Sambodhi 2004 Vol 27

Author(s): J B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 57

THE VICTORS AND THE VANQUISHED
but one has to seek them out by continuous reflection and then defeat them in order ro rise spiritually.
Vol. XXVII, 2004
The question may be asked as to what is the need for seeking out these enemies that are not even perceived by our senses? The reason why we have to do that is because these spiritual enemies may not be visible but their harmful effects in the form of physical and mental misery, psychic disorders and the like, are very much in evidence. Liberation from such continuous misery is a very attractive goal and one has to seek out and defeat these foes of the spirit to attain that goal.
Who Are These Enemies? A little reflection may reveal that the passions (kaṣāya) like anger, conceit, deceit and greed do disturb our mental equilibrium and force us to act in a manner we would not like to act when good sense prevails. It is also quite evident that our actions performed under the influence of these undesirable traits only create complications for us and make our lives miserable not only here but also hereafter. These are, then, the first set of enemies of the living beings, which are comparatively easily noticeable when compared to the other set that needs deeper reflection to identify, seek, segregate and then to defeat.
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A deeper reflection focuses our attention on this other set. We can, then, appreciate that the delusion wrought by attachment and aversion (räga and dveṣa) clouds our judgement and disables our discretionary faculty to distinguish between the wrong and the right. Under the deluded judgement we take the falsehood to be the truth and do all wrong things. It is essential to overcome this delusion, which is at the base of all the spiritual ills.
The Battle Of Passions -
As we have mentioned, the passions anger, conceit, deceit and greed disturb our mental equilibrium and force us to enact untoward acts. Generally, there are found mentioned in this order but for a better understanding of the cause and effect relationship between them we shall deal with them in the reverse order i.e.
Greed -
Deceit
Conceit
Anger
The most complicated and complex passion is greed. When it affects a