by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 26
Feb. 2003

THE THREE OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPMENT

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

Our ancient seers - who obtained direct knowledge of what lies beyond the rim of our world of ignorance - have explained this human nature by the concepts of preyas and shreyas. Preyas is what brings immediate satisfaction to our senses, and therefore is readily lapped up by us. But preyas, by nature, is short lived and is invariably followed by dissatisfaction and unhappiness. None who-so-ever is immune from it. In contrast to preyas, we have shreyas. It is that which on the face of it may not appear pleasant but surely leads us to lasting happiness. All worldly things -barring none- only provide preyas. Shreyas is from the divine plane, the world of higher knowledge and sharper consciousness.

How does one fight Moha in practice. That should be a matter of our constant concern.

The golden rule is Sita usna sukhaduhkhadi avartante divaratravat

Like the night follows the day and the day gives in to night again, all our worldly happiness and misery, the pleasant and unpleasant experiences follow one after the other.

If we can remember during the day that night is round the corner, and remember during the darkness of the night that there will be daybreak soon, then neither the ecstasy of the daylight will overwhelm us nor the despair of darkness frighten us. It means, the pleasant time of the moment is staring at the unpleasant round the corner. If misery has befallen, soon it will also pass. One should never lose one's head on either- just wait with patience. You will regain your inner peace. The clarity of understanding in both situations will not make us lose control of ourselves. Neither the moha of happiness nor the moha of misery will become part of our psyche.

This is the perfect and only antidote for moha.

Ofcourse achieving this state is not easy. For that we need divine intervention- the grace of the Lord.

How does one crave for His grace? By simply believing that both happiness and unhappiness descend upon us with a divine purpose, with a divine command that has our welfare only at the root.

A spiritual practitioner (sadhak) when face to face with sudden good fortune or misfortune, immediately pauses to seek from The Lord "What have I done to deserve this?", "What lies ahead of this?", "What lesson has this brought for me?".

Is it just a futile mental exercise? Far from it. People who search within and practice the habit of contemplating on all major happenings in life, invariably receive the answer within, which dictates their next course of action. They are the people who face life with a purpose, not the ones who drift unthinkingly in the river of life.

This is how moha is overcome.

The second obstacle as Arjuna discovered, is recovery of memory- smrtilabha.

"Who am I?", "Where from I came?", "Where am I going?", "What is my true nature?", "Where is my final abode?"- these are some of the main questions on what spiritualism is all about.

We ask these questions because we still have not got the answers. We have come from somewhere that is certain. Everybody returns back home or to its original character that is also logical. Then why we are groping about? Because, our memory eludes us. Many of us are also like the baby lost in the dazzle of village fair. We have lost ourselves in the dazzle of this physical world, that we call Maya.

But there are also great seers and saints who have laboured and risen above this maya, and seen for themselves, our source, our essential nature and our final destination. All their teachings are really their way to help us regain our memory and return back. Like the baby lost temporarily in the fair, when suddenly remembers his mother, abandons everything and runs back to her, so would it happen to us. If we could regain our memory and remember our true nature and source, all these worldly attractions will fall off and we shall endevour to return to where we belong.

Not only the sanatan dharma but all major religions believe in this, in some form or other.

Arjuna has identified the third obstacle for us, which he overcame. It is sandeha or doubts of mind. Oh what a terrible disease this 'doubt' is. It spares no one. To have absolute faith in Divine and trust Him totally is easily said than done. Even the great Gurus who advise to trust Lord and His ways implicitly also are aware that they themselves may not be without a tinge of doubt lurking somewhere. That is human nature. We are all ready to have ninetynine percent faith but that one percent doubt of "what if God fails to come to my help?" always bugs us.

Our seers tell us that until that last bit of doubt is removed our goal is not reached.

What then a sadhak supposed to do?

There is still hope of deliverance for us.

To begin with even if one has incomplete faith, the benefit of that is also immense in smoothening out the rough rapids of life. There is only benefit and no harm. In time the faith only grows and doubts recede, making our journey easier and easier. The Lord sees to it. He rewards every effort that we make in this direction. What about the last drop of doubt? As Arjuna clarifies in the above sloka, this is removed by His benevolent grace - tvaat prasaadaat - which awaits every one of us.

When we receive His grace, the moha is cast off, we regain our true self, and there is no doubt whatsoever as to what should be our conduct in this life and lives hereafter and thus the pilgrim moves on.

That is the state of true sthiti or composure as the Lord Himself is, whom Arjuna addresses as Achyuta- the steady and unwavering one examplified.

At this stage the simple words karisye vacanam tava, - I shall do what you bid me to do- comes but so naturally and effortlessly to everyone.