Mysteries of Mind

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

Page 52

TRANSFORMATION OF PERSONALITY-EQUANIMITY
dual process of joys-cum-sorrows changes into a single process of joy.
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Human life is also characterized by the dual process of knowledge-cum-ignorance. But with the dawn of discernment ignorance disappears. Knowledge alone rules the realm of sādhanā. Sādhana is not governed by the dual authority of knowledge and ignorance but by the indivisible authority of knowledge.
Human life is also characterized by the duality of strength and weakness. With the emergence of discernment, weakness also disappears and the practitioner becomes wedded to strength or energy. With the disappearance of inertia man's spiritual progress gains a new momentum. In such a state there is no more doubt or misgiving. There are no alternate courses for the practitioner of spiritual exertion, but only a single and straight course.
This is the first stage of the reconstruction of the sādhaka's personality. There can be no sādhana without the transformation of personality.
Unity of experience is the second stage of the transformation of personality. Before this transformation takes place the practitioner's experience is divided between joys and sorrows. He does not have a unified experience of joy. With the appearance of the second glow of consciousness, the flow of energy in him begins to gather strength and experience begins to be characterized by joy only. This is a new experience. He had never known that there can be joy even without his being associated with things other than the self like external objects, instruments and influences. When his experience becomes enlivened by consciousness, when he begins to exercise self-discipline and when his personality becomes reconstituted, he comes to feel and know that joy need not be associated with things other than the self and that spiritual joy is supreme.
Human beings have to suffer the consequences of their past deeds. Happiness is the consequence of good deeds done in the past and sorrows are the consequence of bad deeds. Moreover, we are happy when we get things which we like and unhappy when we are faced with things which we do not like. But once we begin to act in the light of pure con