03 Jul 2016
Smt. Shrutakeerthi asked: Swami! We want to go to the temple of Srisailam and stay there in an asylum in this last part of our life. What is your advice?
Swami replied: The Veda says that all the souls, whether human beings or even angels have one inherent bad psychology, which is that any soul hates the atmosphere present before eyes and loves the atmosphere which is far from the eyes and unseen (Paroksha priyaah…). This is the reason why Arjuna was terribly attracted to spiritual knowledge and asked several interesting doubts since the atmosphere before his eyes, which is the war, is quite opposite to the spiritual atmosphere like a peaceful forest. Same Arjuna did lot of penance on Himalaya hill, which is perfect spiritual atmosphere. There, he did not ask Lord Shiva about concepts of spiritual knowledge. Instead, he asked for a special weapon (Paashupata) to kill enemies, which is totally worldly aspect. He asked God about spiritual concepts in worldly atmosphere (war) and asked God about worldly concept in the spiritual atmosphere. This proves that the mind goes to the atmosphere opposite to the atmosphere present before eyes! Therefore, if your mind is to be associated with spiritual knowledge, your stay in the opposite atmosphere will satisfy the nature of mind. This is the basic defect for neglecting God in human form present before your eyes and for your attraction to the energetic form in the upper world. People neglected Krishna present before eyes, who is the ultimate God in human form and were attracted to Indra, an energetic form of Deity or soul in the upper world. Two friends started going to the city of Kashi. One friend was stopped by a prostitute in the way. The other friend reached Kashi and was worshipping the Lord in the temple. The mind of the friend in the temple was always on the enjoyment of prostitute and not on the temple. The mind of the other friend, who was with prostitute, was always roaming in the temple. When both died on the same day of Shivaratri, the person in the temple was taken to hell and the person with the prostitute was taken to the Divine abode of God. The reason is that the friend with the prostitute developed always repulsion to the atmosphere of prostitute and he also developed simultaneously attraction to the temple in Kashi, which is far from his eyes. In the case of the other friend, this was vice-versa. Keeping this psychology in the view, one should select the atmosphere examining his/her development of psychology to every instant of time and place continuously. This means that you may stay in any place, you should observe the development and reaction of mind to that atmosphere. Based on the direction of your psychology, you should change your place. If you sit in the congenial atmosphere and watch the reaction of your mind, you can make a decision about your continuation of place or change of place. You should not foolishly stick to a place with rigidity towards the external atmosphere. You should take careful steps in your decision as per your observation of the reaction of your mind and proceed in your spiritual effort. God always remains far from us without seen by our eyes. The reason for this is that God wants to save His value forever in the minds of the devotees, which always repel from the near seen item and always get attracted to the far unseen item.
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