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‘Walking stick’ is a kind of insect. Its body, legs and colour resemble a dry twig. In its active state, flesh eating animals kill it and eat it. For safety against enemies, God has given it a peculiar attribute. When it sees an enemy prowling towards it, it lies down looking exactly like a piece of wood, and the predators, taking it as a dry twig, pass on without touching it. In this way ‘Walking stick’ keeps itself secure against its predators.

The Kangaroo, found in Australia, is exceedingly clever in this respect. On seeing an enemy, it lies down in a manner as if it were dead. So long as the enemy is at some distance, it breathes slowly and keeps its eyes half open, and fixed on the enemy. The moment the enemy comes near; it closes its eyes and ceases to breathe. The enemy smells it and taking it as dead passes on. The Kangaroo cheerfully gets up and resumes its normal routine.

The human life is by no means less encircled by enemies. There may be some means of safety against external enemies, but it is rather difficult to gain victory over internal enemies. The cave of human body, which is provided by God so that the soul may reside in it, work for its well being and also enjoy worldly pleasures, contains six ferocious enemies and a large number of smaller ones. The powerful oppressors of the captivated soul are - lust, greed, anger, hatred, ego and jealousy. They squeeze out the energy of human beings. Instead of fostering understanding, friendship and love among people, they make them quarrel amongst themselves. They prompt people towards deceit and numerous evil deeds. When these enemies become very powerful, man becomes helpless. In order to escape from their clutches, man has to learn the means of escape and safety from the artists of nature. For example, when one happens to be troubled with lustful desires, or there develops enmity against any person or the fire of pride and vanity kindles up, one should lie down like a ‘Walking Stick’ or a Kangaroo and visualize oneself to be dead. In that state, one’s soul watches from outside one’s body how the sense organs, which make things appear beautiful and pleasant, are full of dirt and foul smell. The human body was meant for some noble tasks, but it was put to bad use and the sense organs consumed it. One should pause to ponder over these problems while lying like a dead body. The thought at that moment will fill the person concerned with the real goal of his life and in the process he will be able to save himself from putting his evil designs into evil acts.

One sub-species of crab is found near sea shores. Its outermost surface is hard and white. At the approach of an enemy it slips among pieces of stones. At that time, if one happens to go there he will consider it only a piece of stone. The crab will be speechless, but its condition should inspire us: “Man! Thou, too, thinkest thy body to be composed of stone pieces, soil and water and thinkest that thy real soul residing in it is capable of affording thee safety; the mimical mental perversions that keep prowling around thee and are even ready to swallow thee, can thus be deceived and can do no harm on approaching thee. Evil tendencies which at all times lie in ambush and keep waiting for a proper opportunity to swallow thee up, would be deceived, and would do no harm to thee even if they came very close to thee.”

There is not one or two, but a number of ways to ward off the onslaughts of these enemies entrenched in our psyches; and these ways can be learnt from the tiny creatures of nature. For instance there is an insect called “Leaf Insect” whose colour is green like that of leaves. On seeing an enemy it hides itself among leaves. The enemy on approaching it finds only leaf and has to go away disappointed. There is a butterfly named kalima inachus. It so much resembles a flower that it becomes difficult to distinguish it from a flower. Its hind wings resemble a twig and forewings resemble leaves. On seeing an enemy it sits on a flower-bearing branch with its hind wings touching the branch. Then it appears as if two leaves have grown on the branch. The enemy is deceived and goes away.
In the event of anger, cool water should be drunk or an inspiring or soothing song may be sung. In this way the agitation of mind calms down. Remembering the law of karma: ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’, can also make a person desist from wrong doing. If some one is handsome / beautiful, he / she is carried away by the waves of lustful desires; money makes its owner proud; strength in body leads to wickedness.

When such impulses arise, one should think of old age and its debilitating effects – disease, weakness, and despondency, etc. In the event of pride and vanity, one should think that even mighty kings like Kans, Ravan and Jarasindhu were not spared from the ill-consequences of these vices. If one feels greedy he should think of the pitiable end of Hiranyakashyapu. If one wants to neutralize hatred, he can do so by visualizing its evil effects. Thus he can not only save himself from its ill result, but he can also find himself inclined to do good to others.

Despite these methods if the evil tendencies are not removed, they should be forced to go away. A species of venomous snakes having bright colours is found in America. In that area there are also snakes having no poison. When they have to face an enemy, they change their form and nature into those of poisonous snakes seeing which the enemies run away and they are thus saved. If such sort of powerful and courageous ideas are developed in our minds, they will drive away forcefully the evil tendencies.
Thus by learning the process of neutralizing evil tendencies lurking within our psyches, we can free ourselves from their clutches; and by nurturing noble traits we can lead a happy and peaceful life.

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