Page 236 - Bodhayanti Parasparam Vol 7
P. 236
PRAYER
Before I proceed further with this subject of overcoming the impulsive tendencies to satisfy our cravings and desires I must remind a saintly advice “Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps, if you are not willing to move your feet first.” That is determination is most essential to reach the goal of human life which by now we all know is happiness to one and all. We should remember that determination cannot be got by prayer in the sense of begging. Cultivating determination is not a desire that can be prayed for.
Desire arises because of attachment. Desire has two sides: (a) craving or wanting to possess and (b) aversion or wanting to avoid. These two sides of desire exemplify the working of a universal law, the Law of Attraction, along with its implication, the Law of Repulsion. This law is reflected in physics in the statement, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." We in this land, thanks to the ethics taught to us by the recluses parading as jnanis, got accustomed to consider these two aspects of desire as "poisons", and we add a third
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