ESSENTIALS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE - SOME CONDITIONS OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT

[Some conditions of spiritual enlightenment—Faith'— Resignation to God—Necessity of Ishta or Chosen Deity—Truth—Brahmacharya or continence—Viveka or discrimination—Vairagya or aversion for worldly objects—Perseverance—Spiritual practice—Concentration and meditation]

SOME CONDITIONS OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT

If a person possessed by an evil spirit becomes conscious that he is so possessed, the evil spirit at once leaves him. Similarly the Jiva which is possessed by the evil spirit of Maya, on realising that he is so possessed, becomes at once free from it.

He alone enters the Kingdom of Heaven who is not a thief of his own thoughts. In other words, guilelessness and simple faith are the roads to that Kingdom.

A person once said: "The innate nature of a substance can never be changed.' Another retorted, 44 When fire enters charcoal, it destroys its innate blackness." So when the mind is burnt by the fire of Knowledge, its innate nature too is destroyed, and it ceases to be a snare.

The mind is everything. If the mind loses its liberty, you lose yours. If the mind is free, you too are free. The mind may get dyed in any colour, like a white cloth fresh from the washing house. Study English, and you must mix English words in your talk in spite of yourself. The Pandit who studies Sanskrit must quote verses. If the mind is kept in bad company, the evil influence of it will colour one's thoughts and conversations. Placed in the midst of devotees, the mind is sure to meditate on God and God alone. It changes its nature according to the things amongst which it lives and acts.

The mind is everything. The attraction for the wife is of one kind, and the affection for the child is of quite a different nature. On one side is one s wife, on another side is the child ; one caresses both, but is moved by quite different impulses.

Bondage is of the mind ; freedom too is of the mind. If you say, ' I am a free soul. I am a son of God ! Who can bind me ? free you shall be. If one is bitten by a snake and can say with all the force of will and faith, 4<>

Q. When shall I be free?

A. When I shall cease to be. ' I and mine is ignorance. ' Thou and Thine is Knowledge.