Asura of the week: Bidala

[Guest guest]

Also known as hypocrisy, this demon is well known among today's human

population.

 

I've met very few individuals who are incapable of hypocrisy and many who

thrive on his power to satisfy desires and satiate fears.

 

Pop quiz:

 

How do we eliminate Bidala from our lives?

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[Guest guest]

Hello All,

 

This is a particularly difficult asura - not because he's very

powerful, or very all-encompassing, like say, Too Much or Too Little,

but because he exists as a potential in each of us right at the

boundary between ourselves and our interaction with the world at

large. He is a constant irritant, inhabiting both our dearest and

purest hopes and our basest desires and imperfections. Hypocrisy is a

problem for everyone on the spiritual path.

 

Hypocrisy is pretending to be something you are not. But we are all

"pretending" to some degree. We are all imperfect, all possessed of

desires and habits of various kinds that push us to think and act in

ways we might regret later, and we are also all attempting to live in

accordance with an ideal of purity that comes only after years of

devoted effort.

 

So, the bottom line becomes, how honest are you about your

imperfections - to yourself, as well as to others? I believe most

people hide their imperfections from themselves. It's easier on their

self-image if they can see themselves in a certain light. In my

opinion, there is no room for this on the spiritual path. However,

that's really another topic, hypocrisy is about being honest about

yourself with others.

 

It is one thing to keep certain things to ourselves. After all, some

things are simply nobody's business. But personal "problems,"

"struggles,secret desires," whatever, can easily become secrets

that are actively hidden. The end result can be a kind of double life,

holy and pious on the outside, dark and driven on the inside. There is

an appropriate time and place for the revealing of "secrets" about

ourselves, and it is different for everyone, and every circumstance.

The importance of revelation may lie more in the openness, the

willingness to do so in the proper context, than in any actual

"dumping" of one's faults on someone else.

 

The ego loves a label. It needs labels. "I'm a YOGI!I'm a GREAT

yogi." I'm a lawyer, a doctor, a counselor...the list goes on and on.

When we're talking about spiritual labels, though, things get a little

sticky. People expect a lawyer to know the law, and a doctor to be

able to heal, and they expect a spiritual person to be holy, even perfect.

 

The first thing the ego does when one begins to pursue the path of

spirit, is to appropriate that label...and then the fun begins. We

want to be "spiritual," want it with all our hearts. Yet, like it or

not, we are still saddled with the baggage of our corporeal nature and

a million years of karmas. So what to do?

 

My personal strategy is to keep my spiritual path, largely, to myself.

If people don't know I'm trying to be holy, they can hardly call me a

hypocrite when I fall prey to my lower nature. Those who know me well,

who know all my "secrets," may not think of me as very "spiritual." I

don't honestly know. But because I keep it relatively to myself, even

they do not expect more than I am capable of.

 

It is an unfortunate fact that holiness only arrives after years of

practice, years of experiencing, of acting on desires, of

contemplating their results. To "normal" people, it may seem that

there is not much use to this spiritual discipline, but when awakening

comes, everything changes. Until then, there is only the roller coaster.

 

Swami Satyananda of Bihar wrote something along these lines (I

remember the gist, if not the exact words): The world is crazy, and

trying to live a spiritual life in it is difficult. If you are trying

to live a spiritual life, people in the world will not respect you for

it. They think that all this spiritual practice is worthless and they

will ridicule you for your faults. But when awakening comes all these

same people, and more, will flock to you, and claim to love you.

 

So, until that day...I think it's best to try and keep a sense of

humor about the whole thing.

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

, Brian McKee <brian@s...> wrote:

> Also known as hypocrisy, this demon is well known among today's human

> population.

>

> I've met very few individuals who are incapable of hypocrisy and

many who

> thrive on his power to satisfy desires and satiate fears.

>

> Pop quiz:

>

> How do we eliminate Bidala from our lives?

>

>

> ---

> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).

> Version: 6.0.786 / Virus Database: 532 - Release 10/29/2004