The Four Defects of the Conditioned Soul
Mon, 01/28/2008 - 18:07 — admin
MICHAEL: Could you explain these tendencies in more detail so I can get a good understanding of them?
Tendency to be Illusioned
TEACHER: Firstly, a person who is conditioned or influenced by material nature has the tendency to be Illusioned. He tends to accept untrue things as being true and true things as being untrue.
If in good faith I accept instruction from someone who is in illusion, it will not only not help me increase my own understanding, but it may be very dangerous as well. For example, if someone points to a mirage and tells me that it is an oasis, it will not actually help me quench my thirst. If I believe what he says and act on his instructions and go to the mirage for water, it will lead me deeper into the desert and farther away from real water.
Tendency to Cheat
Next, the materially-conditioned living being is possessed of a propensity to cheat others as well as himself. Great Vaishnava philosophers have described this world as “a place of cheaters and cheated.” For example, when a man is buying a used car from someone else, he is very worried that he will be cheated, because he knows the nature of the world. He is afraid there might be something wrong that he does not know about. When he himself sells a car, however, he is hoping, “I hope he doesn’t notice this. I hope he doesn’t notice that.” In other words, although he doesn’t like to be cheated himself, he is hopeful in a subtle way of cheating others.
In business, when someone very exuberantly declares, “I got a really good deal!” what he really means is, “Boy, was that guy dumb! I really got the best of him!”
So-called authorities are not devoid of this cheating propensity. There are numerous instances of teachers or authorities who consciously misled or cheated their followers. (Look at Jim Jones, for example.) Parents even cheat their own kids. Because they have faith in the authority of their parents, millions of children around the world believe in the existence of fictitious characters such as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Good Fairy. Actually, their parents are cheating them, and the children feel very let down when they find out that such personalities do not really exist.
SPIRITUAL HUNGER IN A MATERIAL WORLD (OR : SPIRITUAL HUNGER)The Four Defects of the Conditioned Soul
If you believe that you are your body, you will strive endlessly to give your body sensual pleasure. You will struggle to fill up your inner emptiness with fleeting sensual flashes. But no amount of sensual pleasure will satisfy you. No matter how many taste orgasms, sexual orgasms, and other kinds of orgasms you may have, you still won’t be actually satisfied. You’ll always have a never ending desire for more.
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
MICHAEL: Could you explain these tendencies in more detail so I can get a good understanding of them?
Tendency to be Illusioned
TEACHER: Firstly, a person who is conditioned or influenced by material nature has the tendency to be Illusioned. He tends to accept untrue things as being true and true things as being untrue.
If in good faith I accept instruction from someone who is in illusion, it will not only not help me increase my own understanding, but it may be very dangerous as well. For example, if someone points to a mirage and tells me that it is an oasis, it will not actually help me quench my thirst. If I believe what he says and act on his instructions and go to the mirage for water, it will lead me deeper into the desert and farther away from real water.
Tendency to Cheat
Next, the materially-conditioned living being is possessed of a propensity to cheat others as well as himself. Great Vaishnava philosophers have described this world as “a place of cheaters and cheated.” For example, when a man is buying a used car from someone else, he is very worried that he will be cheated, because he knows the nature of the world. He is afraid there might be something wrong that he does not know about. When he himself sells a car, however, he is hoping, “I hope he doesn’t notice this. I hope he doesn’t notice that.” In other words, although he doesn’t like to be cheated himself, he is hopeful in a subtle way of cheating others.
In business, when someone very exuberantly declares, “I got a really good deal!” what he really means is, “Boy, was that guy dumb! I really got the best of him!”
So-called authorities are not devoid of this cheating propensity. There are numerous instances of teachers or authorities who consciously misled or cheated their followers. (Look at Jim Jones, for example.) Parents even cheat their own kids. Because they have faith in the authority of their parents, millions of children around the world believe in the existence of fictitious characters such as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Good Fairy. Actually, their parents are cheating them, and the children feel very let down when they find out that such personalities do not really exist.