Is it a Raaga or a mere preference?
Question:
Ektaji, It is difficult to completely drop raaga and dvesha. For example, I interview several candidates for a job and based on my likes and dislikes within professional guidelines I select or reject a candidate. Within first 5 minutes of interview I conclude that I like this candidate or dislike this candidate. Please help.
Answer:
You select a candidate based on qualifications, it should have nothing to do with raaga & dvesha. Understand what is a raaga?
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- A raaga is a strong emotional attachment, not a mere preference.
- A dvesha is a strong aversion where a person experiences an emotional bitterness.
A candidate is chosen without such emotional responses, merely based on preferences. You can have preferences as long as preferences are only on the surface level, as long as they do not touch deep.
For a wise one, neither the presence of something causes exhilaration nor the lack of something causes discomfort.
Eg. If your preference for eating fatty food leads to you becoming upset when that food is unavailable, then you have crossed the line. When you can be at peace even if the food is very simple then you are wise.
Check if you have mere preference or is it a raaga?
Question:
I want to get out of a lot of people situation and things. My roommate, no cleanliness. So I am trying to rent a separate room away so that I could live more clean. I have lived in some bad room with lot of unclean things. Does it make me have raaga for cleanliness or is it my affordability that made me get better place? I am sure I could live in both places.
Answer:
Your last sentence was the answer itself. If you could live in both places, it shows that you do not have a strong raaga or dvesha behind it. So you are not trying to run away from a situation but making a sensible, practical choice! Then it is fine! If it is a preference to be in a clean environment and you do not fight and argue about it but just make a practical choice, then you have not created karma. Remember, you create karma only when you have a strong emotional reaction [internal worry or external outburst].
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As usual, Ekaji summed up the answers to both questions succinctly and eloquently.
As spiritualists we automatically gravitate towards wholesomeness. We try to go beyond the proclivities of the puny mind. And our sattvik mode is what moves us towards this wholesomeness and oneness.
Selecting candidates based on our sanskars(impressions of mind), is going away from this wholesomeness. Like Ektaji said, an unbiased evaluation of a candidate, based on qualifications is the right approach. Lot of organizations promote the idea of candidates’ fitness or cohesiveness towards the team. This soft skill is not reflected in resumes. You can evaluate this only after talking with the candidate. This fit to the team and organization based on the nature e.g. cordial, confrontational, perceptive, intuitive, friendy, create, sharp, smart, teamplayer. Evaluation such skills and selecting the candidate is definitely wholesome.
Uncleanliness is against our sattvic nature. Most homes have pest problems. These problems get exacerbated if we keep an unclean environment. Then these pests will seep into your food, infest your bed (bed bugs), bite you to suck blood (mosquitos). Cleanliness is wholesome. And that is our innermost nature. Basically, trying to remain clean and keeping the environment wholesome is not really your dvesha.
One thing to keep mindful of, is that not everyone is spiritual. Giving them spiritual reasons to alter their behavior will backfire. Also, enforcing our views on others, proselytising, will invoke negative emotions. Best is clean as much as we can, without expecting other parties to alter their behavior.
Again, great post by Ektaji and very good questions!