Chapter 4: The Power of Sense Gratification

 

Our senses are extremely powerful. A simple little story taken from the Vedas illustrates the persistent attraction most of us feel to the material world and its pleasures. There was once a Muslim emperor named Akbar, who was curious to know how long a person remains covered by lust. Akbar’s minister, a wise old man, explained to the emperor, “Lust is powerful as long as you are in the material body, almost until the moment of death.” Promising an instructive example, the minister invited the emperor to take his beautiful daughter along and join him at a nearby hospital. When they arrived, the minister said, “Just look at the man lying in the next room. Within the hour he will be dead. Watch him closely as we walk into the room.” From the moment the three of them—Akbar, his daughter and the minister—entered the room, the dying man could not keep his eyes off the attractive young woman. Akbar immediately understood.

Such is the power of the senses. Because they are so strong, we cannot easily defeat them or give them up. If we do not direct our energies properly, the senses will enslave us. When we are enslaved, we cannot develop our higher faculties and we will not experience the ultimate transcendental pleasure that comes from loving God. We must learn to redirect our senses by making a simple little change, as if we were tuning to a different radio station. The original energies still exist, but we are channeling them differently. When we offer higher pleasures to our senses, we can eventually become free of our lower desires.

Developing the “Higher Taste”

Because we are all inherently pleasure-seeking beings, spiritual life can never be just a matter of renunciation. Instead, it must become a process of energy conversion in which we reject lower, material satisfactions in favor of more spiritual pleasures. This process of substituting higher spiritual experiences for material enjoyment is called developing the “higher taste.” At points during this substitution process, we can become impatient, wondering when we are ever going to experience that higher taste. Of course, being habituated to our usual pursuits, we would prefer to have the higher experiences first; then we might be willing to give up the lower attachments. Often we are afraid to renounce our flickering, temporary pleasures because we believe we may be left with nothing.

Such fears mean that we are not ready to let go of our material attachments; our capacity to experience the genuine higher pleasures has not matured yet. If our approach to life continues to be one of seeking sense gratification and ego dominance, our spiritual progress will stagnate. But if we understand that life is about something far greater than material satisfaction, we will develop patience and not allow ourselves to be deterred by fears or temporary setbacks.

This analogy may help. If we expect someone to give us a thousand dollars, we can easily become attached to our expectation. We may become upset if the money does not manifest. We may lose a friendship or even take legal action as a result. On the other hand, if we are not attached to the money but focus on our friendship instead, we can remain open to the possibility that the thousand dollars may come this week or next month—or perhaps not at all. Then we are pleasantly surprised if the money does eventually appear.

Normally, we feel justified in making demands because we believe that we are the center of the universe. When we behave in this way, we are propagating the disease that brought us into this material world in the first place. This disease is our desire to be God. Although the Lord actually owns everything, we think that this world belongs to us and can be used for self-gratification. We do not understand that we are here to offer everything back to the Lord as a way of expressing our deep gratitude for what He has given us.

A Parable: The Mouse and the Sage

This brings to mind another story from the Vedas concerning a mouse and a sage. The sage possessed mystic powers and could fulfill the wishes of others. Of course, wishes can be dangerous, because what we ask for is often not what we really want. If someone answers our request in an unexpected way, we may become upset. We want to have everything follow our plans exactly, so that we can maintain the illusion of control.

In the story, the young mouse was severely distressed because he was constantly chased by a cat. In desperation, he went to see the sage for help. We are all familiar with the mouse’s situation, because in one form or another we have been seriously upset by issues that seem to threaten our security or happiness.

The mouse asked the sage to use his mystic powers to prevent the cat from bothering him any longer. The sage responded in an unexpected way by turning the mouse into a cat, and the mouse—who was now a cat—scampered happily away. But after a short time, the cat returned with a new complaint about the dogs who had begun to chase him. Again, he asked for assistance. This time, the sage turned the cat into a dog, who hurried off with great relief. But almost immediately, the dog found himself harassed by tigers.

Frightened and unhappy, the dog ran back to the sage, complaining that these solutions were not solving the problem, but were actually making the situation worse. He asked for a definitive solution to relieve him of his anxieties. This time, the sage answered his request by transforming the dog into a tiger. But immediately the sage realized his mistake, because the tiger looked at him with a hungry gleam in his eye. Before the tiger could pounce, the sage turned him back into a mouse.

In our own lives, we often imagine that we would be happier in a different environment, only to discover that each circumstance has its own complications. That is the nature of the material world. The wisest solution is to accept our own situation—our own karma—with gratitude and to use our experience as a teacher to help us learn the lessons we need in order to progress.

The Power of False Ego

Like the mouse, many of us do not feel grateful for our difficult experiences, and we do not willingly learn from them. Our false ego stands in the way. The false ego is the aspect of ourselves that believes itself to be the enjoyer, proprietor and controller of everything, parading about with an inflated sense of its own importance and refusing to surrender to the will of God. As we have just seen, it can cause a lot of trouble and interfere with our spiritual evolution in countless unexpected ways. The Vedas teach that false ego is one of the eight material elements that constitute the physical world. These eight elements fall into two categories: gross and subtle. The gross elements are those we would consider physical—earth, water, air, fire and ether. The subtle elements are psychological, consisting of mind, intelligence and false ego, and are actually known in many traditions as the subtle body. These eight elements function together as temporary coverings over the eternal spirit soul.

According to Vedic teachings, the universe is constructed in such a way that each of these material elements, or coverings, is ten times thicker and more difficult to penetrate than the previous one. This means that the water element is ten times more difficult to get through than the earth element, air is ten times more difficult than water, and so on, all the way up to false ego, which is the most challenging of all to penetrate. It is far more difficult to master false ego than to gain control over the gross physical elements of water, earth, air, fire or ether.

False ego is extremely clever and takes many forms. For example, sometimes people may adopt an apparently spiritual lifestyle, giving up meat, intoxication and promiscuity, keeping their body clean and behaving properly. But nonetheless, they find it essential to display their virtue to everyone. These people are not much fun to be with, because they keep self-righteously reminding us of their superiority: “You’re eating white rice? I don’t do that!” “How can you use so much sugar? I don’t eat anything made with sugar!” Although they may have freed themselves from certain negative behaviors, they still remain under the influence of false ego, which clings to us stubbornly and is difficult to dissolve.

Detachment

Our progress in overcoming false ego will be more genuine and lasting if we develop detachment. Detachment helps the ego become less dominant. To accomplish this, as we saw in the previous chapter, we must first learn to master the senses. This means gaining mastery over the gross material influences in our lives so that we can control animalistic tendencies such as our desires to eat too much, sleep too much or engage in promiscuity. However, a word of caution is in order at this point: we must not rely only on detachment, or we may find the path too difficult. Remember, spiritual life is also about substituting higher forms of pleasure for lower ones.

While detachment is a necessary component in helping us control our gross material desires, once we master these gross desires our task is far from complete—in fact, the difficult work is just beginning. At this point, we must take inventory to discover the more subtle attachments that are still blocking our spiritual advancement. We cannot work on these subtle attachments without help. On our own, we can all too easily delude ourselves into evaluating our behavior in ways that make us feel comfortable. We need feedback and guidance from others to help us root out deeply entrenched patterns. That is why spiritual association is so necessary, providing us with mentors, peers and friends who can help us grow.

Friends Help Us Evolve

Real friends do not just stroke each other’s egos or encourage nonsense, but remind one another about what is most essential. True friends are those who connect with us spiritually, motivating us to move faster toward the ultimate goal. Their own examples should remind us of the benefits of remaining faithful to the devotional process.

A great teacher in my spiritual lineage used to say that one who glorifies us is our enemy and one who criticizes us is our friend. The person who glorifies us is implying that we are fine just as we are, whereas the person who criticizes us sees what we need to work on—and, given that we are in the material realm, we all have many areas needing improvement. That is why those who remind us to do more intense work on ourselves are our true friends. We should be cautious when people glorify us too much and, whenever we accomplish anything of merit, we should pass any praise on to the Lord, Who allowed us to be used as an instrument in His service. When we start taking credit for our successes, we accept all the other material burdens that come along with such an attitude.

As we release our material attachments, we may want to know how to assess our spiritual progress. One simple way to know we are advancing is to notice whether or not many of our previous activities and environments have become boring or unpleasant. We are making progress when we are no longer excited by the mundane music we used to listen to, the places we used to frequent or the friends we used to associate with who are still locked into materialistic patterns. Gradually we start feeling drained by such pastimes, environments and people. This is a sign that something is changing. Although externally we may appear the same as before, inwardly we have become different, because our level of consciousness has become more elevated.

The Dark Night of the Soul

In the process of freeing ourselves from material entanglements, we may experience a “dark night of the soul,” which is a period of serious testing. In order to fortify us for such difficult periods, esoteric teachings emphasize the need to be regulated and unaffected by happiness or distress. When we live a regulated life, as we have seen, we develop equipoise and learn to be undisturbed by circumstances. Then when difficulties come, we are prepared.

Surgeons, paramedics and firefighters are carefully trained for emergencies. When a crisis arises, they know just what to do. A firefighter pulls on boots, slides down the pole, jumps on the truck, turns on the siren and races off to the fire. A paramedic checks for vital signs and instigates life-saving measures. A surgeon cuts in the proper places and makes the necessary repairs. Because these people are prepared, they are not deterred by danger or the sight of blood.

But if we are not trained, or if we are trained improperly, then in an emergency our mind goes blank or panic sets in. We have no idea how to act. Just as the paramedic or firefighter must be trained to act properly in a material emergency, we must also be thoroughly prepared in spiritual life. We must learn ahead of time how to handle the crises that occur because of our desire for sense gratification. If we are well fortified in advance, then when these crises come—and come they will—we will immediately do what is necessary to remain steady and unaffected.

In Sanskrit there is a principle called akincana, meaning that the Lord intervenes in our life to take everything away. Although we may not understand His reasons at the time, the Lord is actually clearing the path for something greater. We cannot receive His gifts unless we first stop clinging to what we already have; we often need a “divine push” to let go. When this push comes, we may cry out in anguish, “Oh, my God, I have nothing!” But we must remember at these times that everything happens for a purpose. If God does not remove our old attachments, He may find our hands too full to receive the blessings He wishes to bestow.

In the streets of our cities we may notice homeless men or women who have almost nothing, but who cling ferociously to the few useless objects they have managed to acquire. These simple possessions are vital for these people, who can become vicious if anyone tries to take them away. Although this behavior may seem absurd, most of us act in just the same way. We are so deeply attached to useless junk that we leave no space for anything of greater value. Some of us must lose everything before we are open to receiving higher blessings.

The dark night of the soul is that period during which everything seems to go wrong even though we have been trying to live a spiritual life. In such circumstances, we may be tempted to think, “Even God does not love me. I’m chanting; I’m praying; I’m meditating; I’m fasting; I’m vegetarian; I’m kind to people; I read the scriptures; I respect the saints; I have a spiritual teacher. I’m doing everything I know how to do, but still the Lord doesn’t love me.” But if we remain equipoised, this is the point at which our consciousness can genuinely mature. We are no longer seeking material results from our spiritual behavior, because all material rewards have been taken away. If we persevere in our spiritual life despite these difficulties, we are learning to love and serve God no matter what.

Turning Negatives into Positives

The dark night of the soul offers a serious challenge to material consciousness, inviting us to become more transcendental. When we live on a transcendental level, we accept every circumstance as favorable, learning to turn negatives into positives and to make positives even more positive. We can make a negative situation positive by examining it closely, asking ourselves, “Why has this come about? God is all-loving and there are no accidents in the universe. There must be a good reason for this problem to appear in my life.” Such an attitude allows an event that might initially seem negative to become a stepping stone instead. In everyday life, when we climb a set of stairs, we are engaged in a process of confrontation and advancement: first we confront the next step and then we advance to it. Similarly, in spiritual life we cannot experience advancement without confrontation. We cannot go to the next level without tests, just as university students must take examinations at the end of each semester to demonstrate their level of accomplishment to the teacher.

Negative situations provide opportunities for us to prove our readiness—or lack of it—for the next level of spiritual life. Here is a simple example. Imagine that someone said to you, “Your face is so ugly! I can’t bear to look at you!” At this point you have a choice. You can react in kind by getting furious, making a threatening gesture and warning that person about the ugly effects of a black eye. Or you can resist reacting and humbly respond, “I am sorry that you are disturbed, but that’s your problem.” Remember, if we take the statement in a negative way, we actually lower ourselves to the attacker’s level. Indeed, if we accept the words as an attack and get caught up in reaction, we are already vanquished because we have lost our self-mastery. Our attacker will harass us even more, until we become trapped in a cycle of negativity.

If others disturb us, we can use the situation as a step in our spiritual development, viewing the confrontation as a test. When we become upset, we are impeding our spiritual progress. In contrast, if we remain unaffected, our would—be attacker will back away and will even feel ridiculous after a while. Not only have we defeated the other person, who has not demonstrated sufficient power to affect us, but we have also helped raise that individual’s consciousness.

Spiritual warriors are not merely theoretical lecturers or scholars. First and foremost, they are practitioners. According to their level of realization, practitioners are held accountable for what they do as well as for what they say. Because their consciousness is monitored by the angels and demigods, spiritual warriors pay a price if they behave improperly. For these reasons, simply hearing or reading about spiritual principles is not enough. We must learn to apply them to our own circumstances. Life is very dear, and the way in which we use our time is extremely significant. Spiritual teachings should always have practical applications. We should gain a clear sense of how the principles work so that we can use them in daily life and learn ways from our experiences to improve our service to others and to God.

A small example from my own experience may help to illustrate this point. Sometimes I present five or six lectures or interviews in one day. Because I give so many programs, I have experienced many different types of interference and have learned to expect and anticipate such challenges. Recently I was supposed to appear on a television program in Nigeria after a visit to a government official. Because the official could not see us on time, we were delayed and arrived at the television station a bit behind schedule. Despite our lateness we had to wait, because some legal papers had to be arranged. I could have complained, “Oh! This is so terrible. Here I have been delayed by the official, I’m late for this program, and now I’m being kept waiting even longer! I’m just going to leave, because every time I come to this TV station I wind up waiting two to six hours anyway. I’m tired of it!” As a matter of fact, it is true; I have never arrived at that station and been able go right on the air.

But why should I be disturbed? Instead, I decided, “Well, here’s some extra time for me to catch up on some writing and reading. Or I can take this period to chant and pray, so that when I do appear on the program I can invite the Lord to help me say something to uplift everyone’s consciousness.” In this way, I did not lose any time, nor did I waste my energy in frustration or anger.

The Importance of Faith

The dark night of the soul can seem interminable. A leap of faith is necessary if we are to weather its challenges successfully. But we must be careful, because faith can function on several different levels. For example, criminals may have firm faith that their next bank robbery will bring them millions of dollars, or investors may choose catastrophic investments based on misplaced faith in the transitory world of the stock market. Although these are examples of faith, obviously the faith is misdirected toward mundane goals rather than spiritual ones.

The idea is to develop strong, properly directed faith based upon the teachings of the saints and scriptures. In saner times, such faith would be strengthened by the examples of our peers in daily life, but in today’s society very few people live according to the scriptures. With no ready examples around us, we may devalue spiritual teachings or become frightened of them. This is why we must make a concerted effort to find and associate with other spiritual people. As we witness the positive effects of spiritual life on them, we gain more willingness to imitate their lifestyles.

The scriptures abound with examples of proper spiritual behavior. Unfortunately, although we can gain enthusiasm from these stories, we may still view them as theoretical. We can all too easily dismiss the accomplishments of saintly heroes or heroines by saying, “Well, that’s Jesus; that’s Muhammad; that’s the goswamis. They are sons of God! Of course I can’t be like that.” But we are mistaken. Such prophets and teachers have come to show us how to become exactly like them.

Those Christians who consider Jesus to be God may believe they are elevating and respecting Jesus in this way. But actually, they are doing a disservice. Jesus himself says (John 5:30), “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me.” He clearly states that he is working on behalf of his Father. By considering Jesus to be God, Christians are justifying the human tendency to err and minimizing the importance of trying to become like Jesus. They can excuse themselves by saying, “After all, Jesus is God, and I am a mere human being.” But Jesus reminded us that we could imitate his feats when he said (John 14:12), “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.”

However, it is also true that in this Kali Yuga, or Age of Quarrel, we cannot easily imitate the saints. Out of His love for us, the Lord complements our efforts because He knows how hard it is in these times to be saintly. He specifically says in the Bhagavad-gita that He maintains what we have and supplies what we lack. But His intervention does not come without a price; we still must reach a certain spiritual level and continue to work hard to receive the assistance that is available. Once we have reached that point, the Lord and His agents will seize our hands and pull us up. The Lord’s mercy is always greater than His law, and God is constantly considering our mitigating circumstances and extending His loving help.

A Hospital for Our Spiritual Diseases

People who are serious about spiritual life do not seek wealth, fame or any other type of opulence. But in material life these goals are exactly what we pursue. Those who are genuinely spiritual, though, will use material gain only to enhance devotional service to the Lord. The proper mood is, “How can I make money so I don’t have to worry about money? How can I have enough money to do this project for the Lord?” And if someone on a spiritual path does happen to become famous, that fame can be a vehicle for directing attention to the Lord and His representatives.

Each of us should try to become a dedicated servant, no matter what our outer circumstances. Service is a process of cleansing and healing, just as if we were in a hospital. We take shelter of a spiritual teacher for the same reasons we go to the hospital: because we are sick and recognize that we need help. As patients, we willingly take medication, follow the doctor’s orders and accept the care offered to us in that environment. Because all spiritual people are not exactly the same, there is no single type of illness that afflicts them. Spiritual “diseases” come in a wide variety of forms and intensities. The beauty of the situation is that such persons at least have the chance to recognize the problem and put themselves in the “hospital” for treatment. If they take the spiritual medicine as directed, they will quickly regain their natural healthy state.

But a hospital can also be dangerous, because sometimes people can contract new diseases or infections during their stay. They may enter with one disease and catch something else, falling prey to the innumerable germs concentrated in that environment. In a similar way, while working on ourselves we must be careful not to adopt the bad habits of others around us. For example, we may easily become distracted by sense gratification if we are surrounded by people who indulge their senses regularly—even in spiritual groups. Or we may become self-centered, taking care of ourselves to the exclusion of anyone else, again following the poor examples of those around us.

In the process of healing, our attitude is critically important, to the extent that two people can be in the same environment and achieve entirely different results according to their mental state. Someone who is morbid, depressed and dismal will encounter far more difficulties than one who has a vibrant consciousness. Although both may be equally sick at the outset, the more positive, energetic person will make the necessary effort to maintain a constructive attitude. Such an individual will be out of the hospital long before the other.

Become the Lord’s Slave and Be Free

Part of our material disease is holding persistently to the belief in our total independence. This is ironic because, although a certain amount of free will is the birthright of all human beings, we are not really free. Our minds are controlled. Every time we turn on the television, listen to the radio, read the newspaper or interact with social institutions, we are being programmed. As odd as it may seem, to truly free ourselves and to avoid being victimized by old age, disease, death or any other transitory, unnatural aspects of existence, we must literally become slaves of the Lord.

We create our own pain and suffering by clinging to all kinds of egocentric nonsense. Despite the fact that we are responsible for our unhappiness, if we ask the Lord to help, we often refuse His assistance when it comes. We behave like prisoners who, eager to be released, ask the jailer to open the gate but run immediately back inside when the doors do open. Yet we persist in asking, “When are you going to let me out of here?”

Although the Lord makes all kinds of help available to get us out of this material world once and for all, our insanity drives us to seek temporary gratification instead. Because in modern society the pursuit of material pleasures is accepted as normal—and all around us people are doing little else—we can easily become convinced that the single-minded quest for “the good life” is appropriate human behavior.

Material Concerns Can Be Distractions

Such behavior is decidedly detrimental to spiritual life. As our consciousness advances on the spiritual path, the differences between lust and love become increasingly apparent. When we begin to discover how many of our past actions have been covered by lust, we may look back over our lives with a sense of embarrassment or dismay. We realize that much of our behavior was self-serving, even when we had convinced ourselves that we were helping others. Our consciousness was functioning on a material level rather than a spiritual one.

In these physical bodies, we are constantly experiencing various types of disturbances that interfere with the natural expression of the soul. Remember, a material body is a prison suit. Some suits may be a little more attractive or a little less confining than others, but they are all the results of our incarceration in this material world. In retrospect, we can understand that we have had to make the best of a bad bargain, trapped in yet another physical body rather than fully alive in a spiritual body.

Anything that does not improve the quality of life or deepen our wisdom is ultimately a distraction. Frequently, our lives become complicated when we own many material objects. Instead of having fewer problems, we have more. But the issue is our level of attachment to these resources and how we use them. If we remain unattached and offer everything in service to the Lord, then our material assets enhance our ability to live spiritually. If they distract us from an ongoing flow of meditation and service, then they become obstacles that we must overcome.

Our Interaction with Higher Beings

Spiritual life requires a process of purification that allows us gradually to develop contact with the transcendental realm. As mentioned earlier, we do not have to leave this physical body to know that God-consciousness is real. We can have a personal relationship with the Lord right here and now, and we can also interact with demigods, archangels or angels. These experiences are accessible in the immediate present if we develop sufficient consciousness of the higher realms. We are actually in the spiritual kingdom at every moment, although we may not realize it because our spiritual faculties are dormant. The spiritual process is one of “waking up” these faculties so that we can experience the spiritual bliss that has been available all along.

Beings in the invisible realms can have a powerful impact on our lives. According to the Vedas, there are 33,000,000 types of demigods, some pious and others impious. Although the impious demigods have a powerful connection to the Lord, they are mischievous or deviant. They resemble people who have been involved in a bona fide spiritual system but have then chosen to turn away. In contrast, the pious demigods are very God-conscious and act for the benefit of everyone. In addition to the pious and impious demigods, there are asuras, or demons. These demons often have the same powers as the demigods, but they try to bring about chaos in order to destroy God-consciousness.

When we examine ancient mythology—Greek, Roman or Indian, for example—we find that we often dismiss as “myths” those stories about events that are inconceivable to our present levels of understanding. Yet the ideas and themes of these stories about gods and demigods are universal across the traditions, suggesting that at one time there actually were regular interactions between beings on this planet and those in the heavenly kingdoms. But now, as we have seen, the planet has become so thickly covered with mundane collective consciousness that these beings are not eager to come, and many higher beings who once had the assignment to work on this plane no longer do so, preferring a more receptive environment.

Many years ago, my spiritual master was attending a worship service in New York City. Despite all the devoted attention he was receiving from those present, he seemed distracted and, with a smile on his face, was staring intently at a particular spot in the room. Later, in his private quarters, disciples asked him what he was looking at and smiling about. He replied that Narada Muni, a powerful, transcendental being who travels in different universes on behalf of the Lord, had appeared in the midst of the worship to communicate with him. Even now such exalted beings occasionally appear if the environment is sufficiently spiritual.

Intense Spiritual Pleasure

In the higher stages of spiritual development, our encounters with the spiritual realm can provide such intense pleasure that the physical body has difficulty containing them. Indeed, the experience of divine love sometimes creates such ecstasy that we can fall into a trance-like state. Even in mundane life, happiness can transform our appearance and behavior. We walk lightly, and we may smile or whistle to such an extent that others may wonder what has happened.

Just imagine a pleasure so powerful that it permeates our consciousness, affecting all the molecules, atoms and cells in the body. When we are in such a state of ecstasy, we may exhibit unusual symptoms: tears may pour down our cheeks, we may have difficulty speaking, or our hair may stand on end. In such a state, we are simultaneously here and in other dimensions, communicating with the spiritual realms while still in this material body. Such ecstasy is available for everyone, although it is usually heavily covered over. But as soon as we purify and open ourselves, we can behold the blissful reality.

God has no favorites. Everyone has the same chance to become natural, to attain realization and to experience divine love. It is just a matter of the intensity of our desire to attain these states. As the scriptures remind us, the essential point is to love God with all our hearts and to fully surrender.

Three Requirements for Spiritual Peace

When we experience such love, we attain a deep level of peace. A verse from the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 4.39) confirms this with these words: “A faithful man who is dedicated to transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses is eligible to achieve knowledge, and having achieved it he quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.” Three practices—none of which is sufficient alone—are necessary in order to attain this “supreme spiritual peace.” As a brief review of some of the points we have discussed so far, let us describe these practices. They can serve as reminders of how to maintain a path of steady, committed spiritual development.

 

1. First of all, we must have faith. Sometimes we are embarrassed by the necessity for faith, but we should remember that it is implicit in everything we do. Think about it. When we walk, we have faith that our legs will move. When we eat a meal, we have faith that our body will digest the food. When we go to sleep, we have faith that we will wake up again. We need make no apology about the importance of faith. But we must learn to invest our faith wisely. If we make an intelligent investment by placing our faith in spiritual realities, we will obtain positive results. But if we invest poorly by concentrating on the transitory aspects of existence, we will become sad and disappointed, having failed to honor our birthright.

2. The second prerequisite for spiritual peace is to keep the mind properly absorbed in transcendental knowledge. When we do so, we are less affected by the impermanence and suffering of the material world. It is important to note, however, that the knowledge must be transcendental, beyond this material realm, not just relative or transitory. To gain exposure to such knowledge, we can read scriptures; perform worship; chant, meditate and pray; attend lectures; listen to tapes; and associate with others with similar interests.

3. The third requirement is to regulate the senses. As explained earlier, this is the key to conquering lust. Without mastery of the senses, we will simply act spontaneously, emotionally and erratically. Our control of the senses is intimately related to our control of the mind. Remember the old saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” The way in which we fix the mind determines whether we master the senses or are controlled by them, and whether the mind serves the intelligence and the soul or interferes with their development.

These three practices, executed under proper leadership and guidance, can guarantee anyone full success. Spiritual life is about developing sufficient mastery to put an end to our imprisonment in this material world. That is why spiritual practices aim to regulate the senses, put the mind under control and allow the intelligence to be stimulated by the soul. The soul is completely cognizant of our relationship to the Godhead. As soon as the mind stops its interference, we naturally overflow with realization and the higher pleasures of eternality and bliss.

Questions and Answers

Question: You once said that we should not go off by ourselves and live as hermits. Since we must remain in this material world, what should we do to counteract the many negative influences in our environments?

Answer: Going off to the Himalayas or to a monastery is neither bad nor good; it is a matter of what you do when you are there. If your body is sitting in a cave, but your mind is constantly thinking about mocha fudge ice cream or your friends at the disco, you might as well be back in the city. But if you can perform genuine service by retiring from the world—if that is your nature and your mission—then that is all right.

Two major categories of spiritual practitioners exist. Those in one category keep to themselves and do not interact with the public, rarely even taking disciples. The other type moves about in the secular world, teaching, sharing and helping. Particularly in this Age of Quarrel, society has a special need for healthy role models. That is why people in spiritual life should make themselves available to others.

Another problem for those who live in spiritual seclusion is the ease with which they can delude themselves into believing that they are stronger than they actually are. How do they know that they have mastered a situation unless they are in an environment that puts them to the test? To be absorbed in mystical intoxication is not necessarily a sign of advancement. Spiritual maturity exists when we can maintain our higher consciousness regardless of the distractions or obstacles that confront us.

Question: When you talk about sense gratification, I realize that one of the pleasures I am most addicted to is sleep. What is the value of sleep?

Answer: We can serve the Lord even while we are asleep. When we consider that the average person spends about one-third of life sleeping, we can understand the importance of using even that time to learn more about the Lord and to serve Him. Actually, spiritually advanced beings do not sleep as we know it. While their body is at rest, they move into different environments—even different universes—to engage in a higher level of service than they perform on the physical level. As we evolve more spiritually, we discover that when the physical body is inactive at night, the subtle body and the soul have even more chance to do service without the restrictions imposed on the physical body.

Before we take rest at night, we should fill our minds with the consciousness of devotion. At least fifteen minutes before we go to sleep—half an hour if possible—we should take the time to read something spiritual or to do some chanting. Before doing so, we must bring closure to what has happened during the day, and deliberately enter another part of our life.

When we retire for the night with a sense of enthusiasm for the adventures that await us and for the services we can perform in the inner realms, we know that the physical body is gradually becoming more spiritualized and less of an obstacle to our spiritual development. On the other hand, if we discover that in the subtle, inner realms our minds are just trying to carry out the desires of the physical body by manipulating material energies, then we need to do more work to align the mind and the intelligence with the soul.

Question: Can you say more about the dark night of the soul? I have been in the middle of one for quite some time, and I would like to gain greater understanding of what it means.

Answer: In spiritual life, the dark night of the soul can occur when we become strong in devotional practice and are extremely determined to serve God. Actually, such a situation often indicates that we have reached a point where we are being prepared for a major positive transition leading to a deeper connection with the Lord.

As we go through this dark period, we must examine our desires and motives to discover the real basis of our spiritual life. When everything is taken away, it becomes easier to see the truth about ourselves. Are we genuinely ready for deeper levels of spiritual realization? Are we really motivated by love of God, or are we just seeking a particular boon from the Lord? The difficulties that arise can help us identify our real platform.

We may discover that we want to receive the tiniest favorable sign, or perhaps even to be chastised, just to know that God is still there. Some people pray at times like this, saying, “If there is a God, then let me see Him now,” or, “I’ll give it one or two more weeks, and if the situation doesn’t change, then I’m not going to stay with God.” They think that spiritual life is cheap. For them, God is just an order-taker who should fulfill their demands.

Unless we are properly guided by a spiritual mentor and have reinforcement from a proper spiritual community, we can easily give up when we are going through a dark night of the soul. From a logical perspective we have every reason to abandon our spiritual quest. But we must not do so. Instead, we should say: “No! I have given my entire life to the Lord. Dear Lord, do with me as You like. If it gives You pleasure to keep me in this state of upheaval, then that will be my joy!”