The Pride!

Pride is a feeling of superiority over others. It is of nine kinds: (i) Physical pride (pride of possessing great physical strength), (ii) Intellectual pride (pride of great learning), (iii) Moral pride (pride of possessing great moral virtues), (iv) Psychic pride (pride of possessing great psychic powers or Siddhis), (v) Spiritual pride, (vi) Pride of noble birth, (vii) Pride of power, wealth and other possessions, (viii) Pride of being handsome and (ix) Pride of sovereignty. All these varieties of pride should be completely overcome.

Get rid of pride through Viveka. Everything is perishable. Why are you vainly puffed up with pride? Arrogance is a form of pride. It is an undue assumption of self-importance. It is claiming too much.

It is vanity. It is vain display. It is vain show. The man is puffed up even though he actually does not possess anything. A man of pride actually possesses something. That is the difference between pride and vanity. Vanity is a form of exaggerated pride.

Hypocrisy is pretending to be what one is really not. It is feigning. It is concealment of one's true character. It is the opposite of Truth. A hypocrite pretends to be what he is really not, in order to extract money, honor, fame or something else from others. Hypocrisy, falsehood, cheating, avarice and avidity are very closely related. They are members of one family. Hypocrisy is the offspring of avarice. Falsehood is the son of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy co-exists with falsehood. Avidity is the mother of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy cannot live even for a moment without falsehood, the son and avarice and father and mother. When there is a craving for objects, greed for money comes in. Without money, there can be no enjoyment. To satisfy the hunger for money, persons have to put on hypocrisy, tell lies and cheat others. The root cause of all this is craving for enjoyment. Deceitful diplomacy and falsehood are old allies of greed and hatred.

Self-sufficiency is a peculiar modification in the mind. It is the effect of vanity, pride and Hypocrisy. Remove it by right thinking, inquiry and practice of the opposite virtue, humility.

Reference

Mind – Its Mysteries and Control by Sri Swami Sivananda