By Subhasis Chattopadhyay –
Emotions are tricksters as mentioned in the Yoga Sūtras (of Patañjali, circa 2nd century BCE to 4th century CE). The slippery nature of emotions is confirmed empirically by psychologists like Paul Ekman (1934-).
Lent is the time when Roman Catholics in memory of Jesus’s time in the Desert, practice ‘chitta vritti nirodha’ (योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः, quoted from the Yoga Sūtras). One is invited during Lent to control the fluctuations of the mind through ascesis. This ascesis is needed to experience what the Desert Fathers and Mothers experienced.
For instance, one day a young hermit visited a very old hermit in the Egyptian Desert and asked “Abba, who is God?”. The old man lifted his right hand and his fingers became flames. God, as this Desert Father indicated, is Love. This anecdote is to be found both in the works of Fr. Anthony de Mello SJ and Sister Benedicta Ward who borrow it from the Apophthegmata Patrum (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers).
Paul Ekman’s research proves how emotions distort judgment and reality. Christian Desert Spirituality is an effort to quieten the vrittis or the fluctuations of the mind since without controlling the mind through both internal and external sacrifices one cannot experience Covenant Love. Unlike what one would want to be true; engagement with samsara increases the desire for more sensuality. We think we will indulge in one last drink. Only then, we whisper to ourselves; we will be free from alcohol once for all.
Alas, the alcoholic now knows otherwise. We think we will watch pornography one last time and then we will be rid of it forever, but pornography addiction is now a pathological state which needs clinical intervention to be cured. We determine that we will gamble one last time, and then we will never bet; but as the philosopher, Bhartrihari points out in his Vairagya Satakam (Hundred Verses on Renunciation), this kind of on/off behaviour leads to self-destruction. Catholics are called upon by their traditions formed through Catholic dogma to break these and other destructive behaviour patterns during Lent.
Therefore, this Lent we need to look closely at the Desert Fathers and Mothers who gave up samsara to turn inward for the sake of the Man from Galilee. It does none any credit to give up what one can give up easily. One must introspect and give up once for all that one habit which comes between us and sanctity. Identify this Lent that one destructive habit that is preying on you and give that habit up. You will be free. For example, you may be otherwise perfect but indulge in slander, or you enjoy hearing gossip. Give them up this Lent. Take no chances. The Desert hermits repeatedly ask us not to play with fire. Don’t please experiment with your eternal soul.
Many Christians in the Middle East and Egypt found that it was not enough to follow the evangelical counsels in the vita activa. They found that whenever they tried to focus on God amid men, they would be required to participate in the affairs of others and while they sought silence and the solitary life; they’d be disturbed, if for nothing else but for being holy. They started weighing how they could help their neighbours; since all religions in the world insist on loving others in concrete ways.
These Christians concluded that through their conscious choices of being alone in the Egyptian desert imitating John the Baptist and other Prophets before the coming of the Messiah, they could love their fellow-beings more deeply, they could practice ẖesed through self-mortification and prayer. Prayer leading to communion with God is more effective in helping one’s neighbours than pretending to help others wherein one’s ego (ahamkara) believes that one is making a difference to others instead of knowing how God helps others through us. This misplaced charity was corrected by the Desert hermits.
From Desert Spirituality we learn that sometimes it is best to shun the world totally and to journey the last mile alone. We cannot hold our own in the face of peer-pressure. Many young people begin experimenting with psychotropic drugs through peer-pressure. The need to confirm to the zeitgeist and, to social groups are shown to be counterproductive by the Desert hermits. They understood that it is better to help one’s self first and then help others. They are signs that one should not jump into action just because one’s mind (vrittis) is swayed by sympathy for others. Many people want to begin new Congregations because they are fed up with the status quo. This way lies danger. The way of the Desert Fathers is to become self-abnegated and forgotten by the world; not do new fancy things which glorify the ego rather than God. The message is important, not the messenger.
St. Thaïs became a Saint after retreating from a life of sensuality yet, ironically the monk who went unprepared to save her soul lost his soul to her ravishing beauty and died in mortal sin. The Vitae Patrum (Lives of the Desert Fathers) is filled with such examples.
The takeaway here is that one should not be eager to help the world directly. It is best to be like that follower of Desert Spirituality: Saint Nimatullah Kassab who insisted that a monk out of his cell is like a fish out of water. The world is such that even when we intellectually perceive its sunyata (emptiness), because of our association and false identification with others, we come under the grip of samsara. In our haste to save others, we lose our immortal souls.
Subhasis Chattopadhyay is a blogger and an Assistant Professor in English (UG & PG Departments of English) at Narasinha Dutt College affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He has additional qualifications in Biblical Studies and separately, Spiritual Psychology. He also studied the Minor Upanishads separately. He remains a staunch Hindu. He had written extensively for the Catholic Herald published from Calcutta. From 2010 he reviews books for the Ramakrishna Mission and his reviews have been showcased in Ivy League Press-websites.