One who is humble and truthful is actually a spiritually elevated person
Those who are genuinely humble may appear weak to the external world, but actually, they are very, very strong from within. Spiritually, they are highly elevated beings! And similar is the case with truthful people too. One who follows the path of truth rises higher and higher, whereas being fake is a characteristic of an inferior human being.
Now, we want to progress ahead from where we stand, isn’t it? We want to be a spiritually enlightened and a spiritually elevated being, right?
If yes, it is always good to be true! So, remain humble and kind, truthful and honest all your life. And what to do if someone tries to cheat or exploit you?
Let’s learn from Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an enlightened being, what is His say on this...
To cheat others through intellect brings a downfall
“How do you think the merchants here treat the adivasis in their business? Do they not use their intellect to deceive these simple people?” asks Param Pujya Dadashri, and then moves onto explain its consequences, “They use their developed intellect to deceive these folks with lesser intelligence. These simple people receive what comes to them according to their karma. But the merchant will certainly become a four legged animal in his next life (for exploiting the weak adivasis). So people are cheating themselves, aren’t they? One cannot cheat anyone else.”
From the above explanation, we come to know about two important things:
1. One is exploited because of one’s own past karma. So, in the above example given by Param Pujya Dadashri, the adivasis are exploited by the merchants due to the bad karma (bad deeds) that happened by them in their past life. The merchants are merely instrumental (like a postman) in delivering the result of their bad karma.
2. One who exploits others binds such bad karma that in the next life, he will have to take birth as an animal. In the above example, the merchants, who are millionaires today and are enjoying a lavish life right now, will become an animal and live a life full of drudgery in their next birth, as they are cheating and deceiving the weak adivasis.
So when one cheats others, he is actually cheating his own self and dragging misery into his own life.
To get cheated knowingly makes you progress!
Param Pujya Dadashri reveals an entirely novel principle that we may have never heard of in life:
“We will move ahead in life when we allow others to cheat us knowingly. This is a very high principle. You’ll progress by practicing this.... If you will allow others to cheat you (deceive you, take advantage of you), then you will become pure, otherwise how will you?”
He further explains by illustrating how Lords, the fully enlightened beings, deal with such situations:
As it is, the world is being fooled unknowingly anyway. However, Lords get cheated deliberately.
“Lords, from a very young age, would allow people to deceive them from every direction, and yet they would not let the other person know that they know that they have been deceived, otherwise he would see it in their eyes. They were smart; they would not let you read their eyes.
They had knowledge of, ‘these poor people deal at the material level; so let them take away the material; I have to give away the material anyway. Let the one with the greed satisfy his greed; let the one seeking recognition get respect. Lords would give respect to such people, but they would not lose their own path. They would not lose sight of the main path they had attained. They were very wise, they would not lose track of their path under any condition whatsoever. This is also true for anyone in this day and age, who follows the path of the Lord.”
One cheats you as per law of Nature
Param Pujya Dadashri describes how, whenever someone cheated him, he knew that it was totally lawful (Nature’s law of what you sow is what you reap) and was for his own good (for liberation):
● I have not met anyone who can cheat me continuously for the whole life. There is a limit to cheating. There is a boundary. Therefore, we should affirm the decision to get cheated deliberately.
● I also know that he is cheating lawfully. It is lawful (the karmic law of Nature). I know about this, and therefore it does not matter. If it is not in your account of karma then you will not get cheated. So, we don’t have to be afraid. That is why we say that if there is a cheater, let him cheat you. Only that, which has been decided (as per the law of Nature) will happen, nothing that is undecided will happen. No one can take advantage of you. Everything has been decided (destined) beforehand. You will not be taken advantage of. So keep doing your work without fear
● You are a good person and if you do not allow yourself to be conned, then who will? Unworthy people can never be conned. They will con everyone. The noble person is the one who knowingly allows his own self to be cheated.
To have trust in humankind is a very high quality
When a saint says, ‘I have full faith in human beings’ someone asks him, ‘What if someone deceives you some day?’ He replies, ‘One man may swindle me, and another may do the same, but some day I am bound to meet a man through whom my work will get done.’ What does the saint mean when he says this? He is saying that by subjecting himself to being deceived, one day his work will get accomplished. Those who avoid being deceived will wander around life after life and never achieve anything because they never trust anyone. When will person attain anything if he remains suspicious
Param Pujya Dadashri cautions, “If ten people betray your trust, should you forsake all, for the sake of ten people? You cannot. What do our people do? If a few of his friends deceive him, he goes around telling everyone, ‘people are deceitful, all are cheats these days.’ Hey, you should not do that! People may appear wicked and crooked, but they are really Paramatma (God). Their present circumstances may cause them to be like that, but look what becomes of them once they go through one hour of Gnan-vidhi”
Gnan-vidhi means ‘Self-Realization’ Ceremony, wherein with the grace of the Enlightened being, anyone is able to realize one’s real Self that, ‘I am a Pure Soul (God).’ You too can!
When you attain Self-Realization, you realize that we all, be it the one seen to be cheating others or it is the one being cheated, be it the one exploiting or it’s the one exploited, we all are really a Pure Soul i.e. God. When we have this real vision, we are able to see that no one in this world is at fault. Everything that is happening in this world, happens in accordance with Nature's law, which ensures that we all constantly progress towards liberation.
“Except love, we do not have anything”, says Param Pujya Dadashri.
After Self-Realization, we too shall gradually attain that state, where we have love for every living being, even for the one who cheats us or others!
Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifest within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization.