by Swami Yatishwaranandji

During the period of our spiritual training we must try as much as possible to avoid all temptations, both in their gross and subtle forms.

We should salute anything that may become an object of temptation to us from a safe distance. Let us not go near it. We must not rely too much on our own strength for a long time to come. We have such a dirty mind, so full of filthy impressions, that once it is really stirred up it may create no end of troubles. Lust, hatred, greed, vulgarity -- all these are lying hidden in us waiting to make us their prey. And so we must be on our guard.

Always the trouble arises through our being too little aware of the danger in forms of a tiny and apparently insignificant ripple in the mind (Gita 2:62,63). The outer stimulus, even if it be a very subtle and scarcely perceptible one, slowly and gradually affects the mind. Sometimes even the memory of some old impure impression is enough to upset us, because the germ or the seed is always inside, never outside. Unless the seed is inside, it can never sprout.

Attachment in any form may be enough to muddle the brain and bring about spiritual ruin in the mind of the aspirant, but when attachment and anger combine, the whole mind becomes chaotic and all progress is stopped. All struggle for the Higher Life comes to an end when passion has its way over a person. That is why we should carefully avoid any harmful stimulus even if it be a very subtle one, and keep our mind engaged with the higher thoughts. We should not give an opportunity to the lower propensities and impulses, as well as those who do not lead a strictly moral life, at least during the period of our spiritual training.

"Fill the mind with Vedantic thoughts until you fall asleep or until this body of yours drops off."

We should not give an opportunity to the passions to sway us. It is the nature of the mind to think, and if we do not give good and pure thoughts to the mind by avoiding all old impure associations, it is bound to think of bad and impure ones. So be up and doing. Always be on your guard and follow the path intelligently and assiduously.

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Comments by Swami Radhanandji:

We are lovingly warned by Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita about how our downfall results from the almost imperceptible desires, such as “window shopping” or “just looking.” What to avoid is stated in chapter two of the Gita (2:62:63):

The following are the eight stages which lead us to our downfall:

1. Carelessness: Negligent men think of an object of desire (a girl, a boy, or clothes, ornaments, name and fame etc. and thinks of the desire as rather innocent and of little consequence. We often say or justify our desires by saying: "We are only friends; We are just looking at it; We are just talking; We are just trying it out, etc). But a spark has now started. This, if not vigilantly checked, often ends up in an engulfing fire that destroys our lovely human life.
2. Attachment: Next follows attachment. Attachment reflects the desire to see, feel, smell, taste, hear or touch our objects of desire.
3. Lustful thoughts: What follows next are lustful thoughts -- even of inert objects. Our passions for the object grow. Ultimately these thoughts are aimed at fulfilling passions of the body, flesh, mind or intellect.
4. Anger: Obviously, desire being illusive, can never be fulfilled and it results in anger (or passion). Even if a mother becomes angry with her two-year-old child, it is her desire that has caused her anger, not the child. We rarely recognize this subtle form of lust since we call passions of the body ‘love.’ Worldly people have never known the love that is the prerogative of only saints and incarnations. Worldly people are ignorant and deceive themselves by thinking of lust as love.
5. Delusion: From anger, a man becomes ‘animal like’ because he loses his so called wisdom and comes under total delusion -- this is the power of egotism.
6. Loss of Memory/Loss of good samskars: Next we lose our memory or good samskars. We forget that we are human beings and start to act like animals. We are the only creatures with the potential to realize that we are ourselves God, Love, Peace and Joy. But deluded, we forget.
7. Loss of Intellect: Having lost the discriminative faculty, a man is no longer a human being because the only difference between an animal and a human being is having knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. At this stage, we act rather insensitively and against our own good, as well that of others.
8. Self-destruction: Thus a person full of lust and greed destroys himself repeatedly until he is totally exhausted from suffering. At this point he may surrender his ego to the Lord.