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HOW TO THINK (2)
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between them, one man can never fully understand another, nor can he see the other person as he is; his frenzy colours all that he sees. The man in front will appear to be the very image of his wrath. Frenzied thinking can never be right. Hence one of the criteria for balanced thinking is the practice of non-attachment. How is it possible? Is it possible to obviate wrath and pride? Most people never think in terms of obviating or mitigating pride. They think anger is natural; pride is man's second nature; these cannot be obviated. So man does not change, and pride and anger continue. Many people think that man cannot change, so the question of ending pride and anger which are part of human nature does not arise. The man who is engaged in the practice of meditation frees himself first of all from this false assumption, he who is not so freed cannot be a good spiritual practitioner. The first lesson that a spiritual practitioner has to learn is that man is capable of changing, that his nature can be changed. If man cannot be transformed, if his nature cannot change, it is better to abandon meditation altogether, for meditation then has no utility whatsoever. The significance of meditation lies in this that through it consciousness becomes so concentrated and pure as to wash away the long-accumulated dirt. When consciousness is unveiled, all habitual action disappears of itself. Habits have their breeding ground in impurity. Consciousness is so encrusted with layer after layer of impurities, that all kinds of habits take root there. One is often asked since the soul or consciousness is always pure, why should it be ever polluted? Consciousness is ever pure. If we persevere in the practice of meditation, it will certainly become revealed, but the fact is that it is not so at present. Whatever is non-existent at the moment, must be seen as being non-existent. What is only a future probability must not be imposed upon the present, nor should a projection of the past be imposed on the future. Most of the time people project things which are not there at all. Imposition creates innumerable difficulties. The gold burnt in fire becomes purified; it is yellow and lustrous. But looking at the earth-incrusted ore dug out of the mine, one could never imagine gold to have such lustre. At that time it appears to be no more than a clod of earth. There is a great deal of difference between raw ore and the finished ingot. There is absolutely no comparison between lustrous gold that comes out of the fire and the metal mixed with clay in the ore. The sparkle of the finished ingot purified of all dirt and refuse is stupendous indeed. Similarly, the clarity and purity of a consciousness well-tempered in the oven of meditation is simply unimaginable in a consciousness vitiated by passion-dominated lust and desire. Wrath, pride, cunning, deception, hypocrisy, greed, hatred, fear, envy, approbation and condemnation, like and dislike- consciousness riddled
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