HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS - 7
Practical suggestion number five:
Never forget that impurity begins in the thought. Therefore, take care of your thoughts. Thoughts are forces, not to be trifled with: thoughts are the building blocks of life. If you entertain pure thoughts, you build for yourself a noble future. If otherwise, you work for your own ruination. St. Thomas A’Kempis says: "First there cometh to the mind a bare thought of evil, then a strong imagination there of, afterward delight and evil motion, and then consent." His advice is, "withstand the beginnings!" Therefore, take care of your thoughts!
The great Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, said, "Temptation comes as a passer-by, then knocks on the door of your heart to be taken as a guest. But once you open the door to temptation, it will stay as a master!" Then man is doomed. Therefore, do not let temptation in! Withstand the beginnings. The moment temptation comes to you, drive it out with all the force you can summon.
Thomas Acquinas, one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Faith, when he was sixteen years of age, was locked up in a castle tower. A woman was sent to entice him to evil. "Let me flee," thought Thomas to himself. But every exit was locked: he could not flee. He then took from the chimney a burning log and chased the shameless woman away.
That is how everyone of us must try to deal with temptation, chase it away the moment it appears.
This leads us to practical suggestion number six. The moment an evil desire or thought wake up within me, I should immediately, without the least delay, push it out and punish myself. Beloved Dada always carried with himself a pin: and on his body, we found ,many scratches. When he was a young man, he kept with himself a stick. If an undesirable thought came to him, he would close the door of his room and beat himself with the stick, until his mind repented and promised never to entertain such a thought or desire.
One chilly, winter night, St. Francis of Assisi felt within himself, as never before, the rebellion of the flesh. He got up and found some brambles with thorns and, without hesitating a moment, lay down on it, crying out: "O Lord, it is better to suffer your thorns than to fall into satan’s hands."
St. Benedict lived a life of great austerity. He wore a rough shirt and lived for three years in a desolate cave, beyond the reach of man. His scanty food was let down to him at the end of a rope. Even there, temptation did not leave him. The memory of beautiful woman he had met haunted him continually and so impressed him that he was on the point of leaving his seclusion to follow her. Near his cave was a clump of thorns and berriers. Having undressed, he threw himself among them and rolled around till his body bled with many wounds. This continued to do till the fires of passion were quenched forever.
Many of us think that the saints are never tempted. That is not so. Only the other day, I read concerning a young man who complained to a saint that, after struggling for eight years, he had not yet succeeded in restraining his passions. "Eight years of struggle!" replied the saint. "For sixty years I have been fighting them in the desert, and so far I have not been spared a single day!"
Saints, too, are tempted even as we ordinary men are. The difference is, we easily succumb to temptation, saints overcome it and grow in spiritual strength and splendour.
It was Emerson who said, "As the Sandwich-Islander believes that the strength and valour of the enemy he kills passes into himself so we gain the strength of the temptations we resist."
Practical suggestion number seven.
What is it? I believe we all remember the adage which was taught to us in the school: "An idle mind is the devil’s workshop." If you wish to be free from temptations, keep yourself busy all the time. Our mothers were well aware of this truth, and they were specifically careful to see that their daughters were kept busy all the time. I know of a mother who, if she had no other work to give to her daughter, would mix a handful of dust with rice and tell the daughter to clean the rice. Today’s daughters spend their time in frivolous activities. They read dirty novels which poison their imagination and spoil their minds. They go to the cinema, houses of filth, they play rummy, they spend hours watching the video. Little wonder, if their minds become small factories of impurity. O ye who would wish to overcome temptation, keep yourself busy all the time.
A young man came to Beloved Dada and complained of being continually tempted. Dada prescribed certain disciplines, but the young man returned a few days later, saying that there was no improvement in his condition.
"Alright," said Beloved Dada, "come back early tomorrow and spend the day with me."
The next day, Dada said to the young man: "Take the books out of this cupboard, dust them properly, and keep on doing this until noon."
The young man followed the instructions and met Beloved Dada that afternoon. His cloths were covered with dust, but looked happy. And Dada said to him: "Go and take lunch, and after lunch, you will do the same thing to the books in the other cupboard."
The boy obeyed and when it was dark, he returned to Beloved Dada, exhausted. Dada asked him: "Tell me, my child, if you had any temptations today."
"None whatsoever," replied the young man. "I did not have the time."
Dada said to him: "Try to work that way, everyday!"
Practical suggestion number five:
Never forget that impurity begins in the thought. Therefore, take care of your thoughts. Thoughts are forces, not to be trifled with: thoughts are the building blocks of life. If you entertain pure thoughts, you build for yourself a noble future. If otherwise, you work for your own ruination. St. Thomas A’Kempis says: "First there cometh to the mind a bare thought of evil, then a strong imagination there of, afterward delight and evil motion, and then consent." His advice is, "withstand the beginnings!" Therefore, take care of your thoughts!
The great Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, said, "Temptation comes as a passer-by, then knocks on the door of your heart to be taken as a guest. But once you open the door to temptation, it will stay as a master!" Then man is doomed. Therefore, do not let temptation in! Withstand the beginnings. The moment temptation comes to you, drive it out with all the force you can summon.
Thomas Acquinas, one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Faith, when he was sixteen years of age, was locked up in a castle tower. A woman was sent to entice him to evil. "Let me flee," thought Thomas to himself. But every exit was locked: he could not flee. He then took from the chimney a burning log and chased the shameless woman away.
That is how everyone of us must try to deal with temptation, chase it away the moment it appears.
This leads us to practical suggestion number six. The moment an evil desire or thought wake up within me, I should immediately, without the least delay, push it out and punish myself. Beloved Dada always carried with himself a pin: and on his body, we found ,many scratches. When he was a young man, he kept with himself a stick. If an undesirable thought came to him, he would close the door of his room and beat himself with the stick, until his mind repented and promised never to entertain such a thought or desire.
One chilly, winter night, St. Francis of Assisi felt within himself, as never before, the rebellion of the flesh. He got up and found some brambles with thorns and, without hesitating a moment, lay down on it, crying out: "O Lord, it is better to suffer your thorns than to fall into satan’s hands."
St. Benedict lived a life of great austerity. He wore a rough shirt and lived for three years in a desolate cave, beyond the reach of man. His scanty food was let down to him at the end of a rope. Even there, temptation did not leave him. The memory of beautiful woman he had met haunted him continually and so impressed him that he was on the point of leaving his seclusion to follow her. Near his cave was a clump of thorns and berriers. Having undressed, he threw himself among them and rolled around till his body bled with many wounds. This continued to do till the fires of passion were quenched forever.
Many of us think that the saints are never tempted. That is not so. Only the other day, I read concerning a young man who complained to a saint that, after struggling for eight years, he had not yet succeeded in restraining his passions. "Eight years of struggle!" replied the saint. "For sixty years I have been fighting them in the desert, and so far I have not been spared a single day!"
Saints, too, are tempted even as we ordinary men are. The difference is, we easily succumb to temptation, saints overcome it and grow in spiritual strength and splendour.
It was Emerson who said, "As the Sandwich-Islander believes that the strength and valour of the enemy he kills passes into himself so we gain the strength of the temptations we resist."
Practical suggestion number seven.
What is it? I believe we all remember the adage which was taught to us in the school: "An idle mind is the devil’s workshop." If you wish to be free from temptations, keep yourself busy all the time. Our mothers were well aware of this truth, and they were specifically careful to see that their daughters were kept busy all the time. I know of a mother who, if she had no other work to give to her daughter, would mix a handful of dust with rice and tell the daughter to clean the rice. Today’s daughters spend their time in frivolous activities. They read dirty novels which poison their imagination and spoil their minds. They go to the cinema, houses of filth, they play rummy, they spend hours watching the video. Little wonder, if their minds become small factories of impurity. O ye who would wish to overcome temptation, keep yourself busy all the time.
A young man came to Beloved Dada and complained of being continually tempted. Dada prescribed certain disciplines, but the young man returned a few days later, saying that there was no improvement in his condition.
"Alright," said Beloved Dada, "come back early tomorrow and spend the day with me."
The next day, Dada said to the young man: "Take the books out of this cupboard, dust them properly, and keep on doing this until noon."
The young man followed the instructions and met Beloved Dada that afternoon. His cloths were covered with dust, but looked happy. And Dada said to him: "Go and take lunch, and after lunch, you will do the same thing to the books in the other cupboard."
The boy obeyed and when it was dark, he returned to Beloved Dada, exhausted. Dada asked him: "Tell me, my child, if you had any temptations today."
"None whatsoever," replied the young man. "I did not have the time."
Dada said to him: "Try to work that way, everyday!"
(To be continued; Author: Sri J.P. Vaswani)
