From a heart-to-heart talk by Dr Harbhajan Singh, 3 April 1985
How to get free from the negative effects of the world by Dr Harbhajan Singh (10:06)
How to get free from the negative effects of the world?
Only through Right Understanding, which leads to Consciousness.
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Seven Types of Understanding
In Spirituality one thing is needed:
Right understanding, rather . . .
Rare right understanding of its special significance.
Then what happens?
You know the effect, you know the cause.
You have the problem, you have the solution,
you have the disease and the remedy is also within,
the question is there the answer is also there, answer is within.
To get this Right Understanding — we have different levels of understanding. There are many ways to get the understanding. So Masters have calculated about seven types of understanding and with these seven types of understanding, if these are all collected together and we become the master of these seven understandings (by putting it in practice), then right understanding will come. If we lack anyone of them, then we lack right understanding, this is one problem.
1. Ethical Way of Life — Higher Values of Life
The first is way of life. And remain where are you, but you must know the way of life. Way of life as told by all the saints and competent Masters is to attain the higher values of life.
And in higher values of life, one must lead an ethical life.
Ethical life is not spirituality, but it is a stepping stone to spirituality. That would lead us somewhere.
2. Use the Intellect
Then the second thing is the intellect. Intellect is just a weighing machine between the mind and the soul. And we have to make the best use of the intellect. If we go very deep into the matter, this intellect begins to guide us in the right direction.
Some time we do not make the best use of the intellect, we are lost in the way.
It is not the fault of the intellect, but it is the fault of ourselves, that we do not pay attention to the intellect.
Intellect is a main weapon in the body.
With intellect we can come very near to the mind, make it to understand the right cause of life. Mind itself can come near. We can have work from the mind itself. So to use the intellect is a big weapon.
3. Patience in all circumstances
Then there is patience. And you should not be unbalanced in any circumstances. And sometimes we get too much emotional, sometimes we are too much depressed. It is the mind. It is the play of the mind.
When someone rises above the level of the mind then he has patience. He says:
“Okay, there is nothing wrong. It is only a little change.”
Whether it is outward or it is inside, it is a little change. But when one is initiated everything comes in the way for the betterment. If disease comes, it is for the betterment. We lose some Karmas.
Many things happen in the world,
but we must not lose the patience.
If some persons have a grudge against us, we should not worry, because the credit goes to the Master.
Therefore, if we have patience then always the credit will go to the Master. Discredit will not go. So ego, and other bad things arise only when we lose patience, these things come up.
4. Discrimination
And then fourth is the discrimination. And we can know the truth through discrimination. To discriminate between bad and good. Because this is the understanding. One should have the view, one should have the power to discriminate, what is good, what is bad.
We should not go only after hearsay, “No, one has said like this, one has said like this.” — No.
5. Inner Power
Then we have a certain power. We must attain this (inner) power. And to use this power in the best possible way. With this power (which also includes the Ojas power) many things come, chastity comes, that keeps us balanced. With this power we have (control of) the money matter as well. Money is not Maya, Maya is illusion. But to misuse the money is Maya, it is an illusion. Those who do not lose (surrender) their power unto God, they die in attachment. They come back into the world.
6. Salvation — solve the Purpose of Life
The sixth is the salvation (a way of life that enables us to return to our Home Eternal). We must know how to solve the purpose of human life. That is understanding. To know for what purpose we have come into this world. One must understand, one has come to attain the salvation. And we should — because people are initiated, they are not afraid of something, they do something wrong, they say: “Okay we are initiated.” (What could possibly happen to us?) They must know something really about their end. Reaction of everything is there. So they must take everything into consideration about salvation.
Salvation reminds us the purpose of human life.
That should never be forgotten, whether we are initiated or not. Some people who are initiated they have created something in them and that has become a very bad habit in them. And when habit is there reaction is there, so many problems arise. So this subject, these things are told by the competent Master.
7. Selfless Service
There are 7 types of understanding and the last one is the selfless service.
And even one does everything in the world, he leads a very ethical life, he has no selfless service, even then the right understanding will not come. All these 7 things are needed to attain the right understanding.
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Avoid the Four Fires
Then there are 4 other things which are almost working as enemy to the soul and bring about a very big change in the man and takes someone to the negative side. So these are called 4 fires. There are 4 fires.
1. Killing is negative
Killing is one fire. Those who kill, they go into the grand fire, they go into the hell, as it is told by the Masters.
2. Worldly attachment
Then there is a worldly attachment. And we cannot say it is a worldly love, there is really no love in the world. There is only worldly attachment. Those people who die in the worldly attachment, they also meet a fire, this is also a fire.
3. Wrath
Then there is wrath, wrath is also a fire.
4. Greed
And then there is greed.
All these are 4 fires.
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So these things are very urgently needed to attain the right understanding.
If once this right understanding comes,
he is called a conscious co-worker of the Divine Plan.
He will not lose his temper, he will stand still,
nothing untoward that can affect him,
he knows what is his goal.
So these are the few things which are needed to attain the right understanding. These are understandings.
We must try to understand what is what —
that is what is meant by each thing.
To understand what does it mean,
what is the practical significance of these things.