{"id":4052,"date":"2013-07-13T01:53:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4052"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:53:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:06","slug":"59-impurity-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/03-questions-and-answers-volume-03\/59-impurity-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-59_Impurity.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>Impurity <\/font> <\/i><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Now
\nyou are like a withered leaf; the messengers of Yama await you. It is the eve
\nof your departure, and you have made no provision for your journey! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Quickly
\nmake for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you
\nare cleansed and purified of all impurity, you will enter the heavenly home of
\nthe Noble Ones. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Now
\nyour days are numbered, you are in the presence of the God of death. You have
\nno resting-place on the road, no provision for the journey. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Quickly
\nmake for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you
\nare cleansed and purified of all impurity, you will be reborn no more, you will
\nno more be subject to decay. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Just
\nas the smith refines the silver, so also, little by little from moment to
\nmoment, the wise man purifies himself of his impurities. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When
\nrust appears on iron, the iron itself is corrupted by it. So also, a man’s evil
\nactions corrupt him and lead him to his doom. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Lack
\nof repetition impairs the effect of mantras.<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/span><\/i>
\nNeglect impairs the solidity of houses. Indolence impairs the beauty of the
\nbody. Lack of attention is the downfall of one who watches.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span> Words charged with spiritual power<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 261<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Misconduct
\nis the taint of a woman. Meanness is the taint of one who gives. Wrong-doing is
\na taint in this world and the other. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The
\ngreatest of all taints is ignorance. Cleanse yourselves of that taint alone and
\nyou will be free of all taints, O Bhikkhus. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Life
\nis easy for one who is impudent as a crow, malicious, boastful, presumptuous
\nand corrupt. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Life
\nis hard for the modest one who seeks purity, who is detached, unassuming and
\nwhose judgment is correct. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Already
\nin this world he is uprooted, the one who destroys life, who lies, who takes
\nwhat he has not been given, who covets the wife of another and who is addicted
\nto drink. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Know
\nthat evil things are difficult to master. Let not cravings and wickedness
\nsubject you to endless suffering. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Each
\none gives according to his faith or his liking; if you are discontented with
\nthe food and drink offered by another, you will not achieve concentration by
\nnight or by day. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But
\nthe one who uproots and destroys in himself the very root of such a feeling of
\nresentment, achieves concentration by night and by day. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

There
\nis no fire like the fire of craving, no grip like that of hatred. There is no
\nsnare like that of delusion, no torrent like desire.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 262<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

It is
\neasy to see the faults of others, but difficult to perceive our own shortcomings.
\nWe winnow the faults of others like chaff, but we hide our own like the wily
\ngambler concealing his foul throw. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One
\nwho always criticises the faults of others and is irritated by them, far from
\nbecoming free of faults, increases his own vices. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

There
\nis no track in the sky, no Samana<\/span>\u00b9<\/span><\/i> outside the true path.
\nMan delights in vanity. The Tathagatas<\/span><\/i>\u00b2<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>have overcome these obstacles. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

There
\nis no track in the sky, no Samana outside the true path. No conditioned thing
\ncan last, but the Buddhas remain for ever immutable. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have read your notes on the control of speech. Some have tried
\nvery seriously. I am happy with the result. I believe it will be good for
\neveryone if you continue. <\/span><\/p>\n

Someone has written me something which is
\nvery true: that when one begins, one has no reason to stop, one begins with one
\nhour a day, but this becomes a kind of necessity, a habit and one continues
\nquite naturally. <\/span><\/p>\n

If your exercise truly has this result, then it will be an
\nexcellent thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

We can select three things from what I
\nhave read this evening. The first is that you must persist in what you do if
\nyou want to get a result. The Dhammapada tells us, for example, that if you
\nhave a mantra and do not repeat it sufficiently, there is no use in having it
\nand that if you are inattentive, you lose the benefit of vigilance, and that if
\nyou do not continue in the good habits that you acquire, they are useless \u2013
\nthat is to say, you <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>Ascetic.<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b2<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\nThe
\nBuddhas who, according to tradition, came on earth to reveal the eternal Truth.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 263<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

must persevere. As for example, with the exercise which I asked
\nyou to do last time; I asked you to do it with the idea that if you form the
\nhabit of doing it, that will help you much in overcoming your difficulties. <\/span><\/p>\n

Already someone has told me, quite
\nrightly, that while practising this half-silence, or at any rate this
\ncontinence of speech, one achieves quite naturally the mastery of numerous
\ndifficulties in one’s character and also one avoids a great many frictions and
\nmisunderstandings. This is true. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another point to remember from our reading
\nconcerns impurity and the Dhammapada gives the example of bad will and wrong
\naction. Wrong action, says our text, is a taint in this world as well as in
\nothers. In the next verse it is said that there is no greater impurity than
\nignorance, that is to say, ignorance is considered as the essential, the
\ncentral fault, which urgently needs to be corrected, and what is called
\nignorance is not simply not knowing things, not having the superficial knowledge
\nof things, it means forgetting the very reason of our existence, the truth that
\nhas to be discovered. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was a third thing?… Yes, you must
\nnot cherish the illusion that if you want to follow the straight path, if you
\nare modest, if you seek purity, if you are disinterested, if you want to lead a
\nsolitary existence and have a clear judgment, things will become easy…. It is
\nquite the contrary! When you begin to advance towards inner and outer
\nperfection, the difficulties start at the same time. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have very often heard people saying,
\n\u201cOh! now that I am trying to be good, everybody seems to be bad to me!\u201d But
\nthis is precisely to teach you that one should not be good with an interested
\nmotive, one should not be good so that others will be good to you \u2013 one must be
\ngood for the sake of being good. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is always the same lesson: one must do
\nas well as one can, the best one can, but without expecting a result, without
\ndoing it with a view to the result. Just this attitude, to expect a reward for
\na good action c \u2013 to become good because one thinks <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 264<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

that this will make life easier \u2013 takes away all value from the
\ngood action. <\/span><\/p>\n

You must be good for the love of goodness,
\nyou must be just for the love of justice, you must be pure for the love of purity
\nand you must be disinterested for the love of disinterestedness; then you are
\nsure to advance on the way.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

13
\n June 1958<\/span><\/i> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 265<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Impurity \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0    Now you are like a withered leaf; the messengers of Yama await you. It is the eve of your departure, and you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","wpcat-115-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}