Man (Self) being a part (ansh) of God is “saadharmya” identical with God in attributes. As God is totally free from flaws (evils), so is man. Being free of flaws, (nirdoshtaa) is not acquired by his own effort, rather it is innate and axiomatic. In the Ramcharitmanas Saint Tulasidasa declares –
“Ishvar ansh Jeeva abinashi | Chetan Amal Sahaj Sukhraasi ||” (7/117/1)
Soul being a part of God in its nature is sentient, pure and an embodiment of bliss.
People have a strong conviction that they will get rid of their flaws, they will become free of evils, thereafter only they will be able to realize God. But the method of attaining God is quite different from that of gaining mundane worldly things. Attainment of worldly things is attainment of the unattainable. While God being eternally existent, is the attainment of the ever-attained. The self (soul) is inherently free from flaws (evils) and is ever-attained (realized). So, this fact is to be accepted. This purity (flawlessness) is not to be inculcated. Be indifferent to flaws (evils) rather than trying to wipe them out. If you try to get rid of them, by accepting them in you, you will rather confirm them, make them more solid. The reason is that your wiping them out supposes their pre-existence.
Every aspirant has the experience that faults (evils) were more forceful, more lasting, more frequent before he began his spiritual discipline, than they are today. This difference in measure should encourage an aspirant and bring about increased enthusiasm that really these faults are not inherent in him. Had they been a part of his nature, these changes (difference) could not have been perceived. The point is that there are changes (differences) in the degree of faults (evils) while there is no change in the self. It means that faults (evils) are distinct from the self.
All evils such as desire, anger, greed, infatuation, pride and jealousy etc., are “Asat” (unreal) i.e. have no existence of their own and are born because of your affinity for the unreal. As while asleep, forgetting wakefulness, and one begins to dream, so by assuming relationship with the unreal, you become unaware of your inherent pure flawless nature and feel yourself as impure (with flaws). These evils make their dream like appearance but as such have no independent existence of their own.
Evils appear and disappear while the unpolluted self ever remains the same. It is the common experience that evils flash while we remain intact. We are aware of the appearance and disappearance of evils because of our inherent purity. Without being free from flaws, one cannot become aware of the flaws. It is because we are free of flaws, that we are aware of the flaws and that which we are aware of is quite distinct from the self. Whatsoever impurities there may be, they are felt only in the mind and intellect but never in the self. But by identifying the self with the mind and intellect we assume that they are in us. The mind and intellect being the evolutes of Nature (Prakriti) have flaws and are perishable. Our relationship is neither with the mind-intellect, nor with the flaws (evils) that come in it.
It is a principle that whatever does not exist in the beginning and the end has no existence at present as well. – “aadaavante cha yannaasti vartamaane’pi tattathaa” (Mandukya Karikaa 4/31). As in a mirror, neither there was an image before, nor it will be afterwards, nor is it at present, though it actually is seen, it is not there as such. So is the case with flaws (evils), it only appears that we have flaws, but as such they are not in us.
Just as we are free from flaws (evils), so also, others are without flaws (faults), because the self of all is naturally free from all evils. Therefore we should not consider anyone as evil, that is, our eye should naturally be on the faultless self. If anyone performs an evil deed, we should think that being overpowered by the transitory evil he performed it but neither the evil nor its fruit is permanent. Neither the action nor the fruit will remain, but the self ever remains. Moreover if we find and accept faults in others, then those faults (flaws, evils) will come in him, because, seeing those faults in him, our renunciation, penance and power etc. will naturally aid in giving birth to these evils, whereby the person will become evil. So from the principles point of view, in relating with our children or pupil, we should give advice to them by considering them faultless and their evils transitory. Only by consider them to be free of faults, we should try to free them from evils.
If evils crop up in the mind and intellect, one must not come under their sway – “tayorna vashamaagacchet” (Gita 3/34) i,e, don’t perform any actions coming under the sway (being influenced and impelled) of those evils. By acting under their sway, the evils are strengthened. But if we don’t act being swayed by them, we get renewed encouragement and enthusiasm (utsaah). Suppose someone utters harsh words and we don’t get angry, we should feel pleased and encouraged that today we have been saved from anger, but not due to our own effort, rather due to the grace of God that we have been saved, or else we would have come under the sway of anger! In this manner, whenever an aspirant “sadhak” sees any flaws (evils), he should not come under their influence, and he should not accept these faults (evils) to be in him.
The main flaw is the misuse of freedom bestowed upon us. It is up to us to accept the existence or non-existence of the unreal. We can
choose to indulge in evils such as fraud, forgery and violence etc., or not. This is the independence that we have received. From the time we began to misuse this freedom, we have been snared in the cycle of birth and death. In order to remain free of flaws, i.e. to safeguard himself against evils and the cycle of birth and death, an aspirant should not misuse this freedom.
When man misuses the freedom bestowed on him and associates himself with the unreal (temporary), he gets attached to the pleasures derived from association with the unreal. This attachment to sense pleasures is the root of all evils (flaws).
Inclination and taste for the unreal things, the liking of prosperity, hoarding (sangraha) and sense enjoyments (bhog) etc., seeing pleasure and happiness in them, and having the desire to possess them are the root of all evils. Only he who feels agony and is suffering, has the desire for contact born (sensual) pleasures, because only the afflicted longs for any kind of pleasure. Only such an afflicted person relishes happiness in sensual pleasures, just as food is relished by he who is very hungry. It is a rule that pain follows pleasure. Lord Krishna declares – “The pleasures born of contact (with objects) are sources of suffering only” (Gita 5/22). Thus suffering precedes and follows pleasure. By knowing this fact, the desire for pleasures is renounced because no one desires suffering. The moment we discard this desire for pleasure, we become conscious of our inherent purity.
Flawlessness (freedom from evils) is not a product of efforts, but it is innate, natural and axiomatic. If an aspirant holds that flawlessness is a product of efforts, egoistic feeling develops in him; and egoism is the root of all evils. It is the duty of an aspirant to safeguard this flawlessness i.e. he should have a strong conviction that he is inherently free from all flaws (evils) and flaws can never enter him. Even then if any evil appears before him, he should invoke God by uttering – “O’ Lord! O’ my Lord !!” “The Lord looks after His devotees in all respects” – “yogakshemam vahaamyaham” (Gita 9/22). He safeguards their flawlessness and frees them from those evils which merely flash. Then why should we worry? We should depend, on His grace by holding that He, Who has made our flawlessness known to us, will also safeguard it. By having this faith in His grace, flashing of evils will also cease.
As invocation to God is a means to be conscious of our inherent flawlessness, so the strong conviction that we are free from evils is also a means. The existence of “Is”(Self) is totally free from all evils, flaws and blemishes and there is no possibility of any kind of evil or flaw in it. That flawlessness is innate, automatic, natural, eternal and axiomatic. Having a strong conviction in this flawlessness, become completely calm and quiet. Thus by being calm i.e. by attaching a higher value to the flawless entity, we naturally realize the total lack of flaws (evils).
Having once realized it, we never get deluded because it is not practice, rather it is an awareness of the innate reality.
Narayan ! Narayan ! Narayan !
From “Sadhaj Sadhana” in Hindi and English by Swami Ramsukhdasji
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