One story comes up that all the rishis were householders. Most rishis, Vishwamitra Rishi, Vashishtha Muni Muni Sãdhu. Tap to open in glossary → So if they are householders, they have children. So all the rishis gathered and made a rule: do not touch a dog. And if you touch one, perform one Chandrayan. A rishi is very pure. If you follow this, there is no problem. If you make it sit on your lap, there is no problem. It's better not to take it into the kitchen. But you have to take it, right? Because it's the one that serves, isn't it? So if you touch a dog, you have to perform Chandrayan, that's what the rishis did. You don't have to do such a Chandrayan, this is just a story. So they decided to perform Chandrayan. So the main rishi, who was like a police officer, would make everyone perform Chandrayan. And children are fond of playing with puppies. In olden times, there was nothing much to play with, no TV or anything, so playing with puppies was fun. Now, playing with puppies was as fun as watching TV and playing on mobile phones. Especially if they are like rabdas (playful), it's a lot of fun. So he would make the rishis' children perform Chandrayan, and if the children were small and couldn't do it, the rishi had to do it. In this, the main rishi's son was caught. Playing with puppies. So everyone insisted that he perform Chandrayan. The rishi was perplexed. What to do now? So then he thought, 'Let's do it, we will complete the penance, but first, we need to research something.' What kind of puppy was it? What color was it? So, it was red. It wasn't black. So he said, 'It wasn't black.' Then he said, 'Raktakuttam sada pootam.' A red dog is considered pure; it is said to be like a cow. Just as one becomes pure by touching a cow. Because it was his own son, wasn't it? So a person, when it comes to himself, forgets everyone else. So Maharaj said, 'Ahankara vimudhātma kartāhamiti manyate.' Meaning, 'I am the doer.' When ego comes, a person cannot see with their eyes. He becomes deluded. He becomes blind. He cannot see anything. It becomes one feeling. His eyes become one feeling. We never accept 'I am the house, I am the property.' But when it comes to the body, many people's minds get deluded, and they start believing, 'I am the body.' Ego is also indicated by my word. Further on, Bhagwan explained a lot in the second chapter. Vāsānsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro'parāṇi. Tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāni anyāni gṛhṇāti naro'parāṇi. So such a body is in its place, and Maharaj has said this now. Ego is also worthy of being indicated by my word. But even the wise and scholars get deluded by it and consider it to be 'I' directly. They do not separate themselves from it in any way. Therefore, it is called 'ahankara vimudhātma'. Such a perceived ego does not go away by making efforts; rather, it increases by performing such practices. The way to remove it is non-acceptance, that is, not believing it. There are two types of aham (I). The real aham, which arises from consciousness, which is in the form of continuous pulsation of consciousness. And the aham which is of the type 'aham asmi, aham asmi' (I am, I am). Which is called 'aham pratyaya' in Vedanta. Its name. Ego and aham pratyaya. These two are different, but now that is a subject for those who study this. So we don't understand much. But aham pratyaya is a permanent thing. It arises from our jiva that 'I am, I am, I am.' Even if he becomes liberated, he still feels 'I am Gopalanand Swami' or 'I am Muktanand Swami.' The 'I' does not disappear. We have added 'I' to it. That 'I am very educated.' 'I am wealthy.' 'I am wise, I am this.' That is the main thing. Just believe 'I am the atma.' If he has 'I am a servant,' then that is aham pratyaya. If he says 'I am Maharaj's servant,' that is called aham pratyaya. Aham pratyaya is just 'I am.' Aham asmi, aham asmi, I am, I am. If he also has such an ego, it is counted in aham pratyaya. That 'I am Maharaj's servant.' If he believes 'I am a servant of God.' Because 'dasa bhuta svatah sarve atma paramatmana atmanam paramatmana.' It is said 'dasa bhuta svatah sarve.' All atmas are servants of God, that is manifest. A tree and a branch of a tree. Both are natural and cannot be separated. Similarly, the master and this jivatma, his servant, cannot be separated. He is his servant. There is such a relationship between master and servant. It is a permanent relationship. But he forgets it and a person connects it to this world. 'I am related to so-and-so.' Everyone has uncles. Mostly, no one. No one likes to be a nephew. So 'I am related to all of them.' And he assumes that form for us. So that is called 'vimudhātma'. Ego changes, it changes. It changes. A person can change, right? Like, when we are young, we have nothing, and then after studying, we feel 'I am a doctor.' Or 'I am an engineer.' Or 'I am a businessman.' He believes himself to be all that. So that is called a changed ego. AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details