Sri Chinmoy writes:
“There are various kinds of temptation. One kind of temptation is physical temptation to enter into the pleasure world, the vital world, sex life and all kinds of undivine activities. If we give in to this temptation, it is the death of our spiritual life. It takes years and years and years to come out of this life.
“Another temptation is aggressive vital temptation. This comes in the form of ego. Like Julius Caesar we want to say, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ We are tempted to have everybody come and touch our feet. We want to be powerful and strong so that we can lord it over others. We feel that will give us real satisfaction. When ego comes forward and tempts us, we feel that we are the supreme lord and everybody else is useless.
“In the mental world there is still another kind of temptation. We feel that we know everything, whereas the rest of the world is composed of fools. Everybody, everybody else, is an ignorant fool, and we are the only ones who know everything. In the mental world we are tempted to believe that we possess the sea of wisdom and everybody else possesses the sea of ignorance. We are tempted to believe that we are the only knowers, whereas the rest of the world is a mass of ignorance.
“There is one other form of temptation. This is the temptation to feel that we alone are purity’s flood, and that the rest of the world is all impurity. We are the only pure and divine persons around. This is a form of ego, but it is different from normal ego. It is very subtle and, at the same time, very damaging.”
– Sri Chinmoy
[to be continued…]