DESIRE AND GUILT PATTERNS
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Desire and guilt are two forms of the same energy. One is related to the future. The other is related to the past. Desire is related to the future. Guilt is related to the past. 'I should have done that' plays a major role in our 'I should do this.' 'I should do this' is determined by 'I should have done that.'
Guilt that is created by rules handed down to us by our elders creates hell in our life and leads us to tamas. Kṛṣṇa says we are led to antaḥ (the end). We fall into ignorance or into the end.
Kṛṣṇa says the manifestations of the modes of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge. This is the technique. The gates of the body are the gates through which we cognize: we receive knowledge or information through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the sense of touch or physical pleasure. These are the files through which we receive information from outside. He says that we should keep these five carefully guarded by prākāśa (illuminated knowledge). We should ensure security at these gates and knowledge is that security.
We should have knowledge about what should be taken in and what should not be taken in. Knowing this, we will reside in satva forever. We will reside in bliss forever. He says we should appoint a guard for the gates of our body. There is no security system for our body. We have security for our home. If someone breaks in, automatically the call goes to 911. We reside twenty-four hours every day in this house called our body, yet we don't have a security system!
Ramaṇa Maharṣi sings in beautiful homage to the sacred Aruṇācala Hill in Tiruvannamalai in his famous song 'Aruṇācala Akŕaramaṇamalai', 'When these thieves, the five senses, have entered into the house, Oh Aruṇācala, were you not at home? How did they enter?' He asks Śiva, 'When these five senses entered the house (body-mind), were you not there? Why did you let them enter?'
Kṛṣṇa says, let us have the security, the protection of knowledge at the five gates, and we will reside in continuous bliss. Completion is Bliss. This means that we should not allow the incomplete thoughts that create suffering to enter our inner space through the eyes and other senses. This means, avoid the television or media. At least do not watch programs that create violence, depression, and powerlessness in you. We should only watch programs that give joy and make us complete, blissful. When we protect our senses with satva, we will not allow negative patterns to come in.
Please do not infuse your consciousness
with powerless thoughts that create
suffering in you. Continuously add
thoughts of completion that give power,
bliss and peace. We may think this is
impractical. We may think, 'How can we
live in society without knowing what's
going on in the world?' Be very clear,
knowing what's going on in the world is
a disease. Collecting information is a
disease.
The other day, someone said, 'Swamiji, we should watch television to get an idea of the culture.' However these television shows are trash. They are nonsensical. The more we watch, the more negative patterns we imbibe. We simply suffer. We put ourselves into rajas and tamas again and again.
Life is much too valuable and too
short to be spent worrying. Do not
allow powerless thoughts that create
depression, low mood and longing,
into your system, especially at
sandhyā time - the twilight time at
which day and night meet. Our
ancient masters knew that sandhyā
time, when day and night meet, is a
critical time. There are two sandhyās,
dawn and dusk. Our masters knew
that whatever thought-seeds are
sown inside our being at sandhyā
come out as full-blown trees. That is
why the masters insisted that at
sandhyā time, one should spend time
in a temple, praying, listening to
prayers, reading devotional material.
Meditate or go to a temple and do
something spiritual at this time.
These spiritual ideas go inside as
seeds and become a valuable
complete tree in our life.
Kṛṣṇa gives one technique, one
suggestion: Protect the five senses
from negative ideas of powerlessness,
the incompletions and infuse positive
ideas of completion through the five
senses. Whatever we feed upon
becomes our being and we radiate
that energy.
Next, Kṛṣṇa says that attachment,
greed, craving, and restless actions are
indications of rājasic behavior.
Instead of enjoying the path, we worry about the goal and constantly live in incompletion. We worry about when we will reach, where we will reach. In the process, we do not notice how we are traveling. We miss the beauty of the path. The goal that we are chasing will be a mirage, an illusion. As soon as we reach that goal, we will be forced to chase another goal. Acquisition becomes the goal, not enjoyment. That is why people who are successful have both passion and patience for what they do. They do not care about what happens in the end as long as what they do is from the space of completion.
If we are complete about what
we do, we will enjoy what we
do. Whatever we do will be
wonderful and successful. We
can never be happy in rajas. It
drives us like a donkey until we
are exhausted and we collapse
with our incompletion. We
need to decide whether or not
this is the way we want to live.
Ask: Do I wish to be a donkey
driven by a carrot dangling in
front of me all my life? When
we decide, 'No, this is not what
I want,' it is time to break away
from rajas and move towards
bliss, nityānanda.
GOALS:
Try to impress upon the
students that we must
try to encourage satva
guna within us by being
very selective about the
type of sensory inputs
we intake from our
external world. We
must reserve our
twilight time in the
mornings and evenings
to our spiritual
practices.
ASSESSMENTS
❖ What are the three Gunas? Explain
what are the attributes attached to
each Guna?
❖ What is the difference between desire and guilt?
❖ Why is it important to keep us in
goodness or Satva guna during the
twilight time in the mornings and
the evenings?
ART OF THE DAY
ART OF THE DAY:
THOU SHALL NOT SEE EViL, TALK EViL, HEAR EViL
MATERIALS NEEDED:
1. Modelling Clay, or paper and charcoal pencil.
PROCEDURE
Make a clay statue or draw a sketch that
expresses the following theme “Do not
see Evil! Do not talk Evil! Do not hear
Evil!”
INFERENCE
We should keep our five senses carefully
guarded by prakāśa (illuminated
knowledge) to be in sattva forever.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY: MAKE YOUR LAWS
MATERIALS NEEDED: Notebook and pen.
PROCEDURE: Make a list of any six (6) statutory laws, social etiquettes or organizational rules that you know of. What is the purpose of these laws/rules? Are these rules/laws in the form of personal rights, duties towards others or are they punishable crimes? Let us share our list with the group and let's brainstorm on what is the true spirit behind each of these laws or moral values
INFERENCE: Never give a law to children. Instead give them understanding and the spirit behind the law. If we want to bring up children blissfully, we need to bring them up without guilt. Breaking rules creates guilt.
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS
PROCEDURE The topic of discussion is: Do not allow powerless thoughts that create depression, low mood and longing, into your system, especially at sandhyā time - the twilight time at which day and night meet. Our ancient masters knew that sandhyā time, when day and night meet, is a critical time. There are two sandhyās, dawn and dusk. Our masters knew that whatever thought-seeds are sown inside our being at sandhyā come out as full-blown trees. Encourage the students to discuss what they are doing at dawn and dusk, and how they can protect themselves against powerless thoughts during that time.
CONCLUSION We should have knowledge about what should be taken in and what should not be taken in. Knowing this, we will reside in satva forever. We will reside in bliss forever. He says we should appoint a guard for the gates of our body.
- BHAGAVAD GITA -
BOOK XIV, VOLUME IV