Dedication: It means offering. As soon as Swami arrived (in the Auditorium) teachers and students made offerings of flowers and offered their salutations. The flower symbolizes the heart. When you offer the flower of your heart to the Lord, it should be free from the pests of desire, hatred, envy, greed and the like. Only pure flowers are offered to the Lord or to those whom you revere. The flower of the heart is subject to infestation by two evil creatures- one is self-conceit (Ahamkaara); the other is envy (Asooya). Self-conceit is based on eight different factors: wealth, physical prowess, birth, scholarship, beauty, power and penance. Of these, the arrogance born of wealth or scholarship is to be despised most. As long as this conceit (Ahamkaara) is predominant, it is impossible to recognize the Divine or one's spiritual reality. Self-conceit is a great barrier between the individual and God. It has to be utterly demolished.

ESCHEW PRIDE

Pride of wealth is another grievous human failing, which causes the downfall of man. All forms of pride, based on birth, wealth, power or scholarship, have to be given up totally. Only when egoistic pride is offered as a sacrifice at the altar of the Divine can man discover his true nature. This is the Dedication that is called for as the first step in the spiritual journey.