HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS – Part 5
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” is a very noble aspiration: but it must not be overdone. We must not indulge in a lot of retrospection. With a heart contrite and lowly, let us confess our sins, and then think of God’s mercy which can wash the darkest spots on our hearts. Let us not then think of our sins, for whatever we think of, repeatedly, to that we are drawn. If we constantly think of our sins, we shall be drawn to them, more and more. Let us not think of our sins, but keep our eyes fixed on God and His mercy, on God and eternal things, His goodness, His beauty, His purity and His truth. And we shall grow Godlike.
Let us honestly confess our sins, pray for strength to live a new life, and then forget our sins. Let us forget what God has already forgotten. To my revered Master, Beloved Dada there came a girl who had gone ashtray. She shed tears of repentance, and asked for forgiveness. Beloved Dada looked at her penitent eyes and said: “My child, forget what God hath forgotten. Go and live a new life!”
And what is practical suggestion number three? The more man turns to God, the more he realizes that he is a child of God. God is the king of Universe, the King of all kings. This makes everyone of us a prince, princess, a son or daughter of the King. If only I remember this one thing that I am the King’s son, I will refrain from doing wrong things. I will never stoop low. I will stand up to my royal dignity. I will never compromise with ideals.
I recall what Beloved Dada’s brother, Shri Mangharam, told me more than once. His work took him to many places: he did not have a settled life. He came face to face with many temptations. There were occasions when he was about to succumb to temptation when, he said, the thought would occur to him: “I am a brother of Sadhu Vaswani. How can I do such an ignoble thing?” The thought was enough to give him enough strength to overcome temptations.
In the annals of France is the story of the son of Louis XVI. As a young prince, he was handed over to wicked and vicious men with the express command that they should defile him and ruin his character. The vilest influences were to be let loose, so that this child of royalty might become the mockery of the enemies of the King of France. No boy, prince or peasant, had ever been brought face to face, with such shamefulness as that to which the young prince was exposed. Unmentionable were the temptations placed in his path, indescribable the company into which he was thrown. But to it all the young prince had only one answer to make: “I can not do that. For O am the son of a king!”
Young men and women! Remember, youth is too good to squander after some things, too good to lie, to cheat, to steal, to take to drugs, to indulge in impurity, to poison the body, to drown the soul. “I cannot do that, for I am a child of a king!” is a good slogan for youth. Everyone of you is a child of a king, the king of kings. Everyone of you is a child of God. And there are things which a child of God must never do!
Let us move on to practical suggestion number four. To a holy man I went when I was a little boy, and said to him: “Teach me a way to overcome temptations” He said to me: “I will suggest to you not one but three remedies.”
The first, he said, is to avoid occasions. The second is to avoid occasions. Yes, avoid occasions and in that way you will be free from many temptations.
Mohan was a little boy who had just recovered from an illness. He was still weak, and the doctor had forbidden him to eat many things, one of which was cake. One day, Mohan’s sister entered his room, eating a piece of cake with another in her hands. The cake appeared tempting. But Mohan said to her: “You must run right out of the room away from me with that cake. And I will keep my eyes shut, while you go away, so that I should not want it!” Yes, the way to overcome temptations is to avoid occasions.
A young man, who came to the satsang, was determined to change his way of life by avoiding evil occasions. One day, he met a dangerous occasion, a girl of questionable character with whom, at one time, he was very intimate. The girl invited him to her room and said to him: “Honey, don’t I mean anything to you? I’m still the same girl.”
“Yes” replied the young man, “but I am not the same fellow.” Saying thus, he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.
Avoid occasions. You have heard the story of fruit seller who said to the boy who had been lingering too long near a tempting display of fruit: “What are you doing? Trying to steal one of those apples?” “No” said the boy, “trying not to!”
In such a case, it is a good thing for a boy or a man to remove the temptation by removing himself. One way of winning is not to be defeated. And the way not to be defeated is to depart from the place and situation where defeat will naturally result.
(Author: J P Vaswani)
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” is a very noble aspiration: but it must not be overdone. We must not indulge in a lot of retrospection. With a heart contrite and lowly, let us confess our sins, and then think of God’s mercy which can wash the darkest spots on our hearts. Let us not then think of our sins, for whatever we think of, repeatedly, to that we are drawn. If we constantly think of our sins, we shall be drawn to them, more and more. Let us not think of our sins, but keep our eyes fixed on God and His mercy, on God and eternal things, His goodness, His beauty, His purity and His truth. And we shall grow Godlike.
Let us honestly confess our sins, pray for strength to live a new life, and then forget our sins. Let us forget what God has already forgotten. To my revered Master, Beloved Dada there came a girl who had gone ashtray. She shed tears of repentance, and asked for forgiveness. Beloved Dada looked at her penitent eyes and said: “My child, forget what God hath forgotten. Go and live a new life!”
And what is practical suggestion number three? The more man turns to God, the more he realizes that he is a child of God. God is the king of Universe, the King of all kings. This makes everyone of us a prince, princess, a son or daughter of the King. If only I remember this one thing that I am the King’s son, I will refrain from doing wrong things. I will never stoop low. I will stand up to my royal dignity. I will never compromise with ideals.
I recall what Beloved Dada’s brother, Shri Mangharam, told me more than once. His work took him to many places: he did not have a settled life. He came face to face with many temptations. There were occasions when he was about to succumb to temptation when, he said, the thought would occur to him: “I am a brother of Sadhu Vaswani. How can I do such an ignoble thing?” The thought was enough to give him enough strength to overcome temptations.
In the annals of France is the story of the son of Louis XVI. As a young prince, he was handed over to wicked and vicious men with the express command that they should defile him and ruin his character. The vilest influences were to be let loose, so that this child of royalty might become the mockery of the enemies of the King of France. No boy, prince or peasant, had ever been brought face to face, with such shamefulness as that to which the young prince was exposed. Unmentionable were the temptations placed in his path, indescribable the company into which he was thrown. But to it all the young prince had only one answer to make: “I can not do that. For O am the son of a king!”
Young men and women! Remember, youth is too good to squander after some things, too good to lie, to cheat, to steal, to take to drugs, to indulge in impurity, to poison the body, to drown the soul. “I cannot do that, for I am a child of a king!” is a good slogan for youth. Everyone of you is a child of a king, the king of kings. Everyone of you is a child of God. And there are things which a child of God must never do!
Let us move on to practical suggestion number four. To a holy man I went when I was a little boy, and said to him: “Teach me a way to overcome temptations” He said to me: “I will suggest to you not one but three remedies.”
The first, he said, is to avoid occasions. The second is to avoid occasions. Yes, avoid occasions and in that way you will be free from many temptations.
Mohan was a little boy who had just recovered from an illness. He was still weak, and the doctor had forbidden him to eat many things, one of which was cake. One day, Mohan’s sister entered his room, eating a piece of cake with another in her hands. The cake appeared tempting. But Mohan said to her: “You must run right out of the room away from me with that cake. And I will keep my eyes shut, while you go away, so that I should not want it!” Yes, the way to overcome temptations is to avoid occasions.
A young man, who came to the satsang, was determined to change his way of life by avoiding evil occasions. One day, he met a dangerous occasion, a girl of questionable character with whom, at one time, he was very intimate. The girl invited him to her room and said to him: “Honey, don’t I mean anything to you? I’m still the same girl.”
“Yes” replied the young man, “but I am not the same fellow.” Saying thus, he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.
Avoid occasions. You have heard the story of fruit seller who said to the boy who had been lingering too long near a tempting display of fruit: “What are you doing? Trying to steal one of those apples?” “No” said the boy, “trying not to!”
In such a case, it is a good thing for a boy or a man to remove the temptation by removing himself. One way of winning is not to be defeated. And the way not to be defeated is to depart from the place and situation where defeat will naturally result.
(Author: J P Vaswani)
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