Daily Readings
Purity
Spiritual Message for the Day – Purity by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Baba Times Digest© | 10 January 2015 16.09 EST | New York Edition
Purity
Divine Life Society Publication: Purity by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Purity is achieved by freedom from desire, and desire should be distinguished from necessity. When one is hungry, one should eat, when one is thirsty one should drink, when one is fatigued, one should sleep. These absolute necessities cannot be called desires because without these necessities one cannot even survive.
Desire is a destructive form of longing which innervates the whole system, longing for things which are not necessary for the maintenance of the body. Every kind of luxury should be considered as desire. One has to judge for oneself whether this particular thing is absolutely necessary, or one can be comfortable even without that. If one can comfortably live happily without certain things, asking for those things once again is called desire. It will disturb the mind.
There are levels of desire, of a lower category and a higher category, etc. You may feel like having a cup of tea. It is a minor desire; have it. You may like to go for a walk – go, go for a walk. Any object that brings about tumult in the emotion, that is an object of desire by which you either want it intensely or hate it intensely. Intense wanting and intense hating will affect the emotions. The test of good health is freedom from emotion, correct understanding without any kind of ebullition, burning desire of any kind. This is briefly the definition of desire.
There are two kinds of desires, anabolic and catabolic. Anabolic desires are constructive, helpful and necessary for maintaining health and peace of mind. Catabolic desires are destructive in their nature. They throw the energy out. Any procedure by which we can conserve our energy is anabolic. Any process by which we deplete our energy and then become weak, that is catabolic. One must be able to very carefully distinguish between one and the other. Understanding is the judge, it is called Viveka-Shakti, capacity to distinguish between what is absolutely essential for living a normal life and what is irrelevant. This is a preliminary definition to the question "What is purity?"
So purity is not like an apple that falls from a tree; it has shades of definition. You will not find any such clear description of this subject in any book. Each one has to use one's common sense.
It is necessary to save life. Suppose you find a snake is wriggling, encircled by forest fire. You would like to save it, but you do not go and catch hold of its neck. So even a good desire like wanting to save the snake should not be fulfilled in a reckless way.
There is a famous passage called Kama Gita in the Mahabharata. The desire says,"People try to conquer me, but they do not know that even the desire to conquer me is a desire, they don't understand that, so I am behind all their attempts."
Desire for God sublimates all other mortal desires. The higher absorbs the lower, the lower should be transmuted to the higher by meditation.
Excerpts from: Purity by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
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If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \* Email to BT Digest Editor* ****( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)**