Temptation

My face is overrun with wrinkles; My head is marked with gray. My limbs have gone flaccid;

Craving alone keeps its youth and vigor. (Vairagya-Shataka)

I can resist everything except temptation. (Oscar Wilde)

What is Temptation?

A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions as a result of guilt. Temptation also describes the coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation or otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss. It is enticement or the act of influencing by exciting hope or desire. It is something that seduces or has the quality to seduce. It is the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid. (http://www.best-quotes-poems.com/temptation-quotes.html)

'Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall. (William Shakespeare)

Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.

(New Testament, James, Chapter 1, Verse 12)

Brother, stand the pain; escape the poison of your impulses. (Rumi)

Buddhism

In Buddhism, Mara is the demon who assaulted Gautama Buddha beneath the bodhi tree, using violence, sensory pleasure and mockery in an attempt to prevent the Buddha from attaining enlightenment. In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unskillfullness, the "death" of the spiritual life. He is a tempter, distracting humans from practicing the Buddhist dharma through making the mundane seem alluring, or the negative seem positive. Buddhism utilizes the concept of Mara to represent and personify negative qualities found in the human ego and psyche. The stories associated with Mara remind Buddhists that such demonic forces can be tamed by controlling one's mind, cravings and attachments. (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mara)

William Blake – The Temptation and Fall of Eve

Life is a campaign against foes, it is a battle with obstacles, temptations,

hardships and limitations. These foes are within man and so the battle has to be incessant and perpetual. (Sathya Sai Baba)

Psychological Interpretation

Early Buddhists, as well as later Buddhists, acknowledged both a literal and psychological interpretation of Mara. Mara can be interpreted either as a real external demon or as internal vices that one faces on the pathway to enlightenment. From the psychological perspective, Mara is a manifestation of one's own mind. No external demon exists since it emerges from our own deluded thoughts. Those who see Mara as a personification of our human ego interpret the stories associated with him in a symbolic way. Mara becomes a representation for internal vices. His attack on the Buddha represents internal impulses towards violence and rage that can be overcome by following the Buddha's teachings of cultivating compassion, detachment and gentleness. The daughters of Mara represent lust and desire, which the Buddha overcame by recognizing their true nature as emptiness. Mara's own attack on the Buddha's pride was defeated by the Buddha's denial of the self since there was no "I" (ego) left to feel pride. Thus, the story of Mara's temptation can be interpreted symbolically, whereby the Buddha's own emotions, desires, and sense of self were represented by demons. Regardless of how Mara is understood, it is agreed that Mara has power only to the extent that our minds give it to him, and he must be overcome to proceed further into the Buddhist understanding of reality…Mara is used as a tool to teach Buddhists about physical and/or psychological obstacles they will confront in their meditation practice. (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mara)

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

(Buddha)

What is the demon? Your own mind. It is not outside, this demon is inside; that complicates the battle. You have to go into yourself.

(Chidananda)

Try to realize, and truly realize, that what stands between you and a different life are matters of responsible choice.

(Gary Zukav)

Paramhansa Yogananda on Temptation (The Essence of Self-Realization: The Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda)

The true purpose of life is to know God. Worldly temptations were given you to help you develop discrimination: will you prefer sense pleasures, or will you choose God? Pleasures seem alluring at first, but if you choose them, sooner or later you will find yourself enmeshed in endless troubles and difficulties. Loss of health, of peace of mind, and of happiness is the lot of everyone who succumbs to the lure of sense pleasures. Infinite joy, on the other hand, is yours once you know God. Every human being will have, eventually, to learn this great lesson of life.

One of the monks here was having a hard time struggling against temptation. I said to him one day, “I don’t ask that you overcome delusion. All I ask is that you resist it.”

The old orthodox way is to deny temptation, to suppress it. But you must learn to control that temptation. It is not a sin to be tempted. Even though you are boiling with temptation, you are not evil; but if you yield to that temptation, you are caught temporarily by the power of evil. You must erect about yourself protecting parapets of wisdom. Complete understanding will bring you to the point where nothing can tempt you to actions that promise pleasure but in the end will only hurt you.

Material desires encourage our bad habits by engendering false hopes of satisfaction and happiness. At such times one should summon his discriminative powers to reveal the truth: Bad habits lead ultimately to unhappiness. Thus exposed, bad habits become impotent to hold man in their misery-making sway.

Until you have attained wisdom, when temptation comes you must first stop the action or urge, and then reason. If you try to reason first, you will be compelled in spite of yourself to do the thing that you don’t want to do, because temptation will overcome all reason. Just say “No!” and get up and go away. That is the surest way to escape the Devil (the conscious force of delusion that attempts to keep man in ignorance of his divine nature – maya). The more you develop this “won’t” power during the intrusion of temptation, the happier you will be; for all joy depends on the ability to do that which conscience tells you you should do.

Gary Zukav on Temptation (The Seat of the Soul, ch. 9)

The personality is interested in itself. It likes thrills, so to speak. It is not necessarily responsible nor caring nor loving. The soul is the energy of Universal love, wisdom and compassion. It creates with these energies. The personality understands power as external; it perceives in terms of competition, threats, and gains and losses that are measured against those of others. When you align yourself with your personality, you give power to the realm of the five senses, to external circumstances and objects. You disempower yourself. As you grow aware of your spiritual self and origin, your immortalness, and you choose and live according to that first, and the physical second, you close the gap that exists between the personality and the soul. You begin to experience authentic power. When you struggle consciously with a choice between the wants of your personality and the needs of your soul, you enter a dynamic through which you are enabled to evolve without creating negative karma. That is the dynamic of temptation. Temptation is the Universe’s compassionate way of allowing you to run through what would be a harmful negative karmic dynamic if you were to allow it to become physically manifest. Temptation is a dress rehearsal for a karmic experience of negativity. Temptations are not traps. Each temptation is an opportunity through which the soul is able to learn without creating karma, to evolve directly through conscious choice. Temptation is that dynamic through which each soul is graciously offered the opportunity to challenge those parts of itself that resist Light. Temptation is the gracious way of introducing each soul to his or her power. When you are seduced or threatened by external circumstances, you lose power. They gain power over you. With each choice that you make to align yourself with the energy of your soul, you empower yourself. This is how authentic power is acquired. It is built up step by step, choice by choice.

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When you consciously invoke growing, consciously invoke wisdom, you consciously invoke the parts of yourself that are not whole to come into the foreground of your life. With each temptation you are given the choice to challenge it, or to give into it. Each time you challenge it, it loses power and you gain power. Each time you are tempted and you challenge that feeling, you empower yourself.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

(Jesus Christ, Matthew 26:41)

The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a

while, then they fall away when they face temptation. (Jesus Christ, Luke 8:13)

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Every spiritual path has a name for the lures of temptation we encounter on the Way. The Sufis call them Nafs. The Christian Desert Fathers called them demons. The Buddhists call them Mara. Sant Mat refers to them as Kal or the Negative Power.

Sant Mat

The Negative Power, Kal, represents the power that is going into expression, bringing all creation into being, and the other, Positive Power represents the power of inversion, bringing the soul back to its Source. These then are the centrifugal and centripetal powers working in all creation. Mind is an agent

of the Negative Power and always brings one into the outer world. (Sant Kirpal Singh, Spiritual Elixir, 20)

Swami Ji has said that we should not hesitate to go all out to still the mind. We do not fully grasp that the mind takes everyone to his doom. It is like a thousand-faced snake, which is constantly with each being; it has a thousand different ways of destroying the person. The rich with riches, the poor with poverty, the orator with his fine speeches – it takes the weakness in each and

plays upon it to destroy him. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/serpent.htm)

So mind is a disciple of the Negative Power, you see. It is working to take you away from the Path, from God.

(Sant Kirpal Singh, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v.1, 82)

Our mind, we should never forget, is Satan incarnate, and an inveterate enemy of the soul. It does not wish the soul to gain emancipation from its overlordship, and does everything it can to prevent this. In other words, you may call it an imp of Satan – an active agent through which Lucifer spreads

mischief and trouble. (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Discourses on Sant Mat, 266)

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The world is the design of Kal and Maya, the negative forces. To keep the soul down, they based the structure of the world on couples,

man and woman. (Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems, letter 24)

The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Delaroche – 1832

…mind is material, it will always drag you to the material things. (Sant Kirpal Singh, The Light of Kirpal, 198)

The mind is the most powerful, clever, and cunning of enemies. (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems, 282)

Conquer the mind, and you conquer the world. (Guru Nanak)

Subduing the Mind

Buddhist: Naming the Demons (Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart , 84-88)

The naming of our experience is the first step in bringing them to a wakeful conscious attention. Mindfully naming and acknowledging our experience allows us to investigate our life, to inquire into whatever aspect or problem of life presents itself to us. Give each problem (temptation) a simple name, as Buddha did when difficulties would appear before him. Buddha would state, “I know you, Mara.” In beginning to name the demons, we can especially look for the difficult sides of desire, the grasping and wanting mind. When the wanting mind first arises we may not recognize it as a demon because we are often lost in its allure. Wanting is characterized as a Hungry Ghost, a ghost with an enormous belly and tiny pinhole mouth, who can never eat enough to satisfy his endless need. When this demon or difficulty (temptation) arises, simply name it as “wanting” or “grasping” and begin to study its power in your life. When we look at wanting, we experience the part of ourselves that is never content, that always says, “If only I had something more, that would make me happy”. When we look, we see that wanting creates tension, that it is actually painful. We see how it arises out of our sense of longing and incompleteness, a feeling that we are separate and not whole. Observing more closely we notice that it is also fleeting, without essence. This aspect of desire is actually a form of imagination and accompanying feeling that comes and goes in our body and mind.

Understanding, freedom, and joy are the treasures that naming the demon of desire brings us. We discover that underneath unskillful desire is a deep spiritual longing for beauty, for abundance and completeness. Naming desire can lead us to discover this truest desire. One old teacher of mine said, “The problem with desire is that you do not desire deeply enough! Why not desire it all? You don’t like what you have and want what you don’t have. Simply reverse this. Want what you have and don’t want what you don’t have. Here you will find true fulfillment.”

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With mindfulness we can witness the arising and passing of desire. We can allow the body sensations, the feeling states, and the stories of desire to be graciously received without judgment. When desire is met mindfully, the energy of desire will often intensify for a time and try to overcome us. If we don’t rush to fulfill the desire, but simply stay present, the discomfort will eventually pass. Then we can notice what follows: usually a sense of ease, a peacefulness in body and mind…(Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart, 192)

Who fights with bows and arrows is not the true valiant one; Who banishes from his mind all cravings, lures and greed

is a warrior indeed. (Kabir)

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening

the door and inviting him in. (Billy Sunday)

Patience in the Grip of Temptation (Henepola Gunaratana - Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk)

Discipline is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you are wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses (temptations) and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson though. The words on this page won’t do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up - restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain - just watch it come up and don’t get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.

Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a

nest of honey within them. (John Bunyan)

When tempted to step outside the circle of Master’s Will, mentally step back and observe the thoughts running through the mind. Label the thoughts. If we were Buddhists we might say, “I recognize you, Mara.” An initiate of a Sant Mat Master might say, “I recognize you, Kal.” Ask yourself, “Do I want perennial joy or passing pleasure? Do I want to please my mind, or do I want to please the Master?” This moment of reflection, of discrimination, creates a “sacred pause” between the thoughts and the act of transgression.

The Sacred Pause Because experience happens so quickly, habitual responses can occur before we know it. It helps to practice the sacred pause when things are easy, that way when we are tempted to break a rule we have trained ourselves to dwell in the sacred pause before we take action we will later regret. Without the sacred pause our actions are often automatic and we live at the effect of our conditioned behavior. If we take a moment to pause and reflect, we can break the spell between past conditioning and automatic reaction. In the space of the sacred pause, we can reflect on the consequences of the proposed transgression and we can strengthen our resolve to dwell within the circle of our Master’s Will. In the stillness of our sacred pause we can obtain freedom from the habit of repetitive behavior.

If at every moment you are consciously watching your behavior, a calm consideration will replace a blind instinctive reaction to certain situations in life where the choice lies between committing a lapse in

behavior or avoiding it. (The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 19)

One must first think of the results before doing or even contemplating any deed. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/vegdiet.htm)

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Subduing the Mind

Mind is accustomed to roam about externally through ages. Unless it is offered something more joyous within, it cannot be controlled.

(Sant Kirpal Singh, Spiritual Elixir, 69)

Sant Mat

It is in the stillness of the mind that one can see the face of Divinity. A close study of the subject will show that the mind is generally in the grip of the senses and the latter are helplessly rushing out into the fields of sense-pleasures. In the Hindu mythology, soul is described as riding a chariot of the body with intellect as its driver, the mind as reigns, and the senses as powerful steeds which are whirling it restlessly into sensual enjoyments. So the first step for a spiritual aspirant is to control his senses and save himself from falling unwittingly as prey to the temptations. It is said that we receive 83 percent of our impressions through the eyes, 14 percent through the ears, and rest of the three percent through other organs. Just see how needlessly we are rushing head long into the wild drama of life. The Master not only guides us on how to free ourselves from this captivity, but actually offers a better substitute to the mind in the form of inner Light and Sound Current or the Music of the Spheres. We have just seen that as a counterweight to both the faculties of mind, that of sight and audition, the Providence has provided us with a treasure of divinity within which can be unearthed to our advantage with the aid of a competent Master. So mind can be controlled only with the grace of the Master, Who attunes it with something substantial within - the Light and Voice of God. We should always try to sit at ease at the eye focus, the resting place of the soul during waking hours, and try to get the mystic experience which the Master vouchsafes to all who come to Him. (Master Kirpal,.ruhanisatsangusa.org/dsos.htm)

Without suffering the pain of self-restraint, no recompense can follow.

(Rumi)

While we sojourn in this dark region of matter, we have to deal with the negative power. With him we must contend in our struggles for spiritual freedom. It is his duty to try to hold us here, while it is our duty to try to escape. The resulting struggle purges us and makes us strong, and fits us for our homeward journey. This everlasting fight, this struggle in a welter of pain and blood and heart cries, is designed by the supreme Father to purge us and make us clean, ready for our homeward ascent. Let us never become discouraged. All of this is designed by the Father for our benefit. It is much as if one enters a gymnasium to take exercise. If we meet these difficulties in the right spirit, we shall greatly profit by them. The idea of pain and struggle is to purge us and inspire in us a longing to rise above the regions of pain and shadow. (Julian Johnson, The Path of the Masters, 259)

There is a sound of truth vibrating within - a song which is sung in every being. There is a great attraction in hearing this sound, through which all

other attractions will fade away - one becomes free of them. (The Teachings of Kirpal Singh, v. 2, 166)

My foes - desire, hatred, and their kindred - are without hands, without feet. They are neither cunning nor valiant. How do they enslave me? They dwell in my spirit, and there at their ease they smite me. I will never turn back

from fighting them. I make war on them all. (Shantideva)

Every temptation that has come your way is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist; at the time you are tempted he will give you the

strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

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On the plane of outer action, it (Surat Shabd Yoga) does not base itself on a dry and rigid discipline that is often laden with the consequences of psychological repression. It holds that some discipline is necessary, but adds that it must ultimately be inspired by inner spiritual experience and be a matter of spontaneous living, and not of rigorous asceticism and a too deliberate self abnegation. The seeker must strive toward a state of equipoise and must therefore cultivate the virtue of moderation in thought and deed. The integration he thereby achieves enables him to gain greater concentration, and so higher inner experiences, and this inner experience must in turn have repercussions on outer thoughts and action. The relationship of sadachar (ethical living) to inner sadhna is a reciprocal one; each enlivens and gives meaning to the other, and one without the other is like a bird with a single wing. How can the spirit be brought to perfect one-pointedness without the purity of mind and body, and how can the soul transcend all human attachments and imperfections without centering itself in the love of the Divine? (Sant Kirpal Singh, The Crown of Life, 160, 161)

Become even a little receptive and the Master in you will restrain you when you are in danger of going wrong. (Master Kirpal,.ruhanisatsangusa.org/re_mind.htm)

Keep a watch over your whole life--each action--day by day, and through meditation increase your inner progress. (Master Kirpal,.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm)

Naam has got the Nectar of the Lord which satisfies the mind and renders

the small enjoyments insipid. (Master Kirpal, ruhanisatsangusa.org/gemsq.htm)

True renunciation within comes through communion with the Shabd alone. Nature, with all her charms ceases to have any attraction for the renouncer. By renouncing everything, one penetrates into the all-pervading spirit. His attachments to the environments is done away with and his bondage to

matter is ended. Thus no more births and deaths await him. Thereafter the life of the senses and the glamour of the world no longer fascinate him for he

is on the way to the Lord. (Sant Kirpal Singh, Spiritual Elixir, 299)

I know the voice of depression still calls to you. I know those habits that can ruin your life still send their invitations. But you are with the Friend now and look so much stronger. You can stay that way and even bloom! Learn

to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure, but then drag you for days behind a farting camel! (Hafiz)

When the heart becomes whole, it will know the flavors of falsehood and truth. When Adam’s greed for the forbidden fruit increased, it robbed his

heart of health. Discernment flies from one who is drunken with desire. He who puts down that cup lightens the inner eye, and the secret is revealed.

(Rumi)

People fancy they are enjoying themselves, but they are really tearing out their wings for the sake of an illusion. (Rumi)

Fiery lust is not diminished by indulging it, but inevitably by leaving it ungratified. As long as you are laying logs on the fire, the fire will burn. When you withhold the wood, the fire dies, and God carries the water!

(Rumi)

Beware! Don’t allow yourself to do what you know is wrong, relying on the thought, “Later I will repent and ask God’s forgiveness.”

(Rumi)

You enjoy outside and unless you get more blissful enjoyment inside you cannot withdraw from outside.

(Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/lok/first see.htm)

The mind is a lover of enjoyments, and in the Naam there is the Maha Ras - the most delectable Nectar one can ever taste. If only the mind would take

one true sip, it would never again yearn for lower enjoyments. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/listen.htm)

When one gets the Naam’s inner nectar, all worldly intoxicants seem ridiculous, and when the seed of Naam sprouts, all other things become

meaningless. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm)

One cannot possibly forsake the lusts of the flesh unless one comes to know by actual contrast, the real happiness in the life of the spirit which comes

about by communion with the holy Word. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/guru-means.htm)

Even a little intoxication derived from steady daily practice will start to

erase the taste for outer pleasures. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/thief of.htm)

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every

trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

(William Butler Yeats)

As the Sandwich islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptations we

resist. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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Every life is a march from innocence, through temptation, to virtue or vice. (Lyman Abbott)

We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every

day to the shrift. (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

Temptations are as thick as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of temptation unless he is dead. The great thing is to make people intelligent enough and strong enough, not to keep away from temptation, but

to resist it. (Robert Ingersoll)

Why comes temptation but for man to meet and master and make crouch beneath his foot, and so be pedestaled in triumph?

(Robert Browning)

The most formidable attribute of temptation is its increasing power, its accelerating ratio of velocity. Every act of repetition increases power,

diminishes resistance. It is like the letting out of waters--where a drop can go, a river can go. Whoever yields to temptation, subjects himself to the law

of falling bodies. (Horace Mann)

Mara's assault on the Buddha.

The Buddha is only symbolized by his throne. Second century C.E.

It is a most fearful fact to think of, that in every heart there is some secret spring that would be weak at the touch of temptation, and that is liable to be assailed. Fearful, and yet salutary to think of; for the thought may serve to keep our moral nature braced. It warns us that we can never stand at ease, or lie down in this field of life, without sentinels of watchfulness and campfires

of prayer. (E. H. Chapin)

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically - to say 'no' to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside. (Stephen Covey)

They say that woman is an enticement. No, No, she is not so. They say that money is an enticement. No, No, it is not so. They say that landed property is an enticement. No, No, it is not so. The real enticement is the insatiable

appetite of the mind, O Lord Guheswara! (Allama Prabhu, Vacana 91)

The mind has a way of being drawn away by passing fancy. The mind is the enchanter, the usurper who has established sovereignty over you.

(Sathya Sai Baba)

Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory. (Frederick Faber)

Temptation: It is easier to stay out than get out.

(Mark Twain)

Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare. (John Dryden)

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.

(Thomas Jefferson)

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. (Benjamin Franklin)

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Eckhart Tolle on Addiction (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, 246- 248)

A long-standing compulsive behavior pattern may be called an addiction, and an addiction lives inside you as a quasi-entity or sub-personality, an energy field that periodically takes you over completely. It even takes over your mind, the voice in your head, which then becomes the voice of the addiction. If you have a compulsive behavior pattern, this is what you can do: When you notice the compulsive need arising in you, stop and take three conscious breaths. This generates awareness. Then for a few minutes be aware of the compulsive urge itself as an energy field inside you. Consciously feel that need to physically or mentally ingest or consume a certain substance or the desire to act out some form of compulsive behavior. Then take a few more conscious breaths. After that you may find that the compulsive urge has disappeared – for the time being. Make the addiction part of your awareness practice in the way described above. As awareness grows, addictive patterns will weaken and eventually dissolve. Remember, however, to catch any thoughts that justify the addictive behavior, sometimes with clever arguments, as they arise in your mind. Ask yourself, “Who is talking here?” And you will realize the addiction is talking. As long as you know that, as long as you are present as the observer of your mind, it is less likely to trick you into doing what it wants.

After half a century in psychiatric practice, I know without a doubt that the source of addiction is spiritual deficiency. Irrespective of whether we are religious or atheist, all human beings are spiritual by nature and spirituality

is the cornerstone of our recovery. (Abraham Twerski)

Gary Zukav on Addiction (The Seat of the Soul, ch. 10)

If you decide that you cannot beat a temptation, what you are really doing is giving yourself permission to be irresponsible. The desires and impulses that you feel that you cannot resist, that you lack the power to overcome, are your addictions. Addictions are the wants of the parts of your personality that are very strong and resistant to the energy of your soul. They are those aspects of your personality, of your soul incarnate, that are most in need of healing. They are your greatest inadequacies. You cannot begin the work of releasing an addiction until you can acknowledge that you are addicted. Until you realize that you have an addiction, it is not possible to diminish its power. The personality rationalizes its addictions. It dresses them in attractive clothing. It presents them to itself and others as desirable or beneficial. Recognition of your own addictions requires inner work. It requires that you look clearly at the places where you lose power in your life, where you are controlled by external circumstances. Acknowledging an addiction, accepting that you have an addiction, is acknowledgment that a part of you is out of control. The personality resists acknowledging its addictions because that forces it to choose to leave a part of itself out of control, or to do something about it. Once an addiction has been acknowledged, it cannot be ignored, and it cannot be released without changing your life, without changing your self-image, without changing your entire perceptual and conceptual framework. We do not want to do that because it is our nature to resist change. Therefore, we resist acknowledging our addictions. Hold onto the thought that you create your experiences. Your fear comes from the realization that a part of you is creating a reality that it wants, whether you want it or not, and the feeling that you are powerless to prevent it, but that is not so. This is critical to understand: your addiction is not stronger than you. It is not stronger than who you want to be. Though it may feel that way, it can only win if you let it. Like any weakness, it is not stronger than the soul or the force of will. Its strength only indicates the amount of effort that needs to be applied toward the transition, toward making yourself whole in that area of your life.

As you work through your weaknesses, and you feel levels of addictive attraction, ask yourself the critical questions of the spirit: If, by following those impulses, do you increase your level of enlightenment? Does it bring you power of the genuine sort? Will it make you more loving? Will it make you more whole? Ask yourself these questions. This is the way out of an addiction: Walk yourself through your reality step by step. Make yourself aware of the consequences of your decisions, and choose accordingly. When you feel in yourself the addictive attraction remember these words: You stand between the two worlds of your lesser self and your full self. Your lesser self is tempting and powerful because it is not as responsible and not as loving and not as disciplined, so it calls you. This other part of you is whole and more responsible and more caring and more empowered, but it demands of you the way of the enlightened spirit: conscious life. The other choice is unconscious permission to act without consciousness. It is tempting. As you choose to empower yourself, the temptations that you challenge will surface again and again. Each time that you challenge it, you gain power and it loses power. The first time that you challenge your addiction, and the second, and the third, you may not feel that anything has been accomplished. Do you think that authentic power can be had so easily? As you hold to your intention, and as you choose again and again and again to become whole, you accumulate power, and the addiction that you thought could not be challenged will lose its power over you. If you choose to challenge your addiction, to move consciously toward wholeness, you choose to learn through wisdom. You choose to create your experiences consciously, to align the perceptions and the energy of your personality with your soul. You choose to create within physical reality the reality that your soul wishes to create. You choose to allow your soul to move through you. You choose to allow Divinity to shape your world.

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Living Within the Circle of Master’s Will You are not your body, you are a conscious entity working in a body. You are a divine spirit, a drop of the Ocean of all Consciousness. Your body cannot satisfy a temptation without your consent. Your body speaks to you with suggestions, not commands. Observe your thoughts and feelings about your temptation. Thoughts and feelings which encourage a transgression are called the voice of Kal. Thoughts which support living in Master’s Will are your higher self, the real you. When you hear an inner voice prompting you to indulge in a prohibited behavior, recognize it as Kal (“I know you, Mara”). “I want a drink,” “I want to get high,” “I want to eat forbidden foods” becomes “It” or “Kal wants to drink, get high, or eat meat.” You come to recognize that your inner temptations are not you but your pleasure loving mind. You remember the words of the Beloved Master, “Mind is material, it will always drag you to the material things.” You realize that these thoughts of transgression, these temptations, are nothing to get anxious about, they are just the mind (Kal) doing its job, doing its best to keep you from leaving Kal’s domain. It is helpful to remember “I am not my mind, I am the beloved of the Beloved, committed to living within the circle of His Will.”

The highest type of love for the lover is to live in the Will of the Beloved. (Sant Kirpal Singh, (Philosophy of the Masters, v. 2, 191)

The disciple does not abstain from the things which he has been told to,

but instead he blames the Master for not getting any progress. (Swami Ji)

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The Masters test the disciples again and again to see how much the disciple can sacrifice, how much loving devotion he has, and to what extent he still

remains under the influence of mind. (Sant Kirpal Singh, ruhanisatsangusa.org/tghp.htm)

See Him present in every experience and remember He is always with you,

ready to assist whenever you turn your thoughts to Him. (Sant Kirpal Singh, Spiritual Elixir, 93)

Happy is the man who doesn't give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised

those who love Him. (James – New Testament)

Beloved Master Sant Kirpal Singh

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The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little. (Thomas Merton)

May your soul be happy; journey joyfully.

(Rumi)

Kirpalct@yahoo.com

For more booklets go to: kirpalsingh.org (Spiritual Quotations for Lovers of God)