Wisdom Roads

Author(s): Lorrence G Muller
Publisher: Continumm New York

Page 42

SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA S. SATCH: Sannyasis arc here, singles are here, married people are here. We respect everybody, and everybody has a job to do.
L.M.: Being a householder doesn't mean one is held back from complete liberation.
S. SATCH: Mentally, you are not attached to things, personal attachments are not there. It doesn't matter where you are. Your main thing in life is to serve, whether you are a sannyasi, or a householder, or a single person. It's service, it's all service.
L.M.: Meditation and service are both so important. What can we do about the negative qualities in us, the moods and actions that the mind generates? Specifically, those attributes of the mind that get in the way of selfless serviceanger, for one.
S. SATCH: Those are all based on selfishness. You are angry because you didn't personally get what you want. Selfishness comes in there; normally, all these negative qualities will be there. Slowly, we develop the opposite of them.
L.M.: We should cultivate the virtues.
S. SATCH: Develop the virtues, as opposed to the vices. Patanjali says, in his Yoga Sutra: when you have a feeling of hatred, develop love for that person. You force it; forcefully you say, I love him, I love him.
L.M.: At the start, it's almost like acting.
S. SATCH: I call it a lube job.
L.M.: A lube job?
S. SATCH: You know, for the car. When you take your car for a lubrication, the grease is old. How do they eliminate the old grease and put in new grease? Simply, they inject the new grease; automatically, the old grease is pushed out. So if you inject the virtue, the vice will be pushed out. But the injection should be powerful and forceful in the beginning.