Greed, avarice, insatiability, wantonness,
lack of control over senses, desiring and coveting…
Non-Covetousness (aloluptvam) must be a kind of will, a
faculty to remember and enforce a decision, or withdraw from action, or opt out of a
situation. The most detailed definition of this Sanskit term is “non-wavering, freedom
from greed and desire.” So it is negative in one sense (freedom from), but also positive in another (ability not to waver or follow
desires).
This is how it works: Raw
information may enter through the 5 channels – seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, touching. That’s simple. The data is registered either semi-
or un-consciously in normal waking consciousness, or consciously with some
degree of Self-Awareness. If consciously, with Self-Awareness present,
the impression can be followed and acted upon or not. If unconsciously, with
no Self-Awareness present, the impression will trigger pre-existing
memories and continue on automatically. Impressions from the 5 channels are one
thing. But there is also Channel 6, the TV programme already running in
the mind – about 1 terabyte of memory, they say – and this kicks in at any time.
This is the channel that is permanently switched on. It’s software running in the
backoffice. You dip into it and see it on screen when you slip in the REM dream
state. But we don’t much understand it because the programming language is
unknown to us.
So this 17th
Virtue is a kind of controller at the gates of perception, a discriminating
screen of awareness that allows or disallows reaction. All of us have Virtue 17’s
vice: we covet or desire material objects to a greater or lesser extent.
We’ve mostly been brought up that way. Material objects come first, just like
children’s toys; then come mental objects such as “my country” and “your
religion”. The more mental objects become objects of strong desire, the more
knee-jerky the mind becomes: say this word and you’re applauded, say that word
and you’re crucified! This only happens when human beings don’t use their thinking mechanism
appropriately and lack an awareness of some kind of higher nature within
themselves. If the attitude is “anything goes”, all is on the same level. If
there is at least some kind of authority – like a big boss in the sky – then at
least we can start to reason, but it normally won’t get very far as soon as the
reasonable thoughts are overtaken by the unreasoning desires.
Avarice
and greed, and coveting, is only intense desire for something, so we are
talking about controlling desires. These are normally conditioned emotional
reactions to stimuli; or memories hanging around in the mind-stuff waiting to
latch onto their favourite sense-objects again. So in the beginning, we have to
promote a degree of Self-Awareness.
1) Find
or invent and do exercises to occupy the mind, in search of inner calm. The
rituals or prayers or mantras we can use are to keep the mind occupied while “we”
just watch over it and wait…
2) Practise
Virtue 3, Perseverance, because we need to realign ourselves with conscious
activity and it obviously takes a good while.
3) Use
Nature to remember yourself – your existence – at pre-determined times
throughout the day, say every other hour on the hour. Look at the sky or a tree
or a mountain and think and sense “I am here, I am seeing this; thank you.”
4) Start
with little things, we won’t fix the whole universe in one go, will we? Don’t
bite off more than you can chew. It’s better to conquer small things first and
work your way upwards. Every little decision is an opportunity to be conscious
of what’s going on inside you.
5) Watch
the 5 channels, but stay present in the background.
6) Try
and find a remote control device to examine Channel 6 and choose only the best
programmes – lots of it is just junk programming!
7) Listen
to chants or mantras, and if all else fails, just get down on your knees and
pray.
Remember we were
born to find Channel 7!
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