Knowing How to Conduct Ourselves at the Time of Success Determines Our Spiritual Wellness
Spiritual wellness signifies a state of being in good spiritual health that is maintained as an actively pursued goal. And the barometer of this wellness is equanimity! Equanimity means no attachment and no abhorrence in any given situation. So, be it a situation of our success or failure, as long as we are able to remain equanimous, nothing can affect our spiritual wellness.

A Tree Laden With Sweet, Ripe Fruits Always Bends Low!
Success means the accomplishment of a goal or purpose in life; it could be a materialistic or a spiritual goal. As one attains success, ideally one ought to become more and more humble in his worldly interactions. But what is generally observed is otherwise. Those who are successful walk around with inflated egos.

Little success and one starts believing, ‘I am very wise, I know, I am special, I am something, I have skills, I am smart.’ These beliefs perpetuate such intoxication that ‘one cannot do without me’. One laden with such crazy ego talks as if he is fully awake and aware, and makes a fake show of perfect spiritual wellness. However, the inflated ego reveals by itself through the huge sense of doership, the intoxicated pride, jealousy, hypocrisy, false arrogance, greed, etc. exhibited in his worldly interaction with others.

Ego Should Be Beautiful
No matter what amount of success one attains, but if his ego is not beautiful then everything is useless. Ego should be such that people like you and welcome you. The crazy ego, and the arrogance emitted from this ego terribly hurts others for it always protects one’s own self, one’s own talk, one’s own beliefs and sees negative in and of everything. One commits deceit to satisfy his pride for hunger, and if his pride is not satisfied, he sees the faults of everybody else.

This Crazy Ego Intoxicated In ‘I’ ‘I’ and ‘I’ Keeps One Wandering In The World
Many a times, we think that we do not have such ego, but it could be lying around within assuming a small shape, which does not take time to flare up to huge size. Revered Dadashri therefore particularly cautions of this crazy ego that it is a grave danger point for spiritual wellness. So, one who’s keen to maintain spiritual wellness should always persevere to identify this ego and eradicate it from its very roots. And this is possible only after Self-Realization (the awakening of our Soul).

Until One Finds His Real Self in All of This, It’s Hard To Get Rid Of the Sky-Scraping Ego.
Param Pujya Dadashri’s (an enlightened being) business of construction was highly successful and profitable. Yet His attention remained entirely in the pursuit of Soul. After His spontaneous Self-Realization in 1958, His business continued for many years. But the vision which he attained during Self-Realization allowed him to remain at the zenith of the worldly affairs as well as spirituality! He remained as the Self (Soul) and observed the energies of his mind, speech and body unfolding for salvation of the world.

Awareness of ‘I am Soul, this is not mine, I am not the doer of this’ leads to Spiritual Wellness
When we attain success, we say, “I succeeded!” We do not realize that there is another force that prevails behind our success. To believe, “I did it!” is the false imposition. It is due to one’s inability to break free of this belief of, “I am John (please insert your own name here)”, that man thinks he is the ‘doer’. He believes that he is the one that speaks, he is the one doing things and he is the one thinking, due to which he attained success. And Gnani says that these are mere temporary states!

Gnani explains, “All the temporary states are subject to external forces. But we believe that, “I am this. I did it”; because of that there is so much of pain, suffering and that is why there is attachment and abhorrence. All the temporary states are destructible, and the eternal element (the Soul which is our real Self) is indestructible. You have to keep the elemental vision. In the temporary states, you are believing, “I am that’, and that is the biggest mistake.”

Gnani removes that mistake by gracing us with Self-Realization. He gives us the simple equation that,
•all these temporary states are that of John (please insert your own name here); are not ours,
•we, as a Pure Soul, are simply knower and observer of that.

So, ‘this (the mind, speech and body through which success was attained) is not mine. I am not the doer of this’ - then, ego does not arise! Similarly, we see the same thing for the opposite person, ‘Tom is separate and he is really a Pure Soul. He is not the doer and he is not the owner of all of that’ - then, jealousy, anger, pride, deceit, greed does not arise. When you don’t see anyone as the doer, you don’t see anyone at fault. That’s the vision that Gnani constantly tries to give us; he wakes us up at this point. When you see faults of others, you bind yourself and become spiritually ill.

Spiritual Wellness Thus Is Not Possible Without The Guidance Of Gnani!!!
But until we happen to meet Gnani, and even thereafter, Gnani says we must recite the following nine prayers, if possible three times every day. This will help secure our spiritual wellness in a big way:-

1.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not hurt, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to hurt, the slightest ego of any living being. Please give me the supreme strength to conduct my speech, thoughts, and actions in a manner such that no living being’s ego gets hurt at all.
2.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not hurt, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to hurt, to the slightest extent, the foundation of any religion. Please give me the supreme strength to conduct my speech, thoughts, and actions in a manner such that the foundation of no religion is hurt at all.
3.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not criticize, offend or insult any preacher, monk-nun or religious head.
4.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not dislike or hate, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to dislike or hate, any living being at all.
5.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not speak nor cause someone or encourage anyone to speak the slightest of harsh or hurtful language towards any living being. If someone happens to speak harsh and hurtful language, please give me the strength to speak soft and kind language only.
6.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not indulge into, nor cause someone or encourage anyone to indulge into, slightest of sexual sins, desires, gestures or thoughts for any living being, be it male, female, or of neutral gender. Please give me the supreme strength to remain free of sexual impulses and passions forever.
7.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to not get engrossed in any particular taste. Please give me the supreme strength to consume food that has a balanced taste.
8.Oh God! Please give me supreme strength to never criticize, offend, or insult any being, who is present or absent, living or dead; nor cause someone or encourage anyone to criticize, offend, or insult such being, to the slightest extent.
9.Oh God! Please give me the supreme strength to become an instrument for the salvation of the world.

To know more please visit: www.dadabhagwan.org

Author's Bio: 

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.