Haribhadras Yoga Works and Psychosynthesis

SR No.: 001262
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S A Desai
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1983
Total Pages: 106
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Yoga
File Size: 7 MB

Page 91

Haribhadra and Psychosynthesis
man pins not on faith, he has some sort of faith, either in science or 80me belief. It is a basic function of the mind to grasp something permanent and from that arises faith. Intellect is seen in a greater measure at present but it is lame because of the weak faith. Moreover there are potent dangers lying in the exercise of the intellect and they are so many and so powerful that a man without faith or self-confidence is casily led astray by them. It is worthwhile to go into some details and see how these dan. gers and obstacles work in the life of a common man as well in the life of a Siddha Generally a man's ego is weak and as his faith is weak too, his psyche is like a loose mass of Mental Stuff, It is the basic characteristic of the ego that either it asserts itself or it makes defences, wrong or right. Man's emotions his attachment, his weak faith, his tendencies to sensual pl.asures and lack of growth of the conscience naturally make his intellect a slave of his ego and intellect works for him like a lawyer and makes defences of all he does. Freud thesis on sox has some truth and too much of sex too weakens the moral strature of the modern man. Freud may not be fully right on what he posits on psychoanalysis because he is challenged by his own co-workers like Jung and Adler. But as far as his thesis on defense mechanism is concerned, I think, he has made a solid contribution in psychology. His theory of defense mechanism has not received enough attention but it is very useful to a Sadhaka who tries for self-introspection and self-assessment. Defense mechanism is nothing but the tendensies and activities of the mind and especially the intellect to defend one's ego whether he is right or wrong. These tendencies defend wrong operations and actions of man and thus lead him astray. Even the 80called defences are no defences because they create aberrations which are worse than the cure itself. There are thirteen such defences : (1) Suppression (2) Repression (3) Lying (4) Rationalization (5) Malingering (6) Adjustment by Ailment (7) Fixation (8) Regression (9) Identification (10) Projection (11) Displacement (12) Reaction-formation (13) Fantasy
Thus all these defence mechanisms or ego-defences are illusioners of mind and they are very common and subtle too. A sädhaka has to guard against them. I attach more value to these defennces because they are seen to be doing havocs in the private, personal or public life. All the misery in the psychological life of man is due to these false defences and a sadhaka has to get rid of them. The remedy of this is the constant search of truth with heroic sturdiness and a capacity of acceptance of truth in its naked form. Self-acceptance is the first condition for a steady development. A Sadhaka whose very task is to have conscious self-develop nent, must never fall prey to any of the false defences enumerated above. Therein lics the safety of his sādhanā. Another key for getting rid of there false defeaces, besides self-acceptance is the cultivation and use of intellect in the