Guest guest Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 OM NAMAH SIVAYA this quote from Sri Ramakrishna and the quote from Swamiji in response to our goals got me thinking about what is meant by purity? i found this article from Swami Krishnananda from the Divine Life Society and have posted below: Purity is achieved by freedom from desire, and desire should be distinguished from necessity. Eating when one is hungry, drinking when one is thirsty, and sleeping when one is fatigued are necessities. These absolute necessities cannot be call desires because without these necessities one cannot even survive. Desire is a destructive form of longing which innervates the whole system, longing for things which are not necessary for the maintenance of the body. Every kind of luxury should be considered as desire. One has to judge for oneself whether this particular thing is absolutely necessary, or one can be comfortable even without that. Each one is one's own judge. If one can comfortably live happily without certain things, asking for those things once again is called desire. It will disturb the mind. Any object that brings about tumult in the emotion, that is an object of desire by which you either want it intensely or hate it intensely. Intense wanting and intense hating will affect the emotions. The test of good health is freedom from emotion, correct understanding without any kind of ebullition, burning desire of any kind. This is briefly the definition of desire. There are two kinds of desires, anabolic and catabolic. Anabolic desires are constructive, helpful and necessary for maintaining health and peace of mind. Catabolic desires are destructive in their nature. They throw the energy out. Any procedure by which we can conserve our energy is anabolic. Any process by which we deplete our energy and then become weak, that is catabolic. One must be able to very carefully distinguish between one and the other. Understanding is the judge; it is called Viveka-Shakti, capacity to distinguish between what is absolutely essential for living a normal life and what is irrelevant. This is a preliminary definition to the question "What is purity?" So purity is not like an apple that falls from a tree, it has shades of definition. You will not find any such clear description of this subject in any book; each one has to use one's common sense. There are desires of a different type, like sexual desire. It is neither good nor bad, like fire. Do you consider fire as a good thing or a bad thing? You cannot say anything about it. It can destroy or it can cook your food. So, likewise, sexual desire is a conservative process of maintaining a balance in the system, it is not capable of definition in a cut-and-dried manner. It is, as any desire is, relative to circumstance. But if it is a passion, you may distinguish between desire and passion. Passion is voluptuous, tumult-like, and makes one sick afterwards. Great discrimination has to be exercised here. There is a famous passage called Kama Gita in the Mahabharata. The desire says, "People try to conquer me, but they do not know that even the desire to conquer me is a desire, they don't understand that, so I am behind all their attempts." Desire for God sublimates all other mortal desires. The higher absorbs the lower; the lower should be transmuted to the higher by meditation. JAI MA , devotee <shree_maa_devotee> wrote: > Daily Reflection: > June 8 - Purity > > Ramakrishna: You may discriminate a thousand times, yet the "I" who is the thinker does not leave. For devotees to regard me with devotion is a very good thing. To the devotees I am the Supreme Divinity embodied in a human form, meaning that the Supreme Divinity Beyond Form has taken on qualities. When individuals take a form, they express through that form, and God listens to the prayers of a pure individual. > > from Ramakrishna The Nectar of Eternal Bliss > Copyright 2005 Devi Mandir Publications > First Edition > www.shreemaa.org - ------------- > Love and trust in God. Do not ask for anything else. --Shree Maa > - ------------- > --devotee > > > > > Mail Mobile > Take Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 Eric, Becoming pure is not so easy, is it? Jai Maa! Chris , "ecjensen_us" <ecjensen_us> wrote: > OM NAMAH SIVAYA > > this quote from Sri Ramakrishna and the quote from Swamiji in > response to our goals got me thinking about what is meant by purity? > i found this article from Swami Krishnananda from the Divine Life > Society and have posted below: > > Purity is achieved by freedom from desire, and desire should be > distinguished from necessity. Eating when one is hungry, drinking > when one is thirsty, and sleeping when one is fatigued are > necessities. These absolute necessities cannot be call desires > because without these necessities one cannot even survive. > > Desire is a destructive form of longing which innervates the whole > system, longing for things which are not necessary for the > maintenance of the body. Every kind of luxury should be considered > as desire. One has to judge for oneself whether this particular > thing is absolutely necessary, or one can be comfortable even > without that. Each one is one's own judge. If one can comfortably > live happily without certain things, asking for those things once > again is called desire. It will disturb the mind. > > Any object that brings about tumult in the emotion, that is an > object of desire by which you either want it intensely or hate it > intensely. Intense wanting and intense hating will affect the > emotions. The test of good health is freedom from emotion, correct > understanding without any kind of ebullition, burning desire of any > kind. This is briefly the definition of desire. > > There are two kinds of desires, anabolic and catabolic. Anabolic > desires are constructive, helpful and necessary for maintaining > health and peace of mind. Catabolic desires are destructive in their > nature. They throw the energy out. Any procedure by which we can > conserve our energy is anabolic. Any process by which we deplete our > energy and then become weak, that is catabolic. One must be able to > very carefully distinguish between one and the other. Understanding > is the judge; it is called Viveka-Shakti, capacity to distinguish > between what is absolutely essential for living a normal life and > what is irrelevant. This is a preliminary definition to the > question "What is purity?" > > So purity is not like an apple that falls from a tree, it has shades > of definition. You will not find any such clear description of this > subject in any book; each one has to use one's common sense. > > There are desires of a different type, like sexual desire. It is > neither good nor bad, like fire. Do you consider fire as a good > thing or a bad thing? You cannot say anything about it. It can > destroy or it can cook your food. So, likewise, sexual desire is a > conservative process of maintaining a balance in the system, it is > not capable of definition in a cut-and-dried manner. It is, as any > desire is, relative to circumstance. But if it is a passion, you may > distinguish between desire and passion. Passion is voluptuous, > tumult-like, and makes one sick afterwards. Great discrimination has > to be exercised here. > > There is a famous passage called Kama Gita in the Mahabharata. The > desire says, "People try to conquer me, but they do not know that > even the desire to conquer me is a desire, they don't understand > that, so I am behind all their attempts." > > Desire for God sublimates all other mortal desires. The higher > absorbs the lower; the lower should be transmuted to the higher by > meditation. > > JAI MA > , devotee <shree_maa_devotee> > wrote: > > Daily Reflection: > > June 8 - Purity > > > > Ramakrishna: You may discriminate a thousand times, yet the "I" > who is the thinker does not leave. For devotees to regard me with > devotion is a very good thing. To the devotees I am the Supreme > Divinity embodied in a human form, meaning that the Supreme Divinity > Beyond Form has taken on qualities. When individuals take a form, > they express through that form, and God listens to the prayers of a > pure individual. > > > > from Ramakrishna The Nectar of Eternal Bliss > > Copyright 2005 Devi Mandir Publications > > First Edition > > www.shreemaa.org > > > > > > > > > > > > > > - > ------------- > > Love and trust in God. Do not ask for anything else. --Shree Maa > > - > ------------- > > --devotee > > > > > > > > > > Mail Mobile > > Take Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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