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MATERIAL DESIRES
Do not expect any satisfaction from physical life and you will no more be tied to it.
For our passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal according to the place we should occupy there. The more we are consciously in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means we are given. 3 June 1970 What is truly needed will surely come.
Things must be asked for only when truly needed.
What is bad is slavery. Slavery to abstinence as well as slavery to needs. What comes we take but always ready to let it go, if it goes…
Greed for anything concerning physical consciousness, so-called necessities and comfort of whatever nature ― this is one of the most serious obstacles to sadhana. Page ― 269 Each little satisfaction you get through greed is one step backward from the goal.
When you have a desire you are governed by the thing you desire, it takes possession of your mind and your life, and you become a slave. If you have greed for food you are no more the master of food, it is the food that masters you.
A sadhak must eat to satisfy the needs of his body and not to meet the demands of his greed. 4 April 1937
If you prefer the pleasures of the palate to the union with the Divine, it is your own look-out and I have nothing to say, except that I do not approve, but each one must be free to choose whether he will rise above his lower nature or sink down in the material pit. My help is always for those who choose the higher path.
It is an inner attitude of freedom from attachment and from greed for food and desire of the palate that is needed, not undue diminution of the quantity taken or any self-starvation. One must take sufficient food for the maintenance of the body and its strength and health, but without attachment or desire. 27 April 1937
It would be a hundred times more effective to never waste Page ― 270 food than to cut down one meal as a show and to eat more before and after. A strong, ardent, sincere campaign against the waste of food is essential and full-heartedly I approve of it. Let the inmates of the Ashram show their goodwill and collaboration in never eating more than they can digest and never ask for more than they can eat.
Kindly suggest some simple way by which one can slowly diminish one’s abject dependence on ordinary material food and open oneself more and more to the universal vital energy.
There is no easy way to get over physical animality and vital greed. It is only an obstinate perseverance that can succeed.
DESIRES, IMPULSES AND SELF-CONTROL
If each one took the resolution of mastering oneself and controlling one’s impulses, the situation would become more clear. When people allow their consciousness to remain in a turmoil, all their life becomes a turmoil.
An impulsive person who cannot control himself has a disordered life. Page ― 271 First learn to know yourself perfectly and then to control yourself perfectly. You will be able to do it by aspiring at every moment. It is never too early to begin, never too late to continue.
Control over the lower impulsions is the first step towards realisation.
Renunciation of desires: the essential condition for realisation.
Yes, we must keep the seat of our consciousness in the higher being and do whatever we are doing from there, not allowing the lower, blind and selfish movements and reactions to spoil our work.
To accept the uglinesses of the lower nature under the pretext that they exist ― if this is what is meant by realism ― does not form part of the sadhana. Our aim is not to accept these things and enjoy them, but to get rid of them and create a life of spiritual beauty and perfection. That cannot be done as long as we accept these uglinesses. To be aware that they are there and to reject them, not to let them touch us is one thing; to accept them and submit to them is quite another. Page ― 272 Beware of what pulls you downward. Do not yield to any lower instinct. Keep intact your aspiration for the Divine.
Yielding to desires is not the way of getting rid of them. There is no end to desires ― each one which is satisfied is at once replaced by another one and they go on clamouring more and more. It is only by conquering the desires that you can get rid of them, by coming out of this consciousness of the lower nature and rising to a higher consciousness. 29 April 1930 Refuse to do anything whatsoever which leads you away from the Divine. 18 October 1934 If you want to become conscious of my presence in you and to be delivered from hostile attacks, you must renounce any attempt to satisfy your desires. Only when the vital has lost all hope of seeing its desires satisfied does it consent to be spiritualised. My help and blessings are with you. 3 September 1935 A desire which knows that it will never be satisfied at once vanishes.
All the lower movements have to be conquered if ever anything Page ― 273 divine is to be established upon earth. 18 March 1936 There is no greater victory than that of controlling oneself. 3 May 1954 It is indispensable to perceive the lower movements of your being, in a detached and scientific manner, as a witness with clear vision and insight. But you must never allow these movements to express and assert themselves as if they had the right to exist and govern the rest of the being. In other words, you must never act under the impulse of these movements, never physically translate their suggestions into speech or action, never permit their orders to be carried out in any inner or outer gesture. 19 September 1956 Keep quiet, try to detach yourself and observe as a witness, to prevent all possibility of acting on impulse.
Do not act under an impulse.
Never forget that, as much outside as in the Ashram, if you want to lead a happy life, you must be the master of your lower nature and control your desires and vital impulses; otherwise there is no end to the miseries and the troubles. 20 September 1960 Page ― 274 At every moment of life you are put in the presence of a choice between the Grace and your personal satisfaction. 13 September 1961 One cannot overcome one’s desires by making oneself weak but only in strength, balance and peace. 7 June 1964 If one is not master of one’s desires, one cannot be master of one’s thoughts. 22 August 1964 Sometimes you say “all right” even to our desires and ambitions. The Grace works for progress on the path. The satisfaction of desire may also serve that purpose in showing the inanity of desire. And the good of yesterday may no more be good tomorrow. So follow your inspiration and my blessings are with you. 30 May 1968 You have my love and grace and blessings. But if you are to feel them you must be disciplined, attentive and concentrated; above all you must not listen to any of your desires and fancies. In life, one must choose between a disordered and useless life of desires and that of an ascent into the light of aspiration and mastery of one’s lower nature. 16 June 1971 Page ― 275 No self-indulgence and no desire.
To conquer a desire brings more joy than to satisfy it.
Self-mastery is the greatest conquest, it is the basis of all enduring happiness.
Continence: control over oneself.
To be continent is to allow no other movements in the being (mental, vital and physical) than those strictly indispensable to manifest the Divine’s Will. Page ― 276 |