The power of discrimination

The power of discrimination
by Atman Nityananda

The discrimination is the highest of virtues, because thanks to it we can turn into real human being and live in harmony with the eternal Truth (commonly called God) and the universal laws of life experiencing peace, love and bliss,.

The capacity of discrimination allows us to realize the truth behind the illusion of phenomena, ie. What is true and what is not, what is beneficial and what is harmful to us and to our fellow men.

What is beneficial and what is harmful?

Beneficial is what diminishes the ego, promotes good health (physical and mental), prosperity (individual and collective), completeness, inner harmony, unity with everything, happiness, peace (individual and collective) awakening and realization of Truth.
Harmful is that which causes physical and mental illness, poverty, misery, imbalance and disharmony (personal and collective), wickedness, violence, forgetfulness and ignorance of the Truth.

The highest form of discrimination allows us to have direct experience and knowledge of primary substance of life, the eternal Truth. It allows us to realize that this truth is already in us that resides in our hearts, that it is eternal, perfect, unchanging and eternal; that it is unaffected by the imperfect, variable and perishable body and mind and eventually allows us to realize that we are this eternal Truth, the immortal Spirit of life, incarnated in a human body.

Paramahansa Ramakrishna have said: “Discrimination is the reasoning by which one knows that God alone is real and all else is unreal. Real means eternal, and unreal means impermanent. He who has acquired discrimination knows that God is the only Substance and all else is non-existent.

Adi Sankaracharya writes in his book Vivekachudamani: The realisation of Truth is brought about by discrimination and not in the least by ten million of acts.
The discrimination is not the result of studies in colleges and universities, or the accumulation of all kinds of knowledge which may be acquired through any possible mean. Socrates, for example, and also many other sages of the past and modern have not developed the discrimination due to their erudition, but through the constant practice of self-enquiry, reflection and meditation. Instead

The main causes of the lack of discrimination is the ego which is multifaceted (and for this the ancient Greeks named the ego as the famous monster of Medusa), passions or desires and laziness (physical and mental).

For the development of discrimination the bulk of the responsibility belongs to us. We ourselves we have to develop the capacity of discrimination and all other virtues which will enable us to become Self-realized and perfect human beings.

The discrimination can be acquired by continuous effort and practice of Self-enquiry, reflection, meditation, self-observation, by satsang and the studying of the teachings of the sages and the great spiritual masters (Plato, Plotinous, Swami Sivananda, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Sankaracharya, Jesus, Buddha, Babaji etc.) and sacred scriptures (Baghavad Gita, Upanishads etc.), by the purification of the mind and heart, by the development of virtues such as truthfulness, gentleness, compassion etc.
Discrimination with dispassion consist the two wings that allow us to fly towards liberation and eternal peace and bliss. These two are the most important virtues which open the gates towards Self-realization.

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