Once upon a time there were two friends. Both of them were spiritually-minded, they would read and understand scriptures and would try to delve deep into the realm. Once, they travelled to a new town and lived there for two weeks. The evenings there were beautiful by the riverside and both of them thought of doing something interesting. There was a Satsang and spiritual talks by a Mahatma for a fortnight. One of them said “Oh! Enough of spirituality, no one knows me in this town and I would like to have a ball.” He befriended a prostitute whom he visited every evening. His friend looked down upon him and continued to attend spiritual talks every evening.
However, the one who went to the prostitute evolved spiritually and finally went to heaven, and the other one went to hell. Swami Chinmayananda narrated this story and then said, “One of the two friends went to heaven, while the other went to hell, not because of their actions, but their thoughts. The one attending the talks constantly thought of the carnal pleasures that his friend was enjoying and which he was missing out on, while the other friend’s mind was constantly wondering on how uplifting the talks must be, and wondering what the Mahatma must be teaching which he was missing out on.”
Later, before going to sleep, both of them talked about their experiences and pondered on them the whole night. Then Swamiji said, “You may do any amount of sadhana and hoodwink yourself that you are very spiritual, but unless the mind is not integrated you will not progress spiritually.” For seeking spirituality, a person’s mind, intellect and body should act in total unison towards perfection. A subjective self-integration of personality is only possible if complete integration of personality at the outer levels takes place first. So, guard your mind.
Prarthna Saran, President, Chinmaya Mission Delhi.