The Secret of Breaking the Evil Inclination: From the Furnace of Desires to Divine Tranquility

Lesson No. 60 | Thursday Night, Parashas Chukas, Eve of 4 Tammuz 5756 - General Public Lesson at the Yeshiva

A profound article explaining the difference between fleeting enthusiasm stemming from illusions, and true holiness acquired through toil. Rabbi Berland explains how only genuine exertion in Torah study is capable of breaking the evil inclination, cooling the fire of desires, and bringing a person to a state of mental tranquility where they see only Hashem.

Rebbe Nachman says at the end of Torah 78 (Likutey Moharan, Part I), that the Torah is what will extract a person from all desires. Sometimes a person feels that he is burning for Hashem, burning for Rebbe Nachman, but suddenly some kelipah (spiritual impurity) passes by—and within a second, everything flips, and he chases after it. How does this happen? Because this is not a true burning of holiness, but rather mere hormonal enthusiasm. It is a fire with no substance.

Splitting the Mind with Spiritual Axes

Therefore, the first thing Rebbe Nachman says is: Start learning Torah. Everyone wants to be a tzaddik, but they want it to come easily. Rebbe Nachman explains (Torah 142) that even if a person comes to the tzaddik with tremendous mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice), despite all the obstacles—he will not receive wisdom automatically. The tzaddik will give you siyata d'shmaya (Heavenly assistance), he will ensure you have good friends and study partners, but the work of opening your mind rests upon you.

You need to take spiritual axes and split your mind, so that it begins to absorb the holy Gemara. It is impossible to be a tzaddik without learning Torah; there is no such reality. The mind will not illuminate on its own; a person must work through the pain, sawing through a mind filled with nonsense, so that words of Torah can enter it. There is no other patent and no shortcut.

The Torah on One Foot

People look for shortcuts. They come to the tzaddik and want to receive the entire Torah "on one foot," exactly like that convert who came before Shammai and Hillel. Shammai pushed him away, but Hillel, out of his immense humility and lowliness which connected him to the infinite Divine intellect, told him a simple thing:

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow."

Seemingly, this sounds simple. But is a person truly capable of fulfilling this? After all, when his wife or friends insult him, he immediately retaliates, and sometimes he even preempts them and insults them before they even start. The convert, who was wise, grasped the depth of the matter. He understood that this is the most difficult mitzvah, because a person is naturally an egoist who wants everyone to honor him and bow down to him like the wicked Haman.

Therefore, Hillel told him: "The rest is commentary; go and learn"—start learning Torah. Only through Torah study can you reach humility, stop insulting those around you, and begin to fulfill these basic character traits.

Living for the Sanctification of Hashem's Name

Sometimes a person suddenly receives an illumination from Above. Some tzaddik grandfather cries out for him in Heaven, begging for mercy upon him despite the bad environment in which he grew up, and suddenly a great light descends upon him and he awakens to teshuvah (repentance). However, he must know that no light in the world will endure if he does not start learning Torah.

The evil inclination burns within a person from infancy. The daily struggle, disconnecting from desires, and guarding one's eyes at every single moment—is harder than dying Al Kiddush Hashem (for the sanctification of Hashem's Name). Dying Al Kiddush Hashem is an act of mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) of a single moment, where a person is burned, cries out "Shema Yisrael," and immediately ascends to the Garden of Eden. But to live Al Kiddush Hashem, to fight the kelipos (spiritual impurities) and desires 24 hours a day—this is a constant and unbearably difficult struggle.

The Torah Extinguishes the Fire of Desires

The only way to break the evil inclination is through the mind. No piece of advice will break the evil inclination; only a strong mind that works in Torah, delving deeply into Talmudic topics and debating them. When a person studies Gemara in depth, he suddenly feels the lightness of an angel.

Rebbe Nachman explains that when a person learns Torah, the breaths of study extinguish the fire of the evil inclination's desires. The heart is a blazing fire of hormones and agitation, and as the Sages say:

"Were it not for the wings of the lungs that blow upon the heart, the heart would burn up the entire body."

Only Torah study can calm the boiling blood, bringing a person to true tranquility and peace of mind. Without the Torah, a person can pray with enthusiasm, and immediately afterward punch someone—proof that this was not an enthusiasm of holiness, but rather a continuation of hormonal agitation.

There is None Besides Him

When a person reaches true deveikus (attachment to God) through the Torah, he enters such a state of calm that even when he is insulted—he simply does not hear it. His mind is working 24 hours a day on words of Torah, in Likutey Moharan, in Halachah (Jewish law), and in Midrashim.

Rebbe Nachman says (Torah 55) that a person can reach such high levels of holiness and purity, that he interprets every disgrace and humiliation as honor for the King. He understands that there is none besides Him—there are no heretics, there are no wicked people, there is nothing besides Hashem. Everything is illusions and fog. His pure soul becomes refined and strips itself of the physical body, and he sees only sparks of Godliness and pure souls hovering around him. This is the true enthusiasm of holiness.

Part 1 of 3 — Lesson No. 60

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