quotes from the Tanya – Chapters 28, 29

CHAPTER 28

 

“Even if one finds he receives sexual imagery and other lusting desires during prayer or Torah study – do not worry about them, just ignore them.”

 

“If one receives these negative troublesome thoughts during prayer, he should not be downhearted, taking it as sign that something is wrong with his prayer.

 

The reason people assume this, is because they assume that they are a single mind, hence if I were truly concentrating, these thoughts wouldn’t enter my mind.

 

The truth is, a person has two souls, both producing thoughts in ones mind and just as in a fight or wrestling match precisely when one person begins to gain the upper hand, the other puts all of his efforts to push him to the floor, similarly, precisely, because you are involved in Torah study or prayer the Yetzer Hara is strengthening his game by trying to disturb you.

 

This would be analogues to an antisemite seeing that you are praying and whishes to disturb you, begins to chat with you.

 

Obviously, the answer would be to not engage him and to ignore him as it states, answer not a fool lest you too become one, and he who wrestles with a dirty man also gets dirty.

 

So one should add in his concentration, trying to banish the negative thoughts.

 

If one finds that he is powerless and these thoughts overwhelm him, then he should pour out his soul to God, to have mercy on him, as a father to a son, for we truly are God’s children coming from his mind (chapter 2) and we are part of God himself, hence God will remove the Yetzer Hara’s incredulous shennanigins of disturbing thoughts.”

 

CHAPTER 29

 

“Another problem affecting Benoinim is occasionally their hearts are closed and they are unable to open it to desire to pray with love.”

 

“Additionally the Bienoinim sometimes find their heart heavy, slothful and hence do not have the energy to add in goodness.”

 

“The Teacher in the heavenly Yeshivah (where people study Torah in Gan Eden) proclaimed, just as the log that lights not, we chop it into many pieces so that the fire should hold, the body whose light of his soul (and intellect) cannot inspire him must be chopped down.

 

This means that as the Benoinies body is run by the sitra achrah, hence the sitra achrah has this access to prevent the light of his soul and his intellect’s decisions from manifesting into reality and practice.

 

This would be like a bully blocking the entrance to a doorway and the goal is to crush the bully so your mind and soul can influence your behaviors.

 

The method to do this is to despise yourself, for as you identify with your body, hence by despising yourself you will crush the Kelipos that are running your body.

 

(A Tzaddik in fact identifies with his soul hence Hillel would speak of feeding a poor and hungry man, his body, for he identified not with his body, but with his Godly soul that had taken over the life force of his existence.)

 

The method to humble oneself is to recount your sins.

 

If you cannot find sins, think about how much time you wasted and when one does good as mentioned, you become the vehicle for God, but if one wastes time, you become the vehicle for the Kelipos.

 

If one cannot find any wasted time one should think about one’s dreams, for as the Zohar states, when one doesn’t poperly prepare himself at night, the soul doesn’t ascend high in heaven and the kelipos give him foolish dreams and dreams that may mock him and give him pain, hence this shows on ones lack of greatness and meaninglessness in life.

 

Even if one has repented one may bear in mind that everything he does gets impacted in heaven, which is beyond time and hence it may be that currently the reason he cannot access his heart to change his behavior is because his Teshuvah on the level he is now is unacceptable or possibly God desires that he should do a greater Teshuvah thus removing the barriers of the Kelipos.”

 

“The more one contemplates the e above matters or researches such matters in holy books (the lowness of sins etc.) the more one can cause that he despises and is repulsed by himself, the net result being that the kelipos that cause the barrier to an open heart concealing the light of his Goldy soul will be humbled and he will gain the ability to do what he wants.”

 

“Another very useful technique to break the hold and barrier placed by the Yezter Hara is to angrily loudly (in ones mind or when no one is listening Ed.) shout at it the following “You are vile and wicked, you are repulsive, you are despicable, you are dirty etc. as all the true names that our sages have called you. How much longer will you conceal the truth that God fills all the worlds equally, including this very place I am standing, just as God existed prior to creation as it states “I God have never changed;” for God is beyond time, hence not limited by an any time, spatial differences, and you are dirty, despicable and repulsive etc. hiding the obvious discernable truth that everything literally is as not even like a speck of dust compared to God which is actually visibly discernable (through the mind.”)

 

“This shouting down the Yetzer Hara will truly allow one to perceive how God is everywhere, which is the foundation of all of man’s service to God (namely that one should see this, not only have an intellectual compression but not feel this truth – and this is achieved through the humbling of the Yetzer Hara who hides this truth.)

 

“The reason this shouting down the Yetzer Hara has the effect of revealing the truth of God’s omnipresence is simple, the Yetzer Hara and Kelipah are only like darkness that doesn’t really exist.

 

They are only an absence of light, hence the moment light shines, the darkness dissipates.

 

Though there is tremendous energy in the Kelipos enlivening all the non-kosher animals and even the Jewish animal soul, nonetheless, all of this is only the absence of light.

 

The moment the Yetzer Hara’s darkness dissipates, then the light of truth, shall become evident.”

 

“The truth is that the Yetzer Hara is given permission to challenge man, as the example of the prostitute hired by the king to challenge his son, to deny God’s omnipresence.

However when man does rise to this challenge and humbles himself then as the mission is accomplished his lowering of the Kelipah below lowers the Kelipa above and man becomes free of its torment.”

 

“A clear example of this is when the spies sent to scout out Israel and report back to the Jews in the desert if it was conquerable or not told them that it was not, and everyone was afraid to go in.

 

Then Mosses shouted at them, that they had angered God and they would die in the desert and that they were wicked etc.

 

Suddenly they become very remorseful and they desired to immediately go conquer the land.

 

If they didn’t believe in God’s ability to conquer the land how did they suddenly believe?

 

The answer is that all Jews are believers, inherited from their forefathers belief as well, it is only that the Kelipah is given permission to obstificate truth, hence it was this obstification of truth that caused them overtly to think that the land was too strong for God to conquer.

 

Once the source of the obstification, the Kelipah, was removed through the humbling of self, as mentioned “the nation mourned (was remorseful) greatly” then they retuned to their natural state of belief.”

 

“The above scenario (that it is only the Kelipah not you) can be applied whenever one finds oneself doubting God.”

 

“In fact the Kelipah itself has no doubts about God, rather it is given the permission merely to increase the reward of the Jew who is not fooled and conquers the Kelipah, as in the example of the king who hired a prostitute to challenge his son for ultimately he desires to reward him.”