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Thoughts-Muralidhar
Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji:
see also his some preaching in
Muralidhara Swamiji
With the sharper intellect grows the ability
to discriminate between the real and the unreal. As long as you are not convinced about what
is real and what is not, your desire for Realization will not get serious. When the "Vivek"
(sense of discrimination) of the mind improves, you will get closer to the Truth. Eventually,
when realization dawns, even the mind will vanish.
Bhagavan Ramana gives a wonderful illustration in this regard – one of 'Pinam
choodum thadi'. The interred (who burns he corpse) in the cremation ground stands
by the side of the burning corpse. Owing to the heat, the corpse rises up on its
own accord every now and then. He uses a stick to beat down the dead body that rises.
Finally, when the body does not rise up anymore, he throws the stick also into the
fire. In the same way, a sharp mind aids in Self-enquiry to find the Truth and is
itself eventually destroyed.
Are the Divine experiences for a new Saadhak real?
Does a spiritual aspirant really perceive such experiences?
Spirituality is not a bed of roses. When we read about the spiritual experiences of
great Saints, we should always keep in mind the amount of struggle they have undergone
and the rigorous penance they have performed over years together in order to attain such
an exalted state. These experiences, by no means, come by in a short span of time.
In general, If one decides to undertake a rigorous
spiritual Saadhanaa (practice), one has to perform it as instructed by his Guru with an one-pointed
mind with patience and perseverance over many years to see even a small progress. Above all, it requires
a strong and equi-poised mind. Direct spiritual progress and experiences have been achieved by the
strongest of minds. If not, will lead one to a state of mental instability and render him unfit even
for worldly life, leave alone spiritual life. Let us consider the following traits...
1. Often sitting morosely in solitude
2. Nurturing hatred towards life
3. Often having a lingering question of why one was born
4. Having an urge to commit suicide
5. Always worrying about the future
6. Eating too sumptuously or otherwise, starving
7. At one time, speaking audaciously that one would accomplish everything, and at another time,
branding oneself as not fit for anything
8. Telling others that he has a premonition of what is going to happen
9. Always talking with self-pity
10. Laughing boisterously without any reason, and at times, being overly silent and dejected
11. Tying together naturally occurring events and incidents and arriving at inferences (usually
negative) by reading into them
12. Blaming others for all the shortcomings that one faces
13. Not going to work at all; Abstaining from going to work on the working day just after the
week’s holiday; Purposely absenting from work in order to procrastinate that day's tasks
to the next day, absenting for a long time and showing the same as a reason to quit work
14. Sleeping during the day and being a night-owl because of sleeping during the day; sleeping on the belly
15. Believing hallucinations as true
16. Imagining and predicting the future incidents
17. Abusing others, physically or verbally; or abusing oneself
18. Behaving normally when it comes to entertainment or enjoyment
19. Being very intelligent or artistic, to the point where it becomes unrealistic
20. Being aggressively passionate about a task or a particular thing of liking
21. Targeting one individual and finding faults with him, or being overly possessive
22. Being foolishly adamant without any reason
23. Spending money lavishly without planning for the future
24. Expecting that others should respect him and expecting recognition
25. Doing away with anyone who finds fault with him
26. Often being careless at work and quitting work
27. Lamenting that no one understands him
28. Always engaging in talking to someone or the other either in person or through phone
29. Often leaving home
30. Undertaking resolutions from the next day or the forthcoming occasion to behave in a
particular manner or follow a particular routine that is not practical and then, pushing
it to a later date or forsaking it in a couple of days, or taking that resolution yet again
31. Experiencing an inflammation in the nerves around the brain when emotionally charged
32. Imagining oneself as an incarnation of a God / special creation and assuming others also to be so
33. Trying to attain everything through easy short-cuts
34. Trying to imitate others
35. Bullying the weak and fearing the strong
36. Having a strong feeling of vengeance against others without any particular reason
37. Reading the histories of great saints and drawing a parallel between their experiences
and one's own life’s incidents
If you find someone possessing a few or all
of these traits, then his mental disposition is generally not suited for rigorous spiritual
Saadhanaa that involve heavy tasking of the mind. Such a person should be advised to stay
away from undertaking such Saadhanaa and seek professional psychiatric help. He might perceive
a superficial similarity in incidents of his life while reading spiritual books about experiences
of great saints. Whereas, in reality, such correlations will only weaken his already fragile mind.
So it is best for him to avoid reading such texts. A light religious life with simple and light
spiritual practices with a positive outlook in day-to-day life is advised for such individuals if
they wish to lead a happy life.
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