Indulgence and repression

[Prashant Sharma]

On Wed, 20th Aug 97,  Anand Hudli wrote:
>   Some serious doubts have been raised about control of the senses. Do
>not
>   mistake controlling the senses with the unnatural repression of the
>   senses. Control of the senses has also been dealt with in detail in
>the
>   Giitaa; I dont have to go into the details. The senses are so strong
>   that they lead the mind of even a learned man, a scholar astray as
>   Krishna says, yatato hyapi kaunteya purushhasya vipashchitaH|
>   How true this statement rings in this day and age!
>
>   The solution to this problem of being constantly attacked by desires
>   is _not_ indulgence, but control of them. For Krishna again says.....

Namaste,
        All that you say is true for a person who has an intense desire to
"know" the paramAtmA.  For such a person the difficulty is that he
can be wrapped up in pursuit of desires arising due to a particular
circumstance.  Then, at that moment, all wisdom is lost and he sacrifices
his longterm motives for satisfying his "hunger". If however such a person
is aware of his ego self he is able to rise above the circumstance. For
such a person there is no repression of desires, infact there is no
control either.  There is just a sense of "knowing the finer parts of the
machinery".  As he recognizes this, detachment automatically builds in.
        For a person who has no such objectives of knowing the true self,
the moment with its "offerings" holds great importance.  For him his ego
is all there is, and the needs to satisfy it are real. There is therefore
repression and all the associated psychological problems.

Regards,
Prashant.