Shat Ripu's - The Six Enemies of The Spirit

In Yoga we mostly focus on cultivating our divine qualities such as devotion, love, compassion, & peace. However, many students have come to me saying that they cannot stop thier negative thinking. Theese negative tendancies are termed the Shat Ripu's in Yoga and are defined as the six enemies of the spirit. They are as follows;

1. Kama: Desire & Lust
2. Krodha: Anger
3. Lobha: Greed
4. Moha: Delusion
5. Madha: Egotistic tendancies
6. Matsarya: Jealousy

Desire & lust are closest to the root of our afflictions which will lead us nicely into a future discussion on the Kleshas. Frequently my students have heard me tell them to master thier desires & aversions (aversions are really desires for something other than what is) as this will take them to the goal. Of the Shat Ripu's anger is considered to be the most dangerous as it will rob you of the most energy and will cause the most karmic debt.

In The Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells Arjuna that "we are our own worst enemy, responsible for our own downfall". He goes on to say In chapter 16 verse 21 that greed, anger, & lust are the three gates to hell. In Verse 4 Krishna says arrogance, pride, anger, conciet, harshness, and ignorance - theese quaities belong to those of demonic nature.

In the beautiful story of the Ramayana we have the subtle meanings presented to us in many ways. The word for enemy "Shatru" and "Ripu" are stated no less than 445 times! Imagine that, do you think they are trying to tell us something? In the Ramayana Anger is stated as our worst foe followed by sorrow & despair.

In the Mahopanishad pride & arrogance are stated as our enemies and one of my personal favorites is how Shri Nammazhwar looks to the Indriyas as our worst foes. A full discussion on the Indriyas (our organs of action and our sense organs), is to follow in the near future however what is meant is that we have to train them and get control over them otherwise they will turn against us. Like an untrained pet dog or monkey in our home, if left untrained & undisciplined then they will terrorize us and destroy our homes. To be truly happy we must train them and gain control over our senses, our desires, and ultimatly our minds, if we are to be able to use them to thier best ability and to live to our divine potential.

First we must identify and become conscious of theese behaviours & tendancies in our thinking, then we can decide that we have to eliminate them. This decision is called a Sankalpa in Yoga where we make a resolute intention to integrate or eliminate something into our lives. In Yoga we have the beautiful practice of Pratipaksha Bhavana, "cultivating the opposites", which helps us when we have theese negative thoughts. It is this practice that we must then implement by turning our minds to divine thoughts & qualities.

In The Bhagavad Gita chapter 16- verses 1-3 "The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purification of one's existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control, performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity; nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger; renunciation, tranquility, aversion to faultfinding, compassion and freedom from covetousness; gentleness, modesty and steady determination; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor--these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

I might emphasize the practice of Seva as charity, selflessness, love & devotion, as well as the practices of mantra chanting to help us in purifying our minds. Along with the step by step skillfull use of the various Yoga practices we teach we can gain Self mastery.

Please remeber this important teaching "having a technique is one thing, how to implement it is the most important thing". In fact how we do anything is the most importnat thing. Once again we can look to the Ramayana and the way in which Rama dealt with his enemies. He always fought consciously, dharmically & fair, with patience and perhaps most importantly with compassion. It is in this way that we too must face our ego & its lower tendancies. Remember that anytime you try to push too hard there will always be resistance, and anytime that you fight an opponet they will fight back. If we love our enemies, accept them and help them to become disciplined we will find that they discover they/we are happiest when they are not ressisting, not fighting. Our enemies will relax and become our friends they will love us as well.

Like Hanuman who with his monkey mind gained control over his senses to such a degree that he was able to sublimate his desires and fully commit toBrahmacharya. Hanuman is our model for the perfect devotee who masters his lower animal nature and becomes a god himself.

In closing we are led to see that really we have two paths before us. The path that will lead to liberation and the path that will lead to bondage. My question to you my students is, "in any given momet which path will you take?" Most probably we would all say "the path of liberation", well then allow me to suggest a question for you to ask yourself; are you doing your best? I know often when I see people misbehaving I feel compassion and say "everyone is doing thier best". This attitude is ideal however it should not be confused with personal complacency. We must continually look within and as we sublimate our selfishness and integrate our divine qualities we get to use them to empower ourselves and others for evolutionary purposes. It is then as it is now when we use our divine qualities that we can say, Yes, I am doing my best!

Transcript of Satsang by Yogacharya Gowrishankaranada © July 2010