Page 80 - Imperience Beckons

something that if we are going to refuse it as a tool, perhaps we are not going to make any headway in spirituality. It is arrogance of the worst sort to say "I have not committed any wrong".
Be very conscious, there is nothing wrong about knowing our lapses. Then place those lapses before Him. "I couldn't do all these things in spite of my best intention, because I am a slave of my wishes, because I am a slave of carnal desires, because I am a slave of what this modern world has taught me of aggressiveness, competition etc., I place before you O' God, Master, save me from this".
O Master! Thou art the Real Goal of Human life. We are yet but slaves of wishes Putting bar to our advancement. Thou art the only God and Power To bring us up to that stage.
It is necessary for the aspirants to note that prayer does not promise that all our follies and lapses would be ignored. They will be naturally treated according to merits. Many develop a sick mind by expecting no punishments for their lapses, particularly when they feel they have not been let off for their lapses. Responsibility to ones' actions is the index of lion heartedness. Repentance as explained above enhances our deservancy to receive the grace of God. If on the contrary we are going to be let off without facing consequences for our action, it means that God loses His title for being Just. In such a situation there may not be the Seventh Commandment at all.
The three sentences in the Prayer given to us, really sum up our total helplessness in achieving that Goal which He is asking us to achieve. The first nine Commandments are not logically one after the other in one sense and they are logically one after the other in another sense. Both are true, because we may not be in a position to reach the optimum level of compliance in all the commandments at the same time. But it shall be our endeavour to ensure that we positively implement all the first nine commandments. When we fail in doing so, the tenth one is there for us to resort to. We then start from the first again next day. For those who say, "can we start from tenth, can we start from fifth?" we may reply that we may start from anywhere we like. Because we also fully understand the impossibility of following all these commandments in one resolve. It is a continuous, perennial, persistent effort alone that will make us come to that. In order to see that we get this capacity we pray to Him, we try to get as much energy from Him, we try to feel His presence in our heart and beg