HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS - 1

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HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS - 1

The other day, a young lady met me and, in the course of her talk, said, "I can

resist everything except temptation."

How true it is that no man had graduated to the art of life till he has been

well tempted and overcome every temptation.

They meet me: young men and women in whose hearts is the aspiration to live the

new life, the life of simplicity and service, of purity and prayer, of love and

compassion, young men and women, who have not yet been tainted through contact

with worldliness – pure, young, eagre-souls, - and they put to me the question:

why is that we are tempted? What is the place of temptation in life? Why can we

not have a world without temptation? What a wonderful world it would be, where

everyone could live a pure, chaste, clean life! What is the purpose of

temptations? Why do we have temptation at all? In answer to these questions, I

say to them: "Temptations are the dumbbells of the soul."

In my boyhood days, I joined a gymnasium. Every evening I would go and practice

my exercise with the dumbbells. One evening, I asked the instructor: "What is

the use of doing this exercise, day after day?" He answered: "As you do this

exercise, your muscles will be strengthened."

Just as dumbbells strengthen the physical muscles, of the soul develop our

hidden spiritual strength, temptations unlock the hidden powers of the Spirit.

There was a holy man. His life was pure and chase as the waters of the Ganges.

He lived in the fear and love of God. His life was a source of inspiration and

joy to many around him. He lived to a ripe, old age. Soon after he passed away,

one of his companions had a dream. In the dream, he saw the holy man occupying a

place of honour in the heaven world. Around him were angels who said: "He is a

great saint and occupies place in heaven, because he succeeded in overcoming

many temptations."

A person becomes holy, in the measure in which he overcomes temptations. Instead

of complaining, let us bless God for our temptations. They come to unfold our

hidden spiritual strength. They come to make us spiritually strong. Truly,

temptations are the dumbbells of the soul.

The word temptation, is derived from the Latin, tentare, which means to prove,

to put to the test. Temptation is the touchstone of the soul. Even as gold is

tested on the touchstone, so is the man’s character. The loftiness of his soul

is tested by the temptations he is able to overcome.

When a temple bell is cast in a foundry, the Founder does not at once fix it in

the temple, but first tries it with his strong hammer to see if there are any

flaws in it. So is man tries with hammer blows of temptations before he becomes

perfect.

- to be continued.

(J.P. Vaswani)

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya....

Greet difficulties with a smile and meet dangers with love. And never forget

that the Mother Divine is ever with you – protecting you, guiding you and

guarding you. In a time of crisis feel the thrill of protection. Whisper to

yourself: "The Mother is holding me by the hand: and I feel safe and secure!"

The Mother never fails. See that you do not fail Her. Trust in Her till the

breaking point, and the breaking point will never come!

 

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