Related Questions

Should we have prejudice?

Stop looking at faults as of this moment.

Questioner: Now if we do stop looking at faults, would we not be considered foolish in the eyes of the world?

Dadashri: So by looking at other people's faults you accomplish something?

Questioner: Not by looking at their faults, but by discriminating amongst the nature of faults. Like saying, this man is like this and that man is like that.

Dadashri: No. That is a very dangerous thing to do. That is prejudice. You should not be prejudiced towards anyone. If someone stole your coat, you cannot have a prejudice for him by having an opinion that he will steal again. All you can do is leave your coat in a safe place. If you left your coat lying around yesterday, then you should be cautious and put it away today. More importantly, you must not harbor any prejudice. That is precisely why there is all this suffering in the world. Why else would there be any misery in the world? God is not making you unhappy. All the misery you experience is your own creation. What can God do in this? So do not harbor any prejudice towards anyone. Do not look at anyone's faults. Things will become clearer and less confusing if you understand just this much.

If you do not do pratikraman, your opinion will remain. This opinion binds you. Whatever fault you commit will have an opinion behind it, and it is from these opinions that the mind arises. I hold absolutely no opinion about anyone. After seeing a person just once, I do not change my opinion about him.

If I happen to see a person stealing, even then, I would not call him a thief, because it is the circumstances that drive him to do so. People in general incriminate the one who is caught. The world does not care about whether he is a victim of circumstances or that he has always acted as a thief. I would only call someone a thief if he stole all the time. I have not changed my opinion about anyone to this very day. The relative self is dependent on circumstances. And the Real Self is one with all. I do not hold any difference with anyone in this world.

Questioner: You would not Dada, because you do not think of anyone as faulty. From the Real perspective you do not see anyone as having faults.

Dadashri: I do not see any fault in anyone, because in reality no one is at fault. One only sees fault in others when one's own vision is faulty. If your own vision became faultless, you would not see fault in anyone.

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