Yoga for Health, Happiness and World Peace-16. - Swami Chidananda

04/10/2018
16.

The Chairman referred to desire being the main cause of human misery and suffering. Too much desire leads to uncontrolled indulgences and brings about disease. Too much desire brings about restlessness. Too much desire creates envy and jealousy, conflict and clash. Yoga tells us that desire is the enemy of peace. One who manages to see this truth, and therefore says, "No longer shall I be fooled by desire. It is not my friend. It is my enemy. I give up my desire" instantaneously he enters into a state of peace. Where desire ceases, there comes about peace, happiness and joy.

Therefore, Yoga became the systematised method of living your life in such a wise and spiritual way, that its basis became self-control and self-management. Its foundation becomes self-management by becoming firmly rooted and grounded in these five virtues: giving up greed, simplifying our life, adhering to truthfulness, never hurting anyone (because the same reaction will come to us, there is a law of cause and effect—the law of Karma; if you hurt others and cause sorrow to others it rebounds upon you and if you want happiness, the key is to give happiness to others) and ultimately the purity of thought, word and deed. Upon this basis of self-control and a life of virtue, the next step is to give a Godward direction to our every day life.

The first principle of giving this Godward direction is inner and outer purity; SAUCHAM. Where there is purity, there comes about an increase of Sattva, and where there is Sattva and purity, the descent of the divine principle becomes automatic. The descent of what you call grace, you also call it God’s benediction or God’s own quality of divinity that comes about when the heart, the inner nature becomes pure, when it becomes holy, when it becomes Sattvic. Where there is purity, automatically there is excess of Sattva. Hence purity of both the outer and inner man.

To be continued ..