Obsession: obstacle or asset

[Guest guest]

?~\Self, uma<br><br>You wrote, " How can

obsession be an obstacle, and when is it a tool for growth?

I would think being obsessed with God realization

would be a great boost, isn't it?"<br><br>Swami

Sivananda has said, "A good, virtuous life only prepares

the mind as a fit instrument for concentration and

meditation. It is concentration and meditation that

eventually lead to Self-Realization. Meditation is the

keeping up of an unceasing flow of God-consciousness. All

worldly thoughts are shut out from the mind. For

meditation, you must have a calm, clear, pure, subtle, sharp,

steady, and one-pointed intellect. Brahman is pure and

subtle, and you need a pure and subtle mind to approach

Brahman."<br><br>I would think that an obsession, even an obsession

with God-realization is always an obstacle to

spiritual growth and never an asset. There is a crucial

difference between obsession and rigorous self-discipline.

<br><br>With obsession, the mind is not clear and calm, not

pure and subtle. Obsession clouds judgement. To be

obsessed is to be inprisoned in Maya. The obsessed mind is

open to all manner of tricks being played on it and by

it in order to convince one that the goal of

obsession is near and attainable. In this case, one could

be deluded into thinking that they have attained

Self-realization or that they are a prophet of God, when, in fact,

they are merely a victim of their own

desire.<br><br>As long as there is any content in the mind, whether

fiction or Godlike, and no matter how ecstatic, the

aspirant has more work to do and must push through that

content toward a clear, pure, unequivocal and subtle

apprehension of the Divine.<br><br>Om namah

Sivaya<br><br>omprem