From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Sat Jan 23 07:35:27 1999
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: On Lust and Anger
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 23 Jan 1999 15:35:27 GMT





                           ON LUST AND ANGER

                                  by
                         
                          Sant Kirpal Singh Ji


                  This talk was given on Jan. 29, 1964
                  in Washington, D.C., and was the
                  Master's last public talk in America
                  on His Second World Tour. Published
                  in the June 1975 issue of Sat Sandesh.



  IN A FEW WORDS: man is the highest in all creation, and
the highest aim that is before us in the human body - as has
been given out by all Masters who came in the past - is to
know God. To know God, we must know ourselves first. God
cannot be known by the outgoing faculties, the intellect or the
vital airs. It is the soul alone that can know God. But our soul
is under the control of mind, and mind is under the control of
the outgoing faculties. Our attention, which is the expression
of our soul, is diffused into the world through the outgoing
faculties and is so identified with them that we have forgotten
ourselves.

  As I told you, it is the soul alone that can know God. Like
knows the like. Soul is a conscious entity; God is all
consciousness. So the primary thing is that we should know
ourselves. Whenever the Masters came, they gave out the same
thing: Know thyself.

  How can we know ourselves? We can by liberating ourselves
from the clutches of mind and the outgoing faculties;
or, you might say, by analyzing ourselves from mind and
matter; or, still further you might say, by rising above
body-consciousness. When you know yourself, you will see
that that very God Whom you find within is already there.

  The human body is a wonderful house that we live in. We
are living in this body, and we are also controlled in it
because of some higher Power overhead: otherwise, we could
run out of this body. There are so many apertures in this
wonderful house we live in, but we are controlled: we cannot
go out of it. Our breathing goes out, but cannot remain outside;
some Power is bringing it back into the body. The very
Power that controls us in the body, controls all the universe.
That is what is called God-Power: it has been given so many
different names by various Masters. When God, Wordless or
Nameless, came into being, it was called Name, Shabda, Word.
That God-into-Expression Power is the cause of all creation.

  You reside in this human body, and so does He Whom
you are after. To find Him is the purpose for which you have
joined various schools of thought or religions. He also resides
within you: "The Kingdom of God is within you." If you
would like to find Him or enter this Kingdom, you will have
to enter into the laboratory of your body. You might be seeking
outside for years and years; you might be observing so many
rites and rituals, performed at the level of the outgoing
faculties; and yet, you cannot find a clue to His Kingdom.
Guru Nanak says, "So long as you do not know yourself, you
are in a grand delusion."

  It is a pity: we are the indweller of the human body, and
that very Power that we have to find is also already there: a
fish living in the water inquires where water is. In the
scriptures you will find a description of what the Masters found
in their lives when they came in contact with the God-Power.
Reading the scriptures can flare up an interest in you to know
Him and to have those very same experiences that the Masters
had. But there the scope of the scriptures ends.

  What do the scriptures say? "God is within you; the body
is the temple of God." All Masters say that: in their own
words, of course. So, if God is within you, you must try to
find Him where He is. If you try to find Him in outward
things or outward places, you will not find Him. We have
regard for all scriptures, for they give beautiful, fine
records of the experiences that the Masters had in their lives.
We have respect for all places of holy worship, because they
are models of the human body: Hindu temples are dome-shaped,
like the head; churches are cross-shaped, or nose-shaped.
Within them are the symbols representing God: God is Light
and God is Music of the Spheres. So these two symbols are
kept in the temples and churches to show that this Light of
God is shining within you and this Music of the Spheres, or
Voice of God, is reverberating within you: it can be heard.
You can have a contact with them when you rise above senses,
above body-consciousness. It is a matter of practical self-
analysis.

  How can you rise above body-consciousness? If you can
rise above it by your own efforts, you are welcome to do it.
If you cannot, you can seek the help of someone who goes up
and has the competency to raise your soul, to liberate your
soul, from the clutches of mind and the outgoing faculties,
someone who is able to give you an experience of opening
the inner eye to see the Light of God and opening the inner
ear to hear the Voice of God. Call him by any name you like.
He is a man like you in his outward appearance; but inside he
is developed in that way. He has analyzed his soul from mind
and the outgoing faculties; he rises above body-consciousness
daily. This is what is meant when the scriptures say: "Learn to
die so that you may begin to live." This is what is meant when
Saint Paul said, "I die daily." This is what is meant by, "To be
born anew." This is what is meant when it is said: "The
Kingdom of God cannot be had by observation; it is within
you.

  In worldly subjects, we do need the help of someone who is
an expert in them. If you need someone to guide you and help
you in these subjects that have to do only with the outgoing
faculties, why wouldn't you need that help in the subject that
starts when you rise above the body and the outgoing faculties?
It is a matter of common sense. If you can do it alone, well and
good. A blind man needs two eyes to see. So we need someone:
"The Son knows the Father and others to whom the Son reveals
Him." And that Sonship continues.

  This is what is before us, and for that purpose we have
joined various schools of thought. You will find that whoever
can withdraw from outside is not attached outside. Whoever
is attached outside or is given up to outward pleasures and
lives a sensuous way of living, such a man is not fit. There
are five passions connected with the outgoing faculties, but
two of them are the most dangerous:

                The first is lust.
                The second is anger.

  All are dangerous, but these are the most dangerous. And
even between these two, the first is more dangerous. Kabir
says, "I forgive all sins; but not those who are given up to
an unchaste life." These are his words.

  Naturally the question arises: what can be said about those
who are married? All scriptures tell us what marriage means.
It means taking a companion in life to be with you in weal or
woe on this earthly sojourn; and to help each other to know
God, which is the highest aim before us. One duty may be that
of begetting children; but it is not one hundred per cent of
our duties. About such a marriage, Saint Paul wrote: "Husbands
should love their wives as Christ loved the church." They
should have chaste lives. One duty, as I told you, is begetting
children. When you have one or two children, all right; set
your example and make their lives sublime.

  The first thing needed is a life of continence. The rishis
called having a life of continence observing brahmcharya.
"Brahmcharya means control of all the organs of sense. It does
not mean mere control of animal passions. If a man controls only
one organ and allows all others to have free play, he is bound to
find his effort fruitless. To hear suggestive stories with the ears,
to see suggestive sights with your eyes, to taste stimulating food
with your tongue, to touch exciting things with the hands, and
then expect to control the only remaining organ, is just like
putting your hand in fire and expecting that it will not burn."*

(* Quoted from Mahatma Gandhi; see Self-Restraint
    vs. Self-Indulgence, p. 92.)

  You will find perhaps that the palate is the chief of all.
Brahmcharya means: the word charya means "the course of
conduct"; and Brahm means "God." So brahmcharya means
to have a conduct of life adapted to the search for God. It is,
therefore, the control of all the senses; and it will become
easy to anyone who controls his passions, his palate. Diet has
very much to do with our lives. Whatever sort of food you
eat, you get that very same effect. If a dog is kept on mere
vegetables, he will be very amiable. If you keep him on meat,
he will be howling and growling. Any diet that flares up
passions, we have to eliminate.

  Diet flares up passions, I tell you. Maulana Rumi says, "It
is not love. that arises out of eating bread; but love is of the
soul, of charity." Love attached with the physical body is
called lust. You will find that animals observe brahmcharya
more than men. When any animal gets sick, the first thing he
does is not eat. There is also a time for their mating; and man
has no special time. It is a pitiable state, I would say. That
is why we are not born for eating; but eating is made for us,
so that this body may be maintained. This body is the golden
opportunity that we have: maintain it; keep it as long as you
can. It is not for eating; but eating is made for you to maintain
it, so that you may know God.

  Similarly, all other organs of desire are required to be
controlled. All Masters have laid great stress on that very
subject. These two things are specially important. What does
it all mean? All these five passions practically mean the same
thing; they hinge only on desire. To be desireless is to cut off,
to exterminate, the very root of other things. Many Masters
have come and said this. Lord Buddha said, "Be desireless."
The tenth Guru of the Sikhs said, in his own language, "Be
desireless." When you have no desire, there is no question of
anger. What is anger? When you want to do something or
have something and someone appears to be standing in the
way - either directly or indirectly - that impediment to the
achievement of your desire causes anger.

  When there is anger, what happens? You cannot speak
slowly. Take the example of a little rivulet or ordinary canal
flowing strongly in a narrow channel. When there is no
impediment in the way, it flows on smoothly. But if you put a
big stone in it, the water retards and strikes against the stone,
and two things happen: one, there is froth and foam, from the
striking; and the other, there is noise. Similarly, those who
become angry cannot speak slowly, and there is foam in their
mouths. Then when there is any wish: "Oh, I must have it;
there is no reason why I should not have it." He puts in all
efforts at having it; he makes parties, and this and that. When
he achieves it, he does not want to leave it; he is attached.
This is called attachment. And then he enjoys it.

  So all five passions hinge on the one thing: desire. Out of
these, as I told you, two are the most important, or the strongest
ones controlling us in the body. All Masters have been saying
that. They say, "Chastity is life" - here we lack very much -
and "Sexuality is death." Those who are not married should
observe strict chastity. Those who are married should regulate
their lives according to what the scriptures say. And what they
say, I have just laid out before you. The Mohammedan and
almost every scripture says the same thing.

  So, "The abandonment of sensual desires draws the soul
towards heaven." The more you control this, the nearer you
are to God; because on this very power depends the health of
mind and body both: your intellect, your brain, your physical
body. They say that what you eat forms chyle; from chyle,
blood is formed; from blood, fat is formed; from fat comes the
bones; from bones, the pith in them; and from the pith, this
thing is formed - how valuable a thing it is! As I told you,
animals observe chastity more than men: men have no special
mating time. All Masters laid down: "Any unchaste look,
thought or act, and all profanity of speech is declared to be
unpardonable." We don't pay attention to these things. "A
perfect man must be pure in every word and in every action in
his own life. The Holy Spirit comes to him from the day he
becomes pure." You know the utmost necessity of being pure
in thought. That is why Christ said: "Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God" - not others.

  All Masters have been laying stress on this. Shankaracharya
in the Hindu religion said, "When a man follows the way of
the body, true wisdom is not born within him." When you are
attached to the sensuous way of living, where is the divinity?
Similarly, "Lust and temptations are like the sharks in the
river of life." Sharks - they eat up the man! Kabir says, "Lust
and anger eat away the body, just as aqua regia, when put on
gold, dissolves it." "As the dawning of the day comes
simultaneously with the passing of the night, so the dawning
of true knowledge follows simultaneously with the dawning of
control over the self." Do you see how important it is, and
how we have let these things loose?

  All Masters, whether they came in one religion or the
other, have been very particular about this point. And nowadays,
how dangerous it is! Young men and women - I don't know whether
you will take it ill or not; I have pity for the state of
affairs we are having nowadays-are let loose, going like
anything: wild animals, running here and there. Marriage is
a sacrament; it is not a contract. As I told you, Saint Paul
said, "Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the
church." This is the main thing. "He who is affected by
passions cannot obtain liberation." This is what Shankaracharya
said. Not one, but each religion says so. We belong to one
religion or the other; but we don't follow its teaching.
"Fascination with the body is a great debt for him who is
seeking liberation." I am quoting you these things from the
scriptures. These aren't my words. They are there in whichever
religion you belong to. Chinese philosophy tells us, "To
be guileless and pure: this is the way to nourish the spirit.
When lust and desires are deep, the springs of the heavenly
are shallow." What more do you want them to tell you? What
are we doing? These things are given great stress, but we
people don't care. That's the pity. Buddha says: "I proclaim
the annihilation of lust. I teach the doing away with lust.
Nirvana means the subsiding of all human passions. When
inner fires of lust are extinguished, then one enters into the
Nirvana. This is the lesson of lessons."

  This is the most important thing and the most ignored.
I tell you, when we were quite young and our brothers and
sisters were born, we used to ask out of curiosity where they
came from. And we were told that "the midwife has left it
here." Such innocent lives we had! Our parents had such
chaste lives that children did not know where children came
from. But now, small boys know. Why? They see you. How
can you expect that not to happen?

  This subject is the most important and the most ignored;
everything follows this. May I quote you history? History
shows that when Napoleon, whose name was dreaded throughout
the whole of Europe, was caught at Waterloo, he had fallen
down in this way the night before. Indian history shows that
Prithvi Raj had repulsed all invaders. But the day after he
had fallen down in this way, he was caught. Your own
experiences show that when you go in for that, the following
day you are not happy; your spirits are down; your eyes are
sunken.

  Excuse me, I have just taken up this subject because some
friend of mine was asking about it today; there was an article
in the papers on this very subject. They are recommending all
these things, whereas these are deadly against the highest
principles of spirituality.

  So, as I told you, control of the organs of sense is of the
first importance: that is to have a life of continence. Lust
assails us through the eyes. Do you want to save yourself?
Don't look into the eyes of others. Anger is flared up through
the ears. How can you control it? Leave the place. The more
you hear, the more your anger is flared up; and you won't talk
slowly. You will go on talking loudly; and what will be the
result? There will be foam in your mouth, and you will not be
able to speak. Attachment comes through the skin. There are
centers in the body. When you are attached to anyone - to
your son or daughter - you hug him, here [to your heart].
These are centers in the body.

  The human body is the highest in all creation, and we
have it! If only we could withdraw! What is the best way to
control it? Just control your attention, withdraw it from
outside and bring it up to the seat of the soul, which is at
the back of the eyes. This is the best way. When you have full
control, this can be had by regular practice. Practice makes
a man. You use your eyes and you may not see; with your ears
you may not hear. When will this be? When your attention is
controlled.

  I tell you, Prophet Mohammed said about these two things:
"If you control two organs - the one between the two lips and
the other between the two thighs - I am responsible for your
liberation at the court of God." Tulsidas said the same thing:
"If you are truthful, have humility and are chaste, if you
consider others as mothers, sisters and daughters, except for
your wife" (and that also, only for a while; wives are not
machines, mind that. Excuse me; I am a bit very clear today.
They are not for that purpose. That is only one duty, not one
hundred per cent of our duties.) - "I am responsible for you
at the court of God." And Kabir said, "I will forgive all sins;
not him who is unchaste." We have no chastity left anywhere,
that's a pity.

  These are the basic things that are flared up; others
follow. To achieve God is just to have a pure heart. "Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

  You are always thinking. Simply sit down and listen to
what others are saying. Either they will be speaking of
unchaste things - excuse me - or with animosity. What does
this do? Any thought, I tell you, any intention that considers
someone to be retarding us, to be putting an impediment in
our way, turns into anger. That's all. So we must have a life of
contentment. All Masters say this is a necessity. All scriptures
tell us to love God and to love all humanity; God resides in
every heart. An ethical life is a stepping stone to spirituality.

  Although there are others, these are the two main things.
Here we fail very much. You fail with the tongue if you have
no control over your eating or what you are saying. Think
twice before you speak. "Will this word I am uttering carry an
effect?" If there is any controversy, quietly follow what the
other one is saying. If you are angry, mind that, never say
anything. Keep quiet.

  These are the ways to save yourself But the highest aim is
another thing. If you have love for God, and God resides in
every heart, and we are of the same essence as that of God,
then naturally we will have love for all and have no hatred.
When you love anyone, you won't harm him, you won't usurp
his rights, you won't tell lies. All things follow love. So God
is love, and love is the way back to God. For the way of love,
it is necessary for you to have a life of continence.

  This is, I think, the last talk I can give you. I have been
referring to these things in my talks and enjoining you to
maintain your diaries. Perhaps you have been thinking that I
was talking to someone else. This is the stony ground on
which you can raise your building of spirituality; otherwise,
you are raising your building on sand. I think that the best I
know and have found, I have given you. Man's highest aim is
to know God, and we should eliminate whatever retarding
factors there are. Whatever are helping factors, we should
adopt in our lives. Whoever has to solve the mystery of life,
naturally the day this question enters his heart is the greatest
day of his life: this question cannot be stamped out; we must
find a solution, sooner or later. There is food for the hungry
and water for the thirsty; where fire bums, oxygen comes to
help. Demand and supply is the law of nature. God sees: "My
child is after Me." He makes some arrangement to bring you
in contact with someone who has known himself and who
knows God: who sees God as I see you and you see me. And
he tells you how to control these outgoing faculties.

  All outgoing faculties can be made to stand still if you
control your attention. This is what the Masters have always
given out: Surat Yoga-the way of attention, of controlling
the attention. The Masters give you an experience of how to
withdraw, how to analyze yourself, how to rise above body-
consciousness and how to be reborn: "Except ye be reborn, ye
cannot enter the Kingdom of God." It is a matter of pure self-
analysis. Blessed are you. With the grace of God you have
been put on the way. Christ said to his disciples: "Blessed
are ye who see things that the old prophets and righteous men
could not see. Blessed are ye who hear things that the old
prophets and righteous men could not hear." So you can see
and you can hear. Is it not a great blessing of God? Go on
further. Just self-introspect your life like a strict judge,
like a hard taskmaster. Don't spare yourself. And go on with
your meditations; weed out all imperfections; send your diaries
at regular intervals. Have love for all; love God; God resides
in every heart. Those who do not love, cannot know God.

  These are, I think the best things I could give you in a few
words. Tomorrow, the last day, I will be physically leaving
you. Please keep it in your hearts and live up to it. The more
you live up to it, the more you will feel blessedness within
you. Remain in any religion you like. Religions are our schools
of thought, to know God.

  I thank you all for all the cooperation and help extended
by you - not in words, but in thoughts and deeds. You have
been helping the cause of God: in other words, you have been
helping your own Selves and helping me, too. My best wishes
are always with you, and the God-Power is with you. He can
never leave you. He will be extending all feasible help and
protection to you.

  I will be glad to hear from you about your spiritual progress
at regular intervals, say, quarterly. Give what you want in
brief. Long yarns won't do. Suppose you write a letter of
eight pages-sometimes people write ten or twelve pages. So
what do I do? The short letters I reply to first. That is what
I have to do. So write short, to the point, what you want. That
Power is within you; it will compensate you straight off. Your
diary shows everything about how you feel and any difficulty
you have in your meditations. If there is anything special, you
can put it down. That will help you, and I think I can attend to
it more clearly. My correspondence is increasing by leaps and
bounds, because the number of disciples is growing. And I
wish each one of you to remain in contact and attend your
group meetings. Those who are there, have love and respect
for them. Love one another, for the sake of God and God in
Master, that's all.

  I wish you all my best wishes and love. Tomorrow I will
be leaving at about, I think, ten or eleven o'clock.

COMMENT: Master has been a source of great blessing. Even if
Master goes away, He has left so much.

THE MASTER: It won't be lost if you simply turn your face to it.
It is always fresh. Remain in contact. God will help you.

COMMENT: He'll be coming back again, if all goes well.

THE MASTER: It is all in the hands of God.

COMMENT: We want to thank all those who started Satsang in
the United States; without them, we wouldn't be here.

THE MASTER: Do you know how much love I have for them? If
you people have any anger, send it to me. Don't throw it here.
Anything that is not good, throw in the wastepaper basket:
consider it sent on to me. Love one another; that will help
you. Be cordial and friendly when you see each other: when
two disciples meet, intoxication comes up in the sweet
remembrance of God and the Master. I am very glad.... All
these nothings we should forgive and forget. These little daily
dyings should be set aside. This is all, I think that will earn
my pleasure.... All are on the same way, and how can the
Father leave the children?

  That's all right. Thank you so much, each one of you.

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