MEHER BABA JOURNAL - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

THE REMOVAL OF SANSKARAS 13
but to ensure all this, the negative element in them
must come naturally without giving rise to any
perversions or further limitations.
It is no use trying to coerce the mind to a life of
asceticism. Any forcible adjustment of life on ascetic
lines is likely to stunt the growth of some good
qualities. When the healthy qualities of human nature
are allowed to develop naturally and slowly, they
unfold the knowledge of relative values, and thereby
pave a way for a spontaneous life of asceticism. But
any attempt to force or hasten the mind towards an
ascetic life is likely to invite reaction.
The process of being freed from some attachments
is often accompanied by the process of forming some
other new attachments. The grossest form of attachment
is that which is directed towards the world of
objects. But when the mind is being detached from
the world of objects, it has a tendency to arrive at
some finer attachments of a subjective kind. After the
mind has succeeded in cultivating a certain degree of
detachment, it might easily develop that subtle form
of egoism which expresses itself through aloofness
and a superior air. Detachment should not be allowed
to form any nucleus for the ego to fasten itself on;
and at the same time it should not be an expression of
one ' s inability to cope with the storm and stress of
worldly life. The things that condition pure and
infinite being should be given up from the attitude of
the immense strength which is born of purity and
enlightenment and not from a sense