Spiritual Message for the Day – Taking the Aid of Viveka by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Baba Times Digest© | 29 April 2015 11.29 EST | New York Edition
Taking the Aid of Viveka
Divine Life Society Publication: Yoga as a Universal Science by Swami Krishnananda
There are things in this world which are not absolutely essential for our lives, and there are things which are unavoidable. The unavoidables follow us wherever we go, and it should not be very difficult for any seeker or student of Yoga to free himself from involvement in things which are not essential. The first and foremost thing that we have to do is to find out what are the essentials and the non-essentials in life. This is not an easy thing to do, though it may look very simple. Because the mind is a trickster, it is very cunning in its actions, and it knows how to manipulate its longings.
Every desire, every longing, every passion appears to be a necessary thing when it takes the upper hand. But, Viveka Sakti or the power of discrimination, when it is properly applied, will tell us what are the things that are really essential and most unavoidable. Those things that are even indirectly connected with our Yoga practice, and our minimum form of existence in the world, may be regarded as unavoidable. We cannot exist without them. Or, they are necessary in some way – socially, physically or psychologically – for helping us, aiding us for the time being, in the present state of affairs in our Yoga practices, though at a future date those so-called necessary things may become unnecessary. I may require a coat in winter. It does not mean that I require it always. Certain things are necessary under certain conditions and they are not necessary always. And we should not cling to them with greed.
Often, we cannot distinguish between a luxury and a necessity. Every luxury looks like a necessity, because of the peculiar proclivity of the mind that is saturated with greed and covetousness of various types. That is why we come back once again to the point of the need for a good guide in Yoga. Because, without such a guide or a Guru, an immature man cannot know what is a luxury and what is a necessity; and he cannot know where he is side-tracked and led along the wrong way and given a false instruction that the path is the right one.
Excerpts from: Taking the Aid of Viveka - Yoga as a Universal Science by Swami Krishnananda
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