March 23, 2021
In our daily life, we are caught by two suggested “opposing” techniques or concepts - “either - or” . In all this the central problem is forgotten — the ego and its conditioning. The truth is that there is attraction and repulsion (hatred, violence and so on) in me, in the mind. It is not a question of suppressing either the physical or mental expression of dislike or resentment - nor indeed of attraction. The main issue is mental conditioning, the conditioning of the mind.
Whatever our mind sees is colored and so we divide life into “black” and “white” - “I like this” and “I do not like that that”. We must learn to see anew, to de-color the mind. For this, the sage teaching yoga, introduced vairagya (dispassion). This is not a discipline leading to suppression on the “either-or” basis. It recommends neither repressing the desires by running away from them, nor closing the eyes to their existence, nor heroic resistance. Neither shunning the world and its enjoyments, nor turning the back on places of worship can lead us to truth, peace.