The dwandwas, the pairs of opposites inherent in nature (prakriti), such as pleasure and pain, hot and cold, light and darkness, gain and loss, victory and defeat, love and hatred are always present in this world. The pleasant ones attract us and the unpleasant ones repel us. In this way we are impelled back and forth continually, hardly ever coming to a state of real rest and calm. This is the basic condition of samsara.
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Before we came into relative existence, the creation (samsara) was eternally present to those within it, and after we have transcended creation and left it behind, it will still be going on, a dream bubble that encompassed us for a while, yet from which we will have been freed. But the ever-changing drama of creation will go on forever to those within it.
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It can be difficult to get into the stream of effective spiritual life. Seeing this, many decide that it is beyond their strength, not realizing that once one is fully in the stream most of the difficulties are over. The “luggage” of the world and our accumulated ignorance not only does not bother us, it fades from our mind. The “stuff” of this world no longer matters, for our attention is focused on the practical aspects of living the yoga life that leads to liberation, to perfect freedom.
Entering the spiritual stream is a result of discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the perishable and the immortal. When discrimination (viveka) is ripened in us, then the pointless toys that occupied us from life to life are of no interest any longer.
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Truth is stable and lasting, and so is the spiritual illumination of those who seek and unite themselves with the highest truth: God. But the thought and words of those immersed in the world and its ways are like letters written in chalk: they quickly fade, become meaningless and eventually non-existent.
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