5 przyczyn ignorancji (5 Causes of Ignorance) cz. 5 z 5 - Siostra Ananda Shubhashisa

5 Causes of Ignorance
Self-Deception
by Didi Ananda Shubhashisa
Very often we realize
that what seems to be ugly
contains some beauty in it,
what seems to be painful
contains the boon for redemption.
So if we discard the painful,
then we are also missing the boon of redemption.
So we have to realize that this confusion,
this attraction to pleasurable things
and rejection of apparently painful things
is a confused condition of the mind,
is a flawed way of thinking.
And if we liberate our mind from those complexes,
then we can see the wide picture,
we can embrace the full spectrum,
and exist within the synthesis of that reality.
And the fifth one,
which is very insidious,
the fifth aspect of negativity,
of impact of negativity on our mind is very insidious,
that is self-deception.
It is the most insidious
because mind works against itself.
There is a simple truth,
as we said before,
and mind is uniquely able to apprehend the truth.
That simplicity of the truth is so self-evident
that there is no need for an expanation.
There is no need to prove it
that all creatures,
all living beings,
all created beings
in this universe
are all entitled to live
with dignity, in peace,
to pursue the purpose of their life.
It is so evident.
There is no need to prove that!
That it is not right to take,
to snatch away something from somebody
when it belongs to them
is so obvious that there is no need to discuss that.
But many irrational ideas
have crept into the human mind
and have assaulted the natural capacity of the mind
to apprehend the simple truth.
And they have done that
by rationalizing
we said "self-deception",
or the process of rationalizing.
A great social thinker said
that the human mind has a great capacity
to weave webs of deception,
the fabric of lies.
If the mind does that,
it does it because it is propelled by a certain weakness,
and the weakness is usually the same,
the propensity is usually the same,
maybe variations of the theme,
but basically it is always the same desire,
self-gratification.
Self-gratification as opposed to universal harmony,
collective harmony and good.
"I think of what I gain.
Even though the gain is no gain to speak of,
but in my opinion that is a gain
that I snatch away from others
what is due to them.
Actually it is no gain at all.
It is mean,
it is ugly,
but some people manage to rationalize it so much,
and they have rationalized it so much,
and it has been collectively rationalized so much,
and in such a sophisticated way,
we can say,
that many people think
that it is completely OK
to waste
when there are so many people in the world
that do not have a mouthful to eat.
"Oh, but they could do it!
There is plenty!
There is abundance for everyone.
So many ways to rationalize.
So this self-deception enslaves the mind in a very particular way.
When a mind becomes so enslaved by all these expressions,
by the effect that negativity plays on it,
by the various ways of confusion
that the force of negativity imposes on the mind
then that mind is unable to think clearly
in a humane way.
I was reading recently about some people
who make enormous amounts of money
out of illegal drug traffic
that is not the only illegal traffic that they control.
They have many more.
And they make enormous amounts of money
which they would not be able to use
even if they lived 50 lives.
And actually, they are not even able to use very much of it,
they are not even able to use what they could use in this life
because they are wanted by the police,
they have to run away,
they have to live in underground shelters.
The folly.
The complete folly!
But mind has been so utterly deprived
of its capacity to be natural,
to think, to understand
what is right,
to understand what gives it joy,
so completely deprived of that capacity,
and has become so confused
than it cannot think anything better.
The truth is very simple.
But to come to that simplicity is not so easy.
To regain that simplicity it is not so easy.
A child is very simple.
A child's mind is very free from deception,
but then, as the child grows,
the child may experience or witness
that the parents are sometimes indulging in falsehood,
are saying on the telephone to somebody,
"Oh, yes, please, do come!"
And as soon as they hang up the phone,
they talk amongs themselves,
and they say, "Oof, why are they coming?"
So many innumerable examples
of expressions of life
which are not in harmony,
not in line,
so mind is so distorted,
and due to the daily indulgence
and practice of distortion,
then mind loses its natural ability
to perceive the naturalness of the truth.
Sometimes people say,
"How can that person,
how can that politician,
who has caused the war
or this massive exploitation to take place
—how can they sleep at night?
They sleep at night because they are caught in the web of their confusion.
As soon as that web,
as soon as the fabric of lies begins to unravel,
they will not be able to sleep any longer.
But they totally lost the sight of their humanity,
of their purpose,
of their truth.
We are sorry that due to technical difficulties
the later portion of this recording was damaged
Namaskar.
Baba nam kevalam.
This is the fifth of five parts.
For more info about
yoga and meditation
visit www.meditationspace.org or email info@meditationspace.org