Part III — Four intimate friends: Insincerity, impurity, doubt and self-indulgence

Four intimate friends: Insincerity, impurity, doubt and self-indulgence

In the spiritual life nothing is incurable. But you have to know how sincere you are in accepting the spiritual life, how sincere you are in walking along the spiritual path and how sincere you are in your aspiration to reach the ultimate goal.

Insincerity is a durable but curable disease. When the Divine descends, insincerity can be cured. Impurity is a durable but curable disease. In the case of impurity, it lasts for a long time — sometimes for many lifetimes. When an insincere person sees sincere people all around him, he gets inner inspiration and tries to become sincere. He will feel that it is shameful to be insincere when his friends and neighbours are all the time telling the truth. So insincerity at that time can be overcome. But in the case of impurity, it is different. People may practise the inner life, but purity is not an easy thing to achieve. People get experiences and then they lose these experiences. Why? Because they do not have enough purity. The soul is always pure, true. But around the soul the vital creates a veil of impurity. The soul has to consciously throw away this veil of impurity if the individual is going to progress.

Then comes doubt. Doubt is almost an incurable disease. If a seeker is making very fast progress or when he has gone a long way in the spiritual life, even then he may be a victim to doubt. Unless and until one has realised the highest Truth, there is bound to be doubt. Even the great spiritual Master Swami Vivekananda doubted his Master, Sri Ramakrishna. Even when Sri Ramakrishna was on his deathbed, as he was passing behind the curtain of Eternity, Vivekananda doubted him. Then, Sri Ramakrishna had to tell his dearest disciple that he who is Rama and he who is Krishna in one form is Ramakrishna.

I wish to tell you that there are some seekers who have made considerable progress, but now they have entered into the doubt-world. They feel that the spiritual life is not meant for them and that they have wasted their precious energy in the spiritual life. These are the wrong ideas that they sometimes consciously cherish. I always say that doubt is slow poison. The seeker who cherishes doubt will eventually be killed by this slow poison within him.

You are God's chosen child. If God exists, then you have to feel that you also exist. When you go deep within and accept the spiritual life, you have to feel that doubt is the worst thief in your life. It is taking away all your precious inner wealth. Also, doubt is your worst enemy. Why? Because doubt starts doubting itself. Today you doubt someone and tomorrow you are doubting yourself. Today you have come to one conclusion and tomorrow another wave of doubt envelops you. But that does not mean that today's doubt is washed away. No, it has only been replaced by another doubt.

Then comes self-indulgence. Self-indulgence is really and truly an incurable disease in comparison with insincerity, impurity, doubt and other weaknesses, obstacles and negative qualities. Self-indulgence lasts for a long, long, long time. After insincerity goes away, after impurity and doubt go away, you will see that self-indulgence still remains. Either in thought or in action, on the mental plane or on the physical plane, self-indulgence will maintain its abode in the outer consciousness.

After self-indulgence, God is there to forgive us, but when our sincerity and divine dignity come to the fore, at that time we cannot forgive ourselves. How can we achieve the fruit of realisation and liberation when we know that we are so inferior in our physical and vital nature? The inner being is all light, and the power of this light we try to offer to the outer being. But this is most difficult when it comes to self-indulgence, because the present standard of human aspiration is very low. If the seeker in us is not strong enough, then self-indulgence is certainly incurable.

True, by the Grace of the Supreme one day we have to be cured of this self-indulgence. But for that we need tremendous aspiration, constant aspiration, in addition to the divine Grace. It is very easy to say that by the Grace of God everything is possible. That we have heard from every spiritual Master. But this Grace does not come for all and sundry. This Grace comes only for those who really want to bask in its sunshine. If a seeker is prepared to run the fastest and sacrifice what he has and what he is, if at every moment he is ready to give up everything for God, then for him nothing remains incurable.

If you want to run to God, the divine Grace is within you and the divine Grace will operate for you. When you sincerely give up all doubt and impurity, the golden day will dawn when self-indulgence will also be cured. I have not come here to discourage you; it is my business only to encourage you. But while encouraging, with all my heart I have to say that to conquer self-indulgence is something really difficult. I am not throwing cold water on you, but truth is truth. It is the most difficult task in the journey of a spiritual seeker. But the spiritual seeker one day has to conquer self-indulgence, because God will not allow anybody to remain always self-indulgent. God wants perfection from each individual on earth. It is a matter of time, and that time God has chosen for us. But if we cry, we can expedite God's Hour. God is very pleased when the sincere seekers can expedite His choice Hour.

Ordinary people are only playing with words and ideas, reading millions of books and learning the truth by rote. The deeper we go, the clearer it becomes to us that for these seekers, self-indulgence is incurable. Swamis and spiritual Masters we have by the hundreds. But when it comes to the really and truly realised persons on earth, then I wish to say that there are only about a dozen. The world is quite vast, but Mother Earth is blessed with only ten or twelve spiritual Masters who have realised God. Others have gone deep within; they are far more advanced than ordinary seekers. But they are not realised and when it comes to self-indulgence, they will be caught. But those who have really realised the Truth are far above self-indulgence.

When we look at self-indulgence from the highest point of view, we see that it is something that can be conquered only by great spiritual Masters and also by those who have got boundless Compassion from the Supreme. Ordinary seekers for one hour a day can identify themselves with God's Will, and the rest of the day their will and God's Will are totally different. But when one is about to be fully realised, at that time nothing remains impossible because one's will becomes one with God's Will. In the case of real spiritual Masters, the Will of God and their will are totally and inseparably one. At that time nothing can remain incurable.