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Chapter 14
THE GUNAS: DEVELOPING THEM AND GOING BEYOND THEM
80. Sattva And The Method To Deal With It
22. How to overcome the pride that ‘I have sattva in me’? There is a way. Sattva should be imbibed through constant practice, so that it becomes our second nature. Continuous performance of sattvik actions withers away the pride about it. Through such actions, sattva becomes an integral part of our being. It should not remain a guest; it should rather become a member of the family. We feel proud of things that we do once in a while. We sleep daily, but do not consider it something special and do not talk about it. But if a patient has no sleep for days, and then sleeps for a while, he would tell everybody about it. An even better example would be that of our breathing. We breathe for twenty four hours a day, but never talk about it or brag about it. A piece of straw may be carried along the stream of a river for miles; it will not brag about it. But swimming a few feet against the current will make one extremely proud of it. In short, one does not feel proud of something when it is natural. 23. We feel proud when some good action gets done through our hands. Why? Because it has not happened in the routine course. When a child does something good, the mother pats it on the back; otherwise the child is familiar with the mother’s scolding only! When in the thick darkness of night there is only one firefly, look how proudly it shows itself off! It does not display its light steadily all the time. It twinkles and stops and twinkles again. That intermittent light fascinates us. A steady light does not attract us. Unbroken continuity makes a thing appear natural. One does not feel that there is anything special about it. Likewise, if our actions become sattvik, sattva will become part of our nature. A lion is not proud of its prowess; it is not even conscious of it. Sattvik attitude should thus become so natural that one is no longer conscious of it. Giving light is natural to the sun. It takes no pride in it. In fact, for it, to exist means to give light. A sattvik man should attain the same state. Sattva should be deeply ingrained in him; it should pervade every pore of his being. Then he would not feel proud of it. This is one of the ways for subduing and overcoming sattva. |
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