Spiritual Message for the Day – Raga and Dvesha by Sri Swami Chidananda
Baba Times Digest© | 23 May 2015 20.20 EST | New York Edition
Raga and Dvesha
Divine Life Society Publication: Path to Blessedness by Sri Swami Chidananda
The Raja Yogins say that Raga and Dvesha are the emotions, that disturb the mind most. Once they enter, they try to persist and completely upset the balance of the mind. They take the form of thoughts of hatred, jealousy, anger, intolerance and anxiety. These are all thoughts that are closely interwoven with emotion. Pure thoughts that are not associated with emotion are not serious obstacles in Yoga. Mere dispassionate thoughts do not disturb you much. Sentiments, emotions and feelings are far greater disturbers in the mental field than mere intellectual thoughts. You cannot brush aside sentiments and feelings. To give a crude parallel—supposing you are keeping a clean table and if some dust or mud happens to be on it, you can easily clean it. If you rub it with a duster, it will go away. But if a drop of honey is spilt, it will persist even after rubbing and dusting. Powder or any dry thing can be easily wiped out. Similarly intellectual thoughts can be easily removed, but if those become emotional it is very difficult to remove them. Even if the mind wants to remove sentimental emotions, the heart is not prepared to do so. Sentiment is very difficult to eradicate. It is more difficult to eradicate than intellectual, dry thought.
Fear, jealousy, hatred, intolerance—all these things are emotional. They do not easily go out of the mind. We constantly move amidst the heterogeneous type of society. If any one does something which is not to your satisfaction, immediately you get irritated, and if some one stands before you whom you do not like, feelings of hatred come. He who is not established in equanimity becomes a constant prey to fits of temper.
We may have to move amidst people who are wicked and who are spiritually on a lower plane than us. Then our mind is filled with hatred. We may have to move amidst equals. Even though one is your friend, you do not want him to be greater than you. The feeling that you get may be full of jealousy, etc., and this disturbed thought always persists with equals. With superiors also you may have a different type of jealousy. “Why these people are superior to us? Why we may not have the same position as they have?”—such are our thoughts. The poor people may be jealous of rich people. One may resent the superiority of intellect of another man, and the moment one sees him, one may be thoroughly upset. One thinks: “Why I should not have the same popularity as this man has?” If you become a prey to this habit of the mind, what happens? You are constantly torn amidst these emotions.
There are so many pairs of opposites in this world, heat and cold, respect and disrespect, etc. Therefore you have no balance of mind and it is constantly agitated. Emotions are common experiences in the life of every man and therefore, the mind is always in an unpleasant state which disturbs your concentration. Therefore, the ancients have given a formula how the Yogi should move in society, amidst people of different types. Suppose you are always seeing and hearing wicked deeds of various kinds in this world. You ask yourself: “Why such wicked people are there?”
You should not lose your balance. How? Practise friendliness towards equals, and compassion towards inferiors. Let your heart be moved when you are in the presence of inferiors. One may be inferior in status, age or wealth. If you are compassionate, you will bear all shortcomings. Maintain a state of calm cheerfulness to superiors. Be serene whatever they are. Be happy in their presence.
Towards the pairs of opposites what attitude you should have? Let all these pairs of opposites fill this world. Do not pay any attention to them. Why should you worry about them? The Lord is looking after everything. Therefore, this sort of Maitri (friendship), Karuna (compassion) and Udasinata (indifference) should be practised. If you practise all these, then the mind will become serene, and its emotions of hatred, intolerance and competition will be completely eliminated. This is the master-technique they have given.
Excerpts from: Raga and Dvesha - Path to Blessedness by Sri Swami Chidananda
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