Development of Will-Power
Development of Will-Power :
Two things will oppose this creative move within us…
(1) Our regrets about the past
(2) Our worry about the future
Both are detrimental to the cultivation of will-power because they successfully undercut all forward-looking, creative, positive movements within our minds. They are also wholly unnecessary performances. Exaggerated regrets for our past and over much worry about our future will only damage our present, weaken our minds and injure our future also.
Now you may honestly say…how can I but regret for my past? In the past I committed many sins. Is it not my religious duty to repent for my past sins? This is an important question which requires a thorough clearing and scotching. Sloppy Vedantins are apt to make light of sin in the vain hope that their reported divinity will somehow like a sponge suck out all their bad karma and whisk them aloft to the empyreans of moksa by a trick that is not to be explained though they continue to live indifferent lives. Vedanta acknowledges the fact of sin, but completely rejects the theory of original sin as wholly irrational. Man has nothing but original divinity and adventitious sin. Adventitious though, sin has a powerful binding effect on the soul and its free expression.
Therefore, the fact of sin has to be acknowledged as any other empirical fact. It is one thing to acknowledge the fact of sin, but it is a totally different thing to become some sort of a sin-monger, a habitual regretter. Whatever a pious face this regretting ad-infinitum may put up, psychologically it is an unsound approach if you intend to get rid of it if you are over much regretting for any sin. It is likely that you are mentally enjoying repeating the sin under the cover of righteousness.
The most important thing to be done about sin is to stop sinning, physically or mentally. How do we do it? There are a few teachings of Sri Ramakrishna which when practiced will completely take care of such inner situations in the life of an earnest spiritual seeker.
Bondage is of the mind and freedom also is of the mind. A man is free if he constantly thinks… I am a free soul. How can I be bound whether I live in the world or forest? I am a child of God - the king of Kings. Who can bind me? If bitten by a snake, a man may get rid of its venom by saying emphatically, there is no poison in me. In the same way, by repeating with grit and determination, “I am not bound, I am free…” one really becomes…so one really becomes free.
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