How to overcome Antahshatrus (dosh / swabhavs)
The seeds of vicious natures such as kaam, krodh, lobh, moh, mad, matsar, maan, irshya etc would grow into large trees. These are all obstacles on the path of kalyan and should be discarded.
1. Believe your own self to be distinct from your body.
- A person should strengthen his knowledge of atma. - I am atma and not this body; I am luminous and eternal; the pratyaksha swarup of Bhagwan constantly resides within my own self.
- Understand the nature of how the universe is created, sustained and destroyed. - Akshar Purush, Maha Purush, Maha Maya, Pradhan Purush, Maha Tatva, Virat Narayan, Brahma, Rushis and Prajapatis, and devs, demons, sthavar jangam; Nitya, Nimit, Prakrut and Atyantik pralays.
- Thoroughly understand the greatness of Bhagwan. - Bhagwan Purushottam Narayan forever resides with a nirgun divya sakar swarup in His Akshardham. In His each and every hair, countless millions of brahmands fly simultaneously and with His antaryami swarup, pervade the countless millions of brahmands and also reside in the atma of each and every jeev. He is responsible for creating, sustaining, and destroying these brahmands. He is svatantra (independent) and regulator of kala (time) and maya (illusive power). Even the masters of higher loks cannot understand His greatness because it is endless. The Shrutis ultimately perish in Him and fail to praise His glory. It is by His fear that the Vayu (wind) blows, Surya (sun) shines, Indra (cloud) rains, Agni (fire) burns and Yam (death) devours the living.
Greatness of Bhagwan with bhakti will help attain dham even though all dosh are not completely out.
2. Offer bhakti to bhagwan attentively and thoroughly.
- Constantly engage in bhajan and smaran of Bhagwan.
- Regardless of how lustful, angry, greedy or rude a person may be, if he listens to leela charitras of Bhagwan Purushottam Narayan with faith and love, all of his vicious natures would be eradicated.
3. Blessings of Bhagwan, a true saint or a true devotee.
- One should be open and innocent (nikhalas) towards Bhagwan and His santos. They should tell the santos about the bad qualities in them, only then will the santos help to get rid of them.
- Whenever Bhagwan & His sant shower their compassion, a person’s ability to walk on the path of kalyan increases and the strength of his enemies such as kaam, krodh, lobh etc decreases.
- Daily ask Maharaj to give us strength to overcome these enemies.
4. Loyalty to satsang & satsangis.
Shriji Maharaj has said in the Vachanamrut that if a person is loyal to satsang and satsangis then their antahshatrus like maan, kaam, krodh, lobh, mad, matsar & irshya are destroyed.
Just as the person is loyal to his relatives and can’t tolerate anyone speaking bad about them, similarly, if a person is loyal to satsang, then his foundation in satsang is strong and stable. When a person has such loyalty for satsang, then he cannot possibly hold maan or irshya towards sant or satsangis; therefore all the inner enemies like maan, mad, matsar & irshya of that person are destroyed.
5. By performing dhyan of Bhagwan’s murti and following His words.
The karmas that the jeev has performed during past lives have fully developed and have become absorbed within the jeev. It is those karmas that are known as swabhav or vasna.
- Karan sharir (body) is the maya of jeev.
The shell of the tamarind seed is firmly attached to the seed, but when the seed is roasted over a fire, the shell is burnt and then becomes detached. It can then be peeled off easily by rubbing the seed in our hands. Similarly, if the karan body is ‘roasted’ by performing dhyan and following the words of Bhagwan, it becomes separated from the jeev just as easily as when a person rubs off the shell of a roasted tamarind seed.
- Doing dhyan on cheens like Dhanush and Vajra also helps a person to overcome their antahshatrus.
6. If a person remains alert to & harshly punishes them.
- Maharaj does not like a kaami person, He said that if someone has kaam dosh in them then don’t tell Him about it, he said He feels really bad just like when someone does not have a child for a very long time and when a child is born to them and he dies, the dukh the parents have at that time, is the same feeling that Maharaj gets when He finds out someone is kaami. To overcome kaam, one should see all other women as their mothers, sisters and daughters.
- When attachment to the vishays is eradicated, a person no longer makes distinctions between pleasant and unpleasant vishays - an ugly woman appears the same as beautiful woman. He sees everything to be the same. A person who behaves like this is known to be free from moh.
- When one has maan in them, they should learn how to be daas na daas of a sant or a devotee and humbly serve them with pure devotion.
- If the indriyas behave immorally, then the indriyas should be punished by imposing upon them kruchhra chandrayan and other vrats. Indriyas are overcome by vairagya, swadharma, taap and niyams.
- If the antah karans behave immorally, then the antah karans should be punished through a thought process. Mind is overcome by the nine types of bhakti accompanied with the knowledge of Bhagwan’s greatness.
As a result, those enemies like kaam & krodh would be defeated.
7. Keeping hatred towards the swabhavs.
It is very beneficial to develop hatred towards these enemies that causes distress within the heart. This can happen with the guidance of a sat-purush, and if one only sees the good qualities (gunn) of the person advising him and try to remove his bad qualities (avgun).
When sat-purush gives guidance on how to eradicate such swabhavs; one should have total faith in his words; deep love for him and accept those words to be for his own benefit no matter how painfully strong or harsh these words seem; then only will his swabhav be eradicated.
If all the antahshatrus are out, one can become atma-chaitanya.