.
In the past, Harishchandra, Kushik and Yudhishthira attained the great position which was most wished for by other kings only by getting rid of or giving away their proud, boastful behavior. 12.
Now I’ll tell you about the ways get rid of boastful behavior; by getting rid (of this), you can win over this enemy within a short time. 13.
Thinking well of Ksetra and Ksetrajna form of Sankhya equality, a man well-known (Kshetrajna) can differentiate between good and bad. 14.
An insulting harsh sentence uttered by a renouncer or a householder must be borne calmly even if it is full of hatred. 15.
He must never envy anyone due to over-ambition. If anyone is great in age, knowledge or penance he must not envy anyone. 16.
If anyone offers second grade food or coarse food to him (renouncer) and reserves delicious, tasty, quality food for himself, the renouncer should not take it as an insult. If the donor displays such partiality, a renouncer must not be angered by it. 17.
Even if one’s teacher has less knowledge, the renouncer should offer him respect and consider him to be worthy of worship. He must not be disappointed in his mind. 18.
In this way, the renouncer should give up all his honor and self-respect and serve the teacher. It is then he will be known as a true devotee and a renouncer. 19.
In the past, those who were such Sadhus became famous because they gave up their honor and immodesty. 20.
This honor and extreme self-respect is considered as a great sin and it is not good for householders. Because of this boastfulness and extreme pride, Duryodhan, Ravan and Shishupala met their ends. 21.
Thinking well in mind, a renouncer must give up all such boastfulness, self-respect, egotism and self-conceit. Observing celibacy has a role to play in this. If a Brahmachari fails to stick to this vow, it will be inconsistent with acceptable behavior. 22.
Elsewhere, if a Brahmachari does not behave accordingly, he brings himself down due to egotism. 23.
If anyone beats him or scolds him, he (a renouncer) must never beat or scold in return. He must never utter, an obscene word or use unparliamentary language. 24.
The renouncer must never utter lies, and even the truth if it hurts others. They must not argue with others and must not be attached to others in speech, action and mind. 25.
A renouncer must never cut even a blade of grass because it is violent to do so. Even straw of hay should feel safe in a renouncer’s house. 26.
A renouncer must never pass insulting comments at the bodily faults of others — either a man or a woman. He must not charge others with dirty, obscene language. 27.
As in the past, the son of the sage Rshabhadev, Paramahamsa Jadabharat behaved with no ego. A renouncer must behave in the same way. 28.
A renouncer, like the earth, must always be forbearing of the Devas, gurus and holy scriptures. He must never criticize them. 29.
A renouncer must never, due to self-respect, give up his religion and the norms of the four castes. He also should ensure that he will not behave insultingly to any visitor to his house. 30.
He (renouncer) must get up at early dawn (during Brahma muhurta) and perform his daily routine and observe all the rituals. 31.
He- (renouncer) must not sleep during the day- at sunrise or at sunset, unless he is ill. 32.
He - (renouncer) must never avoid devotion, hearing good about the Lord and other narrations about the Lord. He must not waste his time in unnecessary dabbling and other such activities. 33.
He - (renouncer) - should perform as per his capacity, the festival of Lord Krishna and must study the holy sciences with deep respect. 34.
If at all he defects and breaches these rules he must atone for faulty behavior. 35.
If a renouncer beats himself with wooden rod or cane, he must observe a day’s fast. 36.
‘O sage, if a renouncer hits a man and he bleeds, he must observe fast for four days. 37.
If a man beaten by renouncer becomes disabled, he should observe the Paraka Vrata (continuous 12 day fast). If the renouncer uses abusive, obscene and curt words, he must observe a day’s fast. 38.
If a renouncer due to anger utters abusive and curt words, he must observe on day’s fast. 39.
The atonement for violence is particularly extensive in religion but I’ll only communicate it according to region (in which we live). 40.
If a renouncer kills purposely such insects as bed bugs, lice, housefly or grasshoppers and he otherwise kills some other insects purposely- 41.
He (the renouncer) must repeat the eight letter mantra (Astaksari) for one hundred and eight times (one mala). Thereby, he can wipe out the defect. 42.
If he (the renouncer) kills mice, a sparrow or a large black bee even unknowingly, he must observe a day’s fast. 43.
In this way, considering the scale of strength of such animals, he must observe fast to wipe out the sin of violence. 44.
If he (the renouncer) sleeps at the sunrise or at the sun set, he must observe a day’s fast. 45.
‘O sage, among these renouncers, if there is a Sadhu who has been conferred Mahadiksha, I will tell you what he has to do to atone himself. 46.
If at all, he observes a young beautiful woman unknowingly, he must observe a day’s fast. 47.
While enroute to other places or going out for attending natural calls, for taking bath or seeking alms, if he sees a woman’s face unknowingly, there is no harm. 49.
If he consumes food and water without offering Naivedya to the Lord, it is considered as a sin or defect, fault. 49.
If he is a child, or an elderly person or if he is engaged in construction of a temple, there is no sin or harm if he sleeps by the day and eats more than once a day. 50.
Thus, I have narrated all the atonements of boastful, egotist and proud behavior. Overcoming these will be fruitful for developing devotion to Lord Vishnu. 51.
All the five defects including greed and the means to wipe out the defect have been thus told accordingly as is accepted by all. 52.
Atonement for the breach of other rules which are not referred to here should be done as per the advice of the Vaisnavas of Uddhav cult. 53.
During atonement and observing fast, water should not be drunk frequently. It is applicable for the ‘Anatura’ renouncer and not for ‘Atura’ renouncer. 54.
If there comes an Ekadashi during the period of atonement, he should observe another day for fasting but never include the fast observed for Ekadashi in it. 55.
When there is usual festival day occurring during atonement, he must not include it as a part of the fast but should observe a separate fast. 56.
If he is observing a fast for atonement, he must observe fast according to tithi. 57.
If he observes a woman after taking meals, he must repeat Vishnu’s name and he should take a bath if he touches a woman. 58.
Even after atoning for one’s sins, if he is called a sinner (by others), he should observe a day’s fast. 59.
These are the rules governing a Vaisnava, which last till the body and last moment. He must observe them and strictly abide by them without displaying an iota of laziness. 60.
If he doesn’t abide by these five rules, he will surely go to hell after his death. 61.
He will definitely cry with unbearable torture in the hell given by the servants of Yama and he will get the next birth on this earth as a dog or a donkey or a monkey. 62.
By abiding and observing strictly these rules, a renouncer should behave according to the pious religious tenets and devote himself in singing Vasudev’s devotional songs. 63.
In the past, such (pious) people were known as Paramhamsa, knowledgeables, Mahabhagavatas, saints, Brahmavedins. 64.
The dead bodies of such people should be decorated with flowers and sandalwood paste and should be placed either in caves or be discharged in the sacred river or a forest. 65.
Dead bodies of such saints should be either discharged in the sacred river or cremated in fire as per rituals of region. Others should never cry with deep sadness (at their separation). 66.
Others should behave with full devotion to them and show deep respect to them as they would devotionally worship Lord Narayan. 67.
‘O sage, thus I have narrated the religion of the renouncers. Next, I shall tell you the characteristics, particulars of knowledge, dispassion and devotion which were told by Sri Ramanand muni, the incarnation of Uddhav. 68.
Thus ends the sixty-sixth chapter entitled ‘Narration of the defects of pride and prescriptions for overcoming it’ in the fourth Prakaran of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 66
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