Let us say, there is a desperately hungry person who has not eaten good food for so many days. One day he got access to rich food. What does he do now? He will quickly grab the food, fill his mouth with all that food, swallow it, and fill his stomach to satisfy hunger.
On the other side, if a person is eating high-quality food every day, what does he do? If there are people around him, he doesn’t eat but shows off to everyone. “Every day I eat such great quality food.”
A hungry person doesn’t show off. He quickly eats. After eating he doesn’t tell anyone that he ate great food.
If a desperately hungry person gets access to tasty kaju-badam (cashew-almonds), he will anxiously eat them, wash his hand, and come out as if he has not eaten anything. The hungry person will eat and never say that he ate something great.
If a person not hungry gets access to tasty kaju-badam, then he holds few kaju-badam in his hand, throws them into the air and catches them.
When someone watching him asks, “Do you eat kaju-badam?”
“Yes, I do. A few every day.”
That is a show-off.
When there is show-off, there is no desire to protect them.
A miserly person will never show off his money or riches. Why? Because he has a lot of hunger for money and riches. How much ever money he gets in, he pushes them in his locker and hides it.
On the other hand, the one who has not earned so much money will do a lot of show-offs. “I spend so much and yet there is a lot left out. There is no measure on how much is left out.”
The one who wants to show off can’t acquire. The one who wants to acquire can never show off.
When a saint says, “I have these great saintly qualities,” it means he doesn’t desire to protect his saintliness and wants to show off.
If we think, “My saintliness is praiseworthy and is eligible to be showed off,” then we are not hungry for saintliness. Either saintliness is not in us, or we don’t have the capability to acquire and maintain saintliness.
If we have any hunger for saintliness, then we will never desire to show off.
A hungry aspiring soul swallows all the agna of Maharaj and true saints, digests them to hold them inside, and does the necessary work to reach Maharaj. Only such a hungry soul can reach Akshardham.
References:
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 30 (Pad 51-54).