Handling Desires : 1.

We were considering the aspects of psychological non-attachment as the first effort that one has to make while living in seclusion for the purpose of the practice of yoga. This is almost fifty percent of what one has to do in fortifying oneself adequately against onslaughts by the forces of nature – outside, as well as inside. The vulnerable parts of the human personality are the most dangerous enemies in the path of the spirit, which set up reactions and stimulate their counterparts in the world outside. Everything in us is connected by a string with everything else in the world. All that is outside in the world of creation is connected with us by subtle appurtenances. So, whichever be the spot within us becoming predominant in its strength, that particular spot stimulates its corresponding part in the world outside and draws its counterpart towards itself. This activity of the mind is called indulgence, which it does through the senses, which are its instruments of action.


Many a time, we are likely to be under the impression that our troubles come from the outside world, and so we go to distant places like jungles, forests and cloisters; and there are occasions when we feel that the troubles do not always come from the world outside – that they are all inside us only. So, it is necessary that we do a very thoroughgoing psychoanalysis of our own selves, irrespective of what is happening in the world outside. Both these are partial truths; they do not represent the entire truth.

It is true, of course, to a certain extent, that our troubles are not necessarily originated by the world outside. Many of our problems are internal, and a proper adjustment of ourselves internally may solve many of our difficulties. But the world is also a source of trouble in the sense that it is connected with us and we cannot simply isolate it from our personalities or our individual lives.

Swami Krishnananda

To be continued  ....;;