practically speaking, you can't go from bad samskara in one jump to
freedom. You've got to go from bad samskara to good samskara to
freedom. It's a logical progression. It's doable. Theoretically you could
go from bad to total redemption, and there may be cases where this
happens, but it would be very rare.
In practical terms, most of us have built up negative habits. You
want to turn them into positive habits and then into no habits. As
progress reaches into the subtle levels of kosa, you don't avoid smoking
because you are "a nonsmoker" or because smoking is bad. Yo u are
not invoking a duality of good versus bad. Similarly, you do not have
to bite off your tongue to avoid giving an angry retort to people who
irritate you; you're not being self-consciously good. It simply becomes
second nature to be free. You might give an angry answer to a rude
person, you might give a courteous answer to a rude person, but ei
ther way you act in freedom, you act appropriately, unconditioned by
the past.
In teaching it is sometimes necessary for me to act the role of anger.
r have to appear "mercilessly merciful" in order to save students from
themselves. The anger response is appropriate. But I am not attached
to the anger. The anger role does not disturb the bottom of the lake and
create a pattern. As soon as I turn away from the student, I put down
the anger. I am detached and ready to deal with the next student with
friendliness or humor, or whatever is appropriate to his or her needs. I
do not get caught up, yet I can engage fully in the comedy and tragedy
of the human drama.
Suppose you've always eaten too much chocolate, then you give it
up for a long time and free yourself from chocolate. Later on, if
someone offers you some chocolate, you can actually say "Yes" or
"No" to the chocolate, but you know that if you pick up a piece of
dwcolate and eat one piece, you won't have to buy the whole choco
hte shop to satisfy a craving that is still dormant within you. You can
touch it lightly and say, "Great, that's enough," but you're not cau�-:ht.
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