FINE-TUNING YOUR DISCRIMINATION

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

44. FINE-TUNING YOUR DISCRIMINATION
A sadhaka is a person with a sense of keen perception, with a sense of discrimination and
discernment, who keenly enquires and sifts the grain from the chaff, sifts the substance from the
superfluous outer appearances, who goes to the tattva behind the nama rupa. He is always doing
this.
And in this process of discrimination, the classical content of this viveka is usually stated as
discrimination between the permanent and the passing, the eternal and the non-eternal, the Self and
the non-Self, the Reality and the appearances. This is the traditional way, but in actual practical
spiritual life upon the path of yoga, discrimination is seen to be more than that.
A sadhaka has to discriminate between what constitutes a factor favourable to his or her
sadhana and what constitutes a thing not favourable. If a thing is favourable, it should be accepted
and given a place in his sadhana. If it is unfavourable, it is to be rejected, to be given no place.
But this is not all. A thing may be amoral. It is not unfavourable but neither is it favourable.
Can you then, in your daily life and sadhana, give a place to such a thing? Here is required another
step in this process of discrimination. It is not unfavourable—it is amoral—but is it necessary?
Should you clutter your life with unnecessary, avoidable things?
This is one step further, a fine-tuning of your discrimination. Supposing a thing is not
positively and actually harmful or unfavourable, but it is unnecessary; it consumes your time. Then,
in truth, it means that it deprives you of time which might have been utilised in sadhana. It may not
be seemingly contrary to sadhana, but, in essence, it is contrary to sadhana because it has robbed
you of a chance and a scope for furthering your spiritual life.

Therefore, the person who is earnest, who is a genuine seeker, will not allow something that
is even indirectly adverse to his sadhana. He will always ask: “Is it necessary?” If it is not
necessary, but it is unavoidable, all right, he suffers it. He suffers it, and at the same time tries to find
ways and means of making this unavoidable occupation somehow spiritual in its content, by
bringing a new bhava into it, doing it with a certain attitude, offering it at the feet of the Lord,
remembering Him even in the midst of this tiresome, unavoidable process.
So, we should always be trying to find out how we can take maximum advantage of every
drop of our life, every second of our time. Because that is the only thing we have. Diversions and
byways may be very pleasant. But have we come here to pass our lives in pleasantries? Or have we
come here to accumulate riches beyond compare?
Any diversion from the main way is a delay in reaching the Goal. It is so much energy
wasted, so much time consumed. And if these diversions become our habitual vice, our habitual
failing, our habitual folly, then we shall never reach the Goal. Because, delay beyond a certain limit
may find us still far from the Goal, and suddenly life may come to an end. For life cannot be
stretched; you cannot add to your allotted span of life.
So, if this really becomes a habitual failing of yours, ultimately you will have to pay the
price of passing away still in a state of bondage, still in a state of imperfection, with your life’s
purpose unachieved. Do you wish this for yourself? Ask yourself this question, and let your deep
reflection on it bring into your life a new alertness, a fresh vigilance and a determination not to
allow this to happen; on the contrary, you will make use of every second for this great attainment.
We have to constantly keep sowing the seeds of noble spiritual ideas, feelings and intentions
in our mind. Our destiny depends upon how we cultivate our interior. Guru Maharaj used to say:
“Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a
character and you reap your destiny.”
So, the cultivation of our interior, the sowing of seeds of right thoughts and right intentions
is of the utmost importance to any serious sadhaka. “As you sow, so shall you reap.” “As a man
thinketh, so he becometh.” If we allow our mind to be diverted and move away in ten directions into
miscellaneous channels, in silly matters, where is the time to sow, with seriousness, the valuable
seeds of right thinking and feeling?
Have we come here for little things by the wayside, when God has endowed us with
intellect, made us in His image, has given us the great privilege of deep thinking, reasoning,
discrimination, logic, enquiry, analysis? Is it to go to waste?
Therefore, radiant Divinities, who have come here to know and experience your own
all-perfect, divine, essential nature, nija svarupa, be up and doing on the spiritual path. Be vigilant,
be alert. Do not allow the mind to dupe you and beguile you away from the main task, and to divert
you into these little byways.
Keep to the way. Byways are hundreds. The way is only one that goes straight to the Goal.
Therefore, like a speeding arrow, take a straight course, without any diversion to this side or that

side, towards the Goal Supreme. That is wisdom. That is the hallmark of a true seeker, a true
spiritual aspirant. Show yourself to be that. In this lies your highest gain, your supreme welfare,
your greatest good.