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Six Inner Emotional Enemies
Frustrating or exciting desires subject us to six enemies harbored in the mind: lust, anger, pride, greed, aachment, and hatred. Born out of sense aractions and desires, these enemies poison the mind, leading us astray.
It is not a big problem or a laudable achievement to feed the little stomach and find a few feet of space to sleep. One can manage to live until the call of death releases one from bondage to the body. The greater problem is how to live like a hero, as master of the inner enemies—lust, anger, greed, aachment, pride, and hate—how
to train the mind, to listen to the dictates of the intelligence rather than the senses, and how to accept dharma (right action) and Brahmam (God) as the two guidelines of life.4 (SSB)
Defensiveness (Distortion/Deception)
The mind deceives and distorts reality. We desire external objects and false identities (like fame and power), and we become aached and addicted to them. Our mind then protects this deception by defending against and hiding from any threat to this false sense of well being. We defend by mentally deluding and deceiving ourselves. Swami says that this fear grows out of ignorance in identifying ourselves with our body. “You are not the body,” he says. Encouraging us to find our strength in God’s love, which resides in our own hearts, he reminds us of three never’s.
Never forget God.
Never believe the external world is real. Never fear death. (SSB)
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