Anyone who owns a home or a condo or rents an apartment knows how important security is to protect one’s family and possessions. People take great care to install security systems with alarms to deter intruders from breaking into their home and ensuring that they are safe and their possessions are not stolen.
Some people have simple systems, whereas others are hooked up to security companies who monitor the premises.
Just as we want to protect our homes from intruders, we also need to protect our real home: our body and our mind.
Inadvertently, we have allowed thieves to enter into our very being, and they are causing havoc. These are the five thieves of anger, lust, greed, attachment, and ego. They have snuck inside and are causing chaos within us.
We may be protecting our homes from intruders, but are we taking the same amount of care to keep the five thieves of negative qualities from entering our inner Home? Silently and sneakily they have crept into our being causing us to be angry, to tell lies and be deceitful. They incite impure thoughts within us, make us greedy and selfish.
They cause us to be intolerant and filled with hatred towards others. They make us egotistical. The result is that they are robbing us of our true gifts—our spirituality.
Instead of growing spiritually, we are wrapped up in the dramas of these negative traits.
Our true wealth is our soul and our connection to God within. We cannot partake of that wealth because our attention is on the riotous activities of these thieves. We want to meditate, but these thieves occupy our thoughts.
We want to become ethical people, but these thieves drag us into their never-ending play. We want to be selfless, but they keep us occupied in thinking of our own needs and wants. In short, they are ruining our peace of mind.
How do we get rid of these thieves?
We need one of these spiritual security systems.
It is said that where all else fails, the prayer succeeds. Prayer is the recognition that we are helpless.
It is an act of humility in which we realise that we are filled with weaknesses and shortcomings, that we need the help of a Power greater than our own.
Prayer is powerful because it lets God know we understand that we are helpless and need the hand of the Lord. It is said if we take one step towards God, God takes one hundred steps towards us. When we do not take any steps toward God, God will not interfere with our free will by intervening.
God waits until asked for help. Prayer is the moment in which we ask for help. Then, God will come quickly to our aid.
Repeating simran—the name of God—with the tongue of thought will also help chase away the five thieves.
Whenever we feel the thief of anger sneaking in, we can do simran and all angry thoughts will run away.
Instead, we will find ourselves becoming calm and peaceful. Whenever we feel the thief of greed breaking in, we can engage in simran. Then, the desire to be selfish will be replaced with an urge to help others.
When we feel the thief of ego raise its ugly head, we can do simran and will find ourselves filled with humility.
Being in the presence of one who radiates spirituality can also change the tendency of our mind.
Not only do we gain when we are in the company of the saints, but through meditation on the inner Light and Sound of God, our mind is stilled and the soul is not perturbed by the wayward thoughts of the mind.
It can stay concentrated on the inner Light and Sound long enough to transcend physical body-consciousness. From there it can soar into the divine regions within. Finally, the saints and mystics tell us that we can also find security by attending
satsang. This, too, becomes a time when the mind is stilled. We are constantly thinking about our jobs, money, family and relationship problems. The benefit of satsang is that it is a place where we can leave our worries at the door. It gives our soul a chance to connect with the God power within. The atmosphere in a satsang is so charged and wonderful that we can carry it back with us. It becomes an inner retreat throughout the week where we can return to and find that still place within.
These are a few spiritual security techniques that will help us escape the chaos of the five thieves and develop a life which is filled with the love of God. If we put even one of these ideas into practice, we will find that many of our problems will disappear, and we will enjoy
the bliss and love waiting for us within.
The author is the head of the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission.
