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MENTAL BALANCE
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according to the amount of it which we take. A lot of poison enters into our bodies with the food we consume. It is the quantity of the medicines which produces harmful or agreeable consequences. Many things which we eat give us temporary relief or pleasure. Their long-term effects are, however, harmful. Ignorance in these matters causes a number of miseries. Pleasures which the enjoyment of natural things give often turn into pain. If this ignorance continued, it will increase the volume of our miseries. Some of us might feel that sādhani is a dry and unprofitable business. This view is the result of our associations with the objects of the material world. The truth, however, is that there can be no emancipation without getting rid of the limitations imposed upon us by natural objects. We are under the wrong impression that the bondage which our craving for material objects impose upon us is a matter of joy. The general trend of thinking in the modern world favours increased production of material commodities which alone is supposed to keep society contented and happy. The spiritualists, on the other hand, declare that there can be no contentment and happiness without getting rid of the limitations imposed upon us by material objects. Thus there are two views. There are advocates of the enjoyment of material objects and the advocates of spiritual enjoyments. The modern man suffering from nervous tensions is not able to appreciate the spiritual view. But once he begins to practise medita tion, his nervous tension begins to subside, glandural secretions become balanced and the mind becomes calm and he experiences joy. His delusions disappear and the encirclement by material objects ends. The whole trouble with the modern man is that, instead of taking full advantage of the spring of eternal joy within him, he runs after perishing pleasures which material objects offer.
Once an old woman was found searching for a needle. She had dropped it in her room, but she was searching for it on the road outside. A few children saw her and asked as to what she was searching for. The woman replied that she had dropped a needle in her room and as the room was utterly dark she thought it advisable to search for it on the road. Ācārya Bhikṣu told a story to illustrate the same
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