A true saint is always careful that they are never highlighted.
The more one hides his own virtues and capabilities and develops them from within, the more potential he will have.
Are we hiding our own personality and developing it from within?
Brahmanand Swami, Gunatitanand Swami, Gopalanand Swami, and all Nand Santo concealed their virtues and capabilities and developed them from within. And we are benefiting from those virtues and capabilities even today.
Premanand Swami wrote more than twenty thousand poems on Maharaj; Brahmanand Swami too wrote more than twenty thousand poems on Maharaj. Not even in one poem did they write about themselves.
Nand Santo always hid their virtues and capabilities. They never wrote their own biographies though they were worthy of it.
Tribhuvan Bhai’s letters in Sadvidya magazine are very good and insightful. Yet when mentioning the name of the author, he addresses himself as “Tri”—not even his complete name.
The one who is developing his own virtues and capabilities for the sake of Bhagwan is a saint.
What is the situation today? A saint always wanted to showcase his power and capabilities.
Nowadays, the definition of a saint is, the more someone speaks ill of ego, possessiveness, and other bad qualities, the greater saint he is. If he doesn’t speak ill of ego, then he is not a saint at all.
Does ego reduce by speaking badly about it?
No, ego reduces when it is treated badly.
How can ego be treated badly?
When we do something without a selfish motive, then we are treating our ego badly. When we don’t have any selfish motive, and when the purpose of doing something is only to help others, then our ego is punished. The more we take such responsibilities, the more our ego is punished.
If we take up something for Bhagwan and bring it to completion, then our ego is punished as well.
Nand Santo submitted everything they had to Maharaj, yet they hid their own capabilities. Not even a single Nand Santo spoke about themselves; they never boasted about themselves.
Sadguru Nishkulanand Swami, in Bhaktachintamani scripture, wrote about how different saints and devotees met Maharaj the first time. In the same scripture, in prakran 134, he wrote about his meet with Maharaj and their time together. There is a huge difference between the way he wrote others meeting with Maharaj and his meeting with Maharaj.
In describing the meeting of Maharaj and Nishkulanand Swami, Swami was very shy to talk about himself. He didn’t even mention his own name but mentioned that there was a sevak with Maharaj. He wrote down a few lines and quickly winded it up.
Swami didn’t want to highlight himself but wanted to highlight Maharaj’s greatness. His intention was, “I shouldn’t be seen but only Maharaj should be seen. My greatness should not be visible but only Maharaj’s greatness and grandness should be visible.”
What would we do if we were in his shoes?
We would divide our meeting with Maharaj into multiple parts and describe each part in detail. We describe our meeting with Maharaj in such a way that we are more highlighted than Maharaj.
When we celebrate Shastriji Maharaj’s anniversary, and if a saint who lived with Shastriji Maharaj is asked to speak about Shastriji Maharaj, what would he speak?
Let us say he spoke in this way: “During those times I was there with Shastriji Maharaj. One day, Shastriji Maharaj got pleased with a seva done by me and gave me a handful of prasad.”
In the above sentence, who is highlighted? Shastriji Maharaj? or the saint?
If we notice, the saint got highlighted by mentioning that Shastriji Maharaj got pleased with his seva.
Let us take another example.
Say, one day, Bhagwan gave darshan to a devotee.
A saint tells everyone, “Bhagwan gave darshan to him by my blessings.”
Bhagwan gave darshan to whom? To the devotee.
But who is highlighted? The devotee or Bhagwan or the saint?
The saint highlighted himself by saying that he blessed the devotee, and so Bhagwan gave him darshan.
In the talks of a fake saint, who is highlighted? The fake saint is the one who will always be highlighted.
It is good to speak about the greatness and grandness of Maharaj. But, along with that, adding our own greatness (adding it cleverly in layers) is unsaintliness.
The quality of a true saint is that they don’t like to be highlighted; they are allergic to show-offs.
References:
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 15 (Pad 13, 14).