sumitsehrawat
New member
Many think that those who lead a spiritual life are selfish and are after comfort. This misconception can be removed by a comparison. Both a surgeon and a person, who wants to kill, use knives in their respective professions. For the former it is a tool to save a patient while the latter, it is a weapon to deprive another of his life. Likewise, though the life-force is the same in all, spiritual aspirants utilize it to go through a selfless and disciplined existence to realize God and Truth whereas worldly–mined men will be keen on getting their desires satiated. God realization can arise only out of elimination of selfishness. An enlightened person will perform all actions in a dedicated spirit which the pleasure-seeker will find it impossible to do.
Disinfectants may remove superficial germs but cannot destroy the more powerful ones, which cause fatal diseases. We can somehow eliminate the gross tendencies lurking in the mind but the subtle ones which get lodged in the subconscious mind require greater efforts to root out. This is possible with the help of a spiritual guide who will see that the wicked tendencies are wiped out.
We find time to satisfy our various types of desires which involve us in great suffering and ultimately culminate in dissatisfaction. Even for minor sickness, we run to a medical man but never seek advice or treatment of the supreme Doctor – God, for the chronic disease of repeated births, resuming that to go to Him is not necessary. We may spend money and time to resort to litigation in a court over a tiny piece of land but not keen on sparing a few minutes in the company of pious and holy men. Those who thirst for redemption from re-births will be few indeed.
Some may not like the idea of accepting another as a spiritual teacher, humbling themselves or undergoing discipline and if necessary, correction. But whatever a preceptor may ask them to do will only be with the intention of moulding or purifying their mind and inculcating discipline. Even as a blacksmith hammers a shapeless lump of iron on an anvil always keeping in mind the product he wants to make out of it, so too a religious guide will be planning as how to train his disciples. Even then, one may say that realization can be had without the aid of a mediator. It will be possible, provided one has a pure mind from birth. In Kashmir apples flourish due to climate and soil but the same will not thrive on the plains. Even if their growth is made possible here, their quality and quantity will suffer. An aspirant can avoid pitfalls and can gain moral strength and power through the guidance of a Guru.
May 6, 1993
The Hindu
Disinfectants may remove superficial germs but cannot destroy the more powerful ones, which cause fatal diseases. We can somehow eliminate the gross tendencies lurking in the mind but the subtle ones which get lodged in the subconscious mind require greater efforts to root out. This is possible with the help of a spiritual guide who will see that the wicked tendencies are wiped out.
We find time to satisfy our various types of desires which involve us in great suffering and ultimately culminate in dissatisfaction. Even for minor sickness, we run to a medical man but never seek advice or treatment of the supreme Doctor – God, for the chronic disease of repeated births, resuming that to go to Him is not necessary. We may spend money and time to resort to litigation in a court over a tiny piece of land but not keen on sparing a few minutes in the company of pious and holy men. Those who thirst for redemption from re-births will be few indeed.
Some may not like the idea of accepting another as a spiritual teacher, humbling themselves or undergoing discipline and if necessary, correction. But whatever a preceptor may ask them to do will only be with the intention of moulding or purifying their mind and inculcating discipline. Even as a blacksmith hammers a shapeless lump of iron on an anvil always keeping in mind the product he wants to make out of it, so too a religious guide will be planning as how to train his disciples. Even then, one may say that realization can be had without the aid of a mediator. It will be possible, provided one has a pure mind from birth. In Kashmir apples flourish due to climate and soil but the same will not thrive on the plains. Even if their growth is made possible here, their quality and quantity will suffer. An aspirant can avoid pitfalls and can gain moral strength and power through the guidance of a Guru.
May 6, 1993
The Hindu
