Bragging is bad.

 

18. Bragging is bad. We are told, for our own good, that bragging and being boastful is not only a bad thing to do but it is, in reality, bad for us. This is a teaching found throughout the religions of God: Bragging and vanity diminish our spiritual susceptibilities, and limit our spiritual progress. Boastfulness and vanity is a hindrance we, as developing spiritual beings, can do without, if we wish to advance ever nearer towards our Creator.  JUDAISM: Proverbs: 27:2 “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.” Proverbs: 27:1 “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Psalms: 10:3 “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom The LORD abhorreth.” Psalms: 10:4 “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.”  CHRISTIANITY: James: 3:13 “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” (Do not brag of yourself). James: 4:16 “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.” Matthew: 23:12 “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” 18:4 “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

 ISLAM: Letter 53. “Do not boast of the favours and kindnesses that you have done to your subjects and do not try to make them realize this, do not think too much of the good that you have done to them, and do not go back upon the promises made, all these three habits are very ugly features of one’s character. The practice of boasting over the favours done undoes the good done,”

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

 18. “And swell not thy cheek (for pride) at men, nor walk in insolence through the earth; for Allah (God) loveth not any arrogant boaster.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 31)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: 2. “We are praisers of good thoughts, of good words, and of good actions, of those now and those hereafter [(Pazand) of those being done; and of those completed]. We implant them (with our homage, (reverence) and we do this) the more, and yet the more since we are (praisers) of the good (from whom they spring).” 3. “That, therefore, would we choose, O Ahura Mazda (God)! and thou, O Righteousness the beauteous! that we should think, and speak, and do those thoughts, and words, and deeds, among actual good thoughts, and words, and actions, which are the best for both the worlds;’ ‘and from the humble.”’ We should speak humbly and not vainly.

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 35)

 35. “They are tossed in doubt by evil Passion,” 36. “They clothe themselves with spite, in the course of strife, for the sake of vanishing goods;” 37. “They are intoxicated with pride in their youth,” 38. “And shall be full of regrets at the end of their time.” Avoid pridefulness and vanity and bragging.

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta Fragments)

 HINDUISM: 236. “Let him not be proud of his austerities; let him not utter a falsehood after he has offered a sacrifice; let him not speak ill of Brahmanas, though he be tormented (by them); when he has bestowed (a gift), let him not boast of it.”

(Hindu, Laws of Manu chapter 4)

 “Chief! who comest uninvited, pratest in thy lying boast, Thou shalt die the death of braggarts.”

(Hindu, Mababharata (R. Dutt, abridged tr))

 BUDDHISM: “WHAT, now, is Right Speech? It is abstaining from lying; abstaining from tale-bearing; abstaining from harsh language; abstaining from vain (boastful) talk.” “He avoids vain talk, and abstains from it. He speaks at the right time, in accordance with facts, speaks what is useful, speaks about the law and the discipline; his speech is like a treasure, at the right moment accompanied by arguments, moderate and full of sense.”

((The Eightfold Path), Buddha, the Word (The Eightfold Path))

 “To boast of attainment and to talk foolishly of merits and demerits is erroneous and defiling.” (Buddha, Sixth Patriarch)

 SABEANISM: “The…tongue which is softer than fat and sharper than a sword.” (Can cause great harm when used inappropriately) (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 24)

 “The mountain doth not boast its strength, nor a hero his doughty deeds, Nor doth a bowman vaunt his bow, nor the physician his drugs, Nor the righteous and sage man the utterance of his mouth.” “Bragging is bad for you.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 76)

 BABI RELIGION: “It was not proper for him to give ear to the gossip of men eager to create conflict.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 84)

  “Boast no more.”

(H. M. Balyuzi, The Bab – The Herald of the Days, p. 106)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Children of God do the works without boasting, obeying His laws.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 17)

“Know thou of a truth that the seeker must, at the beginning of his quest for God, enter the Garden of Search. In this journey it behoveth the wayfarer to detach himself from all save God and to close his eyes to all that is in the heavens and on the earth. There must not linger in his heart either the hate or the love of any soul, to the extent that they would hinder him from attaining the habitation of the celestial Beauty. He must sanctify his soul from the veils of glory and refrain from boasting of such worldly vanities, outward knowledge, or other gifts as God may have bestowed upon him. He must search after the truth to the utmost of his ability and exertion, that God may guide him in the paths of His favour and the ways of His mercy. For He, verily, is the best of helpers unto His servants. He saith, and He verily speaketh the truth: ‘Whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways shall We assuredly guide him.’ And furthermore: ‘Fear God and God will give you knowledge.”’ (Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 27)