Maharshi..on lust and sin.

[Guest guest]

Q: How can we control lust and anger?

 

M: Whose are these passions? Find out! If you remain as the Self,

you will find there is nothing apart from it. Then there will be no

need for control.

 

Q: I have committed a sexual sin.

 

M: Even if you have, it does not matter, so long as you do not think

afterwards that you have done so. The Self is not aware of any sin

and renunciation of sex is internal, not merely of the body.

 

Q: I have wanted to commit adultery.

 

M: It is better to stick to your wife.

 

Q: I am carried away by the sight of my young neighbor's breasts and

often tempted to commit adultery with her. What shall I do.

 

M: You are always pure. It is your senses and body which tempt you

and which you confuse with your real Self. So first know who is

tempted and who is there to tempt. But even if you do commit

adultery, do not think about it afterwards, because you yourself are

always pure. You are not the sinner.

 

Q: How can we combine spiritual and worldly life?

 

M: There is only one experience. What are worldly experiences but

those built up on the false 'I'.

 

Q:Worldly life is very distracting.

 

M: Do not allow yourself to be distracted! Find out for whom there

is distraction. It will not bother you after a little practice.

 

Q: But even the attempt is impossible.

 

M: Do it and you will not find it so difficult.

 

Q: So it amounts to this: I should always look within.

 

M: Yes.

 

Q: Should I not see the world at all?

 

M: You are not instructed to shut your eyes to the world. If you

consider yourself to be the body, the world appears as external. If

you are the Self, the world appears as Brahman.

 

Q: What about toothache.

 

M: The pain is in the mind. What happens to the toothache during

sleep? Do you feel the pain then? No. Well, in the Self you are

always in happiness.

 

Q: The Christian Science healings are on the same principle.

 

M: Yes and similar results are also obtained by will-power. Will and

the Self are the same. ( note to Richard) I finally found this for

you. Think of the Self despite the mosquitoes or toothache. It needs

strength, but one must be a hero to gain realization.

 

Q: Is it necessary to give up worldly desires?

 

M: Why do we desire? Enquire. If you find no real happiness in your

desires, then your mind will not be attracted to them. However,

subconscious tendencies may tempt you there, but you will return.

Why do you want the life of freedom? The fact that you crave it

implies that you are bound. But really you are ever-free.

Know that Self, and desires will fall away of their own accord.

Bring all desires and thoughts to one point within: that is

realization. Mind should be still. The bee buzzes noisily around the

flower seeking honey. When it finds it, it is silent and still. So

it is with a person's soul, which is seeking by desires the one true

honey.

 

(once the Maharshi noticed Mr. B sitting in his rocking chair.)

M: What a cause for anxiety in such luxuries! If someone else takes

that seat the owner will not be happy about it. Is rocking really so

pleasant? It is simply a wasteful thought of pleasure! Siva gave all

his possessions to Vishnu and wandered away in forests, cemeteries

and wilderness, living off food he had begged. In his view, non-

possession is higher on the scale of happiness than possession. The

higher happiness is to be free from anxieties.

 

Q: Am I worthy to be a devotee?

 

M: Everyone can be a devotee. Spiritual food is common to all and

never denied to anyone.

 

From Conscious immortality.. Recorded by Paul Brunton and & Munagal

Venkataramiah