Why is it very important to sharpen the faculty of discrimination? Bhagawan lovingly explains the business case to us today, highlighting the pros and cons with powerful examples.
All beings and all things are Divine – but, through intelligent analysis, you must choose beings and things that help you and avoid beings and things that will hinder you. This is the way of wisdom.
Take electric current, or fire, or a sharp knife. They are dangerous if you don’t know how to use them; they are beneficial if you know how to handle them discriminatingly. They can be either friends or foes. So too, the senses. If we allow them to master us, they become our deadly enemies; if we master them, they help us realise our goal.
Man must master the senses which draws his attention to the outer World. Man cannot liberate himself from bondage to the wheel of duality (pleasure and pain, joy and grief, etc.) so long as he is led by the senses. The senses are obstacles in the path of the Spirit which leads you to inner Consciousness, not the outer world. Birds and beasts are not troubled by the thirst of the Spirit, but man is! He is awarded this great gift of discrimination, by God’s Grace!
– Divine Discourse, Nov 20, 1970.
