The paradoxical spiritual quest

 RAMA asked again:

 

Holy Sir, if the latent tendencies brought forward from the previous birth impel me to act in the present, where is freedom of action?

 

VASISTHA said:

 

Rama, the tendencies brought forward from past incarnations are of two kinds – pure and impure. The pure ones lead you towards liberation, and the impure ones invite trouble. You are indeed consciousness itself, not inert physical matter. You are not impelled to action by anything other than yourself. Hence you are free to strengthen the pure latent tendencies in preference to the impure ones. The impure ones have to be abandoned gradually and the mind turned away from them little by little, lest there should be violent reaction. By encouraging the good tendencies to act repeatedly, strengthen them. The impure ones will weaken by disuse. You will soon become absorbed in the expression of the good tendencies, in good actions. When thus you have overcome the force of the evil tendencies then you will have to abandon even the good ones. You will then experience the Supreme Truth with the intelligent that rises from the good tendencies.

 

- Excerpt from YOGA VASISHTA. 

Chapter: SEEKER' S  BEHAVIOUR

 

The house was empty. I was watching a movie and suddenly remembered that there is still a bottle of red wine from Christmas in the house. I didn’t open it though. The taste in my mouth didn’t feel right. I am obviously not holier than thou, but in this case the decision was a no-brainer. It was not an evening to drink alcohol period.

 

Awakening is mostly a blissful experience with the occasional self-imposed interferences popping up. I am not sure that we have a choice in any of this, but it us a journey towards a more sacred lifestyle. Effort (perceived that is) is necessary until we realize that it is not. The function of time is to demonstrate that the here and now is timeless.

 

The spiritual quest will always be paradoxical because we simultaneously operate in two dimensions that are mutually exclusive. Work hard to follow your spiritual disciplines, or relax a little with the occasional decisive step when the moment calls for action. It doesn’t matter much because the journey we are on was finished before we were born.