Babaji explains the six enemies of the mind, the arishadvarga, which the ancient sages identified as the six extreme negative emotions which, whenever anyone experiences them, they become the first casualty.

Taken from ‘The Mind – Its Shapes And Experiences – online Q&A, No. 114’

0:00 Intro
0:44 1: Kama – Greed
1:58 2: Krodha – Extreme Anger
3:56 3: Lobha – Stinginess
5:23 4: Moha – Extreme Attachment to the Materialistic World
7:19 5: Mada – False Pride
10:24 6: Matsarya – Jealousy

The six enemies of the mind – Arishadvarga

Babaji:

The ancient sages said, these six shapes that the mind takes, they are like six enemies of humans. That means whoever has got these characteristics, or these habits, or these attitudes in their mind, their mind becomes the first casualty, and through that they can be harmful to others also. Like my old example, a car being driven without a brake or a gear, anything, they can be disastrous to themselves, dangerous to others on the road. 

These six shapes are – kama, means extreme greed. See, any need, and for working for that need is not prohibited in this world. Like anything, we need to sustain the body, we need to earn a livelihood and have some food. So this is not a prohibited thing, and it is a need. That is how we can be in touch with this world. Without this body we cannot be in touch with this world, that will not be possible. That is why that is the need. But if we go excess, that is greed. That is wrong thing. 

So due to greed a human being can become corrupted, can try to snatch some others’ property, money, anything, all these things, wrong things can be doing, that person. And because such a person’s mind itself has become a casualty, he is extremely greedy always, totally selfish, and narrow-minded that he becomes. So that is the reason this one as one of the worst enemies of the human mind has been described. 

And krodha, is extreme anger. 

I have always tried to give my opinion, that to have some anger may be necessary at several places. In administration if you need to control your subordinates, and you need to tell them to do what to do, all these things, a little bit of anger would be necessary. Like particularly on a battlefield, you need to have that anger, because you are going to defend a larger area of your country, and for that you need to have anger that an enemy has tried to disturb that independence, has tried to attack, invade, so you are going to defend, you need that anger there. So these things are all alright. 

But unnecessarily, while living in the society, in the family, or anywhere, if we are going to become short-tempered people, we lose temper very quickly for every small thing, we cannot listen to anybody, we become totally egoistic and arrogance crops up within us, that is a wrong thing again. So whoever has got this in their mind is the first casualty, and that person can become a bit dangerous to others. 

Like sometimes, for example… I am talking for an education, please all of you don’t think I am directing against any individual or any group of individuals, only for education purpose I am talking. Sometimes like a person, or a head of the family may be annoyed in the office for some reason. He comes home and shows that anger either on his wife or on the children unnecessarily. So that can be quite dangerous, you all understand? So that is the second one now, krodha, extreme anger is equally dangerous. 

Another enemy – lobha, stinginess. 

Stinginess is also a wrong thing, one who has it in the mind. Like the favorite example is the twelve bananas I keep telling you all. So Swamiji used to tell, that’s why it comes to the mind. “Bhai you have four bananas, six bananas, how much you are going to eat?” Try to distribute, let others also have, let them have their enjoyment, then there won’t be any problem in the world. But you want to have everything for yourself, you want to own the whole world, and don’t want to give to anybody. That is wrong thing. 

You become a leader of one country; you enjoy, look after, develop that country, take care of the subjects. But you want to win the whole world and you want to dictate terms. Such things are very wrong. Stinginess makes a person behave like this. He doesn’t want to give even one banana to anybody. Then others also come to fight and snatch it. That is how conflicts happen. Countries have fought wars, all these things have happened in the world, disastrous things. 

So this is the third one, which is the enemy of a human mind. The mind itself has become a casualty, and that person has become dangerous to all others – peace in the society, peace in the world – anything that can be depending on his power and strength. 

Moha, extreme attachment to the unrealistic, impermanent, materialistic world. 

Having a desire is no problem I have told. You want to live in the world. You will have your own dreams. You want to own a home, and you want to have some money for you  -you might have a family. All these are no problem, that is perfectly alright. Spirituality does not prohibit you to live in this world. But while doing so do not forget everything is impermanent, including our own physical body. 

That is why spirituality advises here, you have a life once in a life cycle opportunity to know your Real Self which is Permanent Entity. You cannot depend on the impermanent world always, forever, for your peace or happiness – it has not allowed anybody to settle down peacefully. You try to sort out one problem, ten more crop up. This is what we get to see, history, or mythology, or world, anything. A masala in the story happens due to these things, that is the need. That’s because our attachment, depending too much on this, and without that we cannot.

By the remembrance of death, we hold our head, ‘Oh God,’ we become panicked, ‘What will happen now? I don’t want to die.’ It is not going to listen, the moment when it comes, it doesn’t ask, ‘Are you a Yogi, are you an emperor, are you a common man?’ Have to go, ‘Come, let’s go.’ That’s what happens. Anybody has to give up the body one day. No matter that we claim that we are going to be here forever. It’s only through the Atman, through the Self that we will always be there. That’s how great Masters said always. So this is another important thing. 

And false pride. 

False pride. Self-respect and false pride have a thin-edge of difference. A person who has a self-respect, he will be composed, he won’t lose temper, he won’t misunderstand others, he will just remain in himself, peacefully. If anybody invites us with love and respect, we go there. Otherwise we don’t have to blame anybody. If nobody invites us we are happy wherever we are. Like that, our life also. That is a self-respect. 

But if we have the false pride, if anybody wants to invite and we show our arrogance, ‘Oh, we don’t come, we need this thing, we need that thing, if you pay this much of money only then I will come.’ So this type of false pride having in this world. 

Then people keep boasting. They don’t know anything, anybody, but they boast as if they have become the president of a country, or a prime minister of a country, and they keep boasting. ‘We know this person, I know this, I know this one, I can do this one.’ Finally they end up not doing anything. So these are the examples of false pride. 

Such people also become unreliable. You cannot trust them. Because they would have simply told you a lie; ‘We will do it for you, don’t worry.’ That’s how Swamiji used to tell, ‘If anybody tells ‘I will do it for you, you don’t even have to meditate’ – don’t trust such Gurus at all. You will have to do that meditation.’ This is false pride which becomes enemy of a human mind. Whoever has got in their mind, they are not trustworthy, they will not be sincere or honest, so they don’t want to do meditation also. 

Many people come to us, ‘We want God now, I have decided, I must get God.’ I said, ‘No problem. You will have to do some meditation, you will have to do this.’ Then they start asking, ‘Is it okay if we lie down and meditate, and is it okay if sometimes we fall asleep also, will meditation happen?’ 

How can that meditation happen if you fall asleep? Then painstakingly I have to explain to them, ‘When you sleep brain goes to sleep, and you will be unconscious. How can you purify your habits of the mind?’ You should be sitting, brain should be alert, keep straight, back and neck straight, and then practice meditation of watching in between eyebrows, and do not analyze about any thoughts and visions. This much of exercise must happen. So how can you go to sleep, or how can you lie down? So these things are not possible. 

When you lie down… some Gurus might allow to please the disciple, ‘You can do this one’. But no, Swamiji used to be furious, ‘You want to meditate or you want to sleep, you decide first. If you want to sleep, you sleep. If you want to meditate, you meditate. Both cannot happen’, like that He used to tell. So this is also important. All these things happen in the false pride. 

Jealousy is the last one – matsarya, the Sanskrit word. Of the six enemies of human mind, jealousy is the foremost. 

If one is happy, one is progressing, others cannot take it, they feel jealous, ‘Oh God, I couldn’t get, why is he getting? Even if I have to lose both eyes, he must also lose at least one eye.’ Like that they will be so jealous. ‘I must not allow him to progress. I am not progressing because I’m not putting effort, I’m not focusing, I’m not learning anything.’ That is alright, it’s your choice. ‘But I don’t want others also to meditate. I don’t want others also to achieve Self Realization. It is below my dignity, if I cannot do that how can you do that one? If I couldn’t become a Guru how could you become Guru, how could you do these teachings? I didn’t get anything from our Guru, but you have become a Guru.’ So like this, this is the jealousy. 

Jealousy is such a common thing, probably everybody will understand when this happens. If anybody has these things in their mind, know that your mind is the first casualty – never give rise to these things. Practice meditation, have self-confidence, self-respect, and achieve the truth to yourself. Put in efforts – like purusartha, self-efforts – and then you achieve. That is how everybody achieved. 

If Swamiji could achieve He put in self-efforts. Jangama Sage came and made Him to sit, that’s a different thing. But after that, 12 years of tests and all examinations happened. Swamiji was grinded, cut into pieces, that’s how Swamiji used to tell, ‘Bhagavan Shankar came, He made me to sit for Tapas. Afterwords don’t think that I was in an air conditioned room, comfortably sleeping. He grinded me into chutney,‘ He used to tell, ‘So so much of tests happened, only then I could do, concentrate. I was remained watching, watching, and watching, just watching. Then slowly my thinking all stopped, then all visions, everything stopped. Samadhi came.’ That much of determination was there. That needs to be there, effort. 

So simply feeling jealous of somebody else who has achieved has no meaning. If we feel jealous of Swamiji, it has no meaning. Senseless thing. We also have to put effort and can achieve, that’s what Swamiji showed. I have achieved and you also can achieve. But put in efforts, don’t keep sleeping. 

So these are the six enemies of human mind. When it takes shape, one has to be very, very careful. 

See, they were so scientific, great sages – if you look into this, all negative thoughts come under these headings only. These are the six shapes that the mind takes. Anything you tell the mind’s shape that is negative, it would be under one of these headings, any one of these six things. So they could think, and visualize so much, which we need to overcome. The strong spiritual exercises – bhakti marga, karma yoga, and meditation are the remedies to overcome all these things.