Just A Moment of Indiscretion! That's It!

It takes but a moment of indiscretion to destroy a lifetime of sadhana or spiritual practice. No one is unsusceptible to and protected or safe from the powerful illusion called maya and her ancillaries, viz., attachment, Samskaras (subtle impressions embedded in our psyche) and Vasanas (inherent and dormant tendencies). Not even the best of sadhaks, or for that matter, even rishies on the path to enlightenment, can confidently claim that they are resistant to God's illusion.

Just a Moment of Indiscretion, and Everything Ends

In Bhaviṣya-uttara Purana, we hear of a great sage, named Medhavi, the son of Cyavana Muni, and the grandson of Bhrigu Muni. He was highly intelligent and austere. He lived by the principles enunciated in the scriptures, and as a result of his devotional life, he had acquired immense psychic and spiritual powers. The handsome sage was often in deep meditation.

During the period of Caitra and Vaisakha, celestial beings like the Aspharas and Gandharvas, often visited the forest where he was. One famous celestial girl, in particular, Mañjughosa, contrived many ways to allure the exalted sage, but out of great respect for the sage and feat of his power, which he had attained after years and years of asceticism, she would not come very close to him. At a spot two miles from the sage, she pitched a tent and began singing very sweetly as she played a tamboura.

She sang seductively, and the small bells of her belt and around her ankles, together with the bangles on her wrists, produced a delightful musical symphony. The sage was enchanted. Slowly, the celestial girl approached Medhavi. The sage gave in just a wee bit to the temptation that came in the form of the celestial damsel. That one careless moment caused him his lifelong spiritual practice: giving up his meditation, he sported with her. And, his purity of heart and mind abandoned him. For the next fifty-seven years, he spent his life recklessly, enjoying his senses. It all happened just in a slight moment of indiscretion: he believed that nothing could harm his years and years of austerity. And, poof, all left him.

The same we hear in Srimad Bhagavatam 6:1:22, 63, 65 of the life of Ajamila, a brahmana, who had been fastidious and punctilious about religious and spiritual observances all his life; he, however, gave in only once to the temptation to be in the wrong company, and that started his ultimate long journey down the cliched slippery slope of spiritual life: abandoning the scriptural principles, he started cheating, gambling and plundering.

Of course, in this regard, every serious sadhak knows the twice-told tales of Vishvamitra and Nuhusha, who had to fall from their great heights of grace, spiritual achievement and attainment, because of just one moment of sorry indiscretion.

You Give In Only Once: Poof! Goes Your Spiritual Life

Swami Sivananda says, "The mind will be simply waiting for an opportunity and it will yield to the first temptation quite readily, whenever the first chance arises." (pg. 58, Mind --- Its Mysteries and Control).

He warns, "...Many spiritual aspirants climb up to a certain height on the ladder of yoga and are then irresistibly swept away by the temptations.... They lose their power of discrimination and right understanding.... The man who is endowed with strong discrimination, sustained dispassion, keen self-analytical power, and burning desire for liberation can resist temptations. He alone can be really happy. He alone can attain the highest goal of life --- the final beatitude or sublime vision of the infinite." (Swami Sivananda's commentary on Gita 9:20)

Therefore, the 20th century sage of Rishikesh warns earnest sadhaks: "Keep yourself away from all kinds of temptations—money, woman, name, fame, etc." (pg. 58, Mind --- Its Mysteries and Control)

Paramahansa Yogananda, similarly, advises us, "Temptations are charming and strong but you are stronger,  because the image of God is within you. No matter how many times you fall, you can rise again. But when you admit defeat, then you are lost. And lost is your peace and happiness. (pg. 328, Bad Habits Are Like an Octopus, from The Divine Romance)

A direct disciple of Mata Amritanandamayi says in His book, "The first step in restraining the mind is to make an effort to stay away from the objects and situations that we know will tempt us to indulge in them," (pg. 83, The Secret of Inner Peace by Swami Ramakrishnananda )

In Vairagya Dindima, Sri Sankaracharya warns,

Kama krodhascha lobhascha, 
dehe tishtanthi taskarah
Jnana ratnapa haaraya, 
tasmat jagrata, jagrata. 

"Desire and Lust, Anger, and Covetousness are like thieves. They sit in the body like thieves awaiting for an opportunity to steal the gems of knowledge and awareness. Hence Be alert! Be alert!"

A Final Word on Giving In to a Small Temptation

Swami Sivananda: "It is no defeatist mentality if the Sadhak rests satisfied with his ordained lot without yielding himself even mentally to the temptations which he previously used to enjoy. He is certainly not the “fox that remarked that the grapes were sour when he could not reach to have them”. By voluntary self-denial and dispassion or by keeping equanimity when something pleasing does not fall to one’s share, tremendous will-power accumulates. It is therefore a necessity to keep balance of mind in all states of working consciousness. (pg. 14, May I Answer That?)