Azamra / Rabbi Nachman: Who He Was - Part 14

27. When a person is right at the door, the very threshold of entering real holiness, the “other side” (i.e. evil) goes all out with terrible intensity to overpower him, confusing and confounding him. Know this well to be strong and do whatever it takes to break through. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 48]

28. Know that every movement and extraction that you remove and move every time, even the slightest amount, from the physicality to the devotion of the Blessed One, all of these gather and join and bind and come to your aid in time of need. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 48]

29. One should go with the practice of seeking and searching and finding in one's self any merit, any good point, and with the small good that one finds in himself, one should be happy and strengthen himself, and not leave his place even if he fell to what he fell G-d forbid, even still he should strengthen himself in the tiny miniscule good that he still finds in himself, until he will merit to return through this to the Blessed G-d, and all his sins will be turned into merits. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 48]

30. When a person enters into service of Hashem and sees it is so hard for him, and it seems as if they are distancing him from above and not allowing him at all to enter, he should know that all this feeling of being “distanced” is truthfully only his being “drawn near.” He must remain very very strong not to be discouraged even if many years of hard work go by and he still feels that he is very far and that he didn’t even begin to enter into the gates of holiness, for he sees that he is full of materialism, evil thoughts and the like, and every time he tries to do something holy it is so hard for him and all his crying and pleading with G-d seems to be going to waste… On all this he needs great courage not to pay attention to these delusions at all. Because all this “distancing,” in truth, is only his “drawing near,” and all the great tzaddikim had to go through this kind of experience before they reached their level. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 48]

31. You need to have great stubbornness in the service of Hashem. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 48]

32. You need to greatly encourage yourself in His service as much as you can, even if you are the way you are, you should rely on His abundantly great mercy which is beyond limit, for certainly He will not forsake you, no matter how badly you’ve acted. The past doesn’t exist. The main thing is that from now on you honestly resolve not to do it again. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 49]

33. The main thing is to be happy always, and one should make himself happy however possible, usually this is only attainable though foolish things, to act as if he is crazy and do silly funny things or to jump around and dance, in order to come to happiness which is a very great thing. [Life of Rabbi Nachman 593; Likutay Moharan 24, 48]

34. When a person falls from his level he should know that it’s Heaven-sent, because going down is needed in order to go up, therefore he fell, in order that he arouses himself more to come close to Hashem. Whenever a person rises from one level to the next, it necessitates that he first has a descent before the ascent. Because the purpose of any descent is always in order to ascend. [Likutay Moharan 261]

35. There is a lot to talk about here (in the above topic). Because each person who fell to the place where he fell thinks that these words weren’t spoken for him, for he imagines that these ideas are only for great people who are always climbing from one level to the next. But truthfully, you should know and believe, that all these words were also said concerning the smallest of the small and the worst of the worst, for Hashem is forever good to all. [Likutay Aitzoas, hischazkus-encouragement 5, based on Likutay Moharan 22:11]

36. It is a great thing for a person to still have an evil inclination because then he is able to serve Hashem with the evil inclination itself. That is, to take all of the fire in his heart and channel it towards service of Hashem. For example, to pray with fiery passion of the heart, etc. For, if there is no evil inclination in a person, his service cannot be complete. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 49]

37. It is good to set aside a specific time every day to be heartbroken and to speak out all ones problems before G-d (especially at midnight – 6 hours after nightfall), but the rest of the day be only happy. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 34]

38. The essential joy comes from good deeds. [Likutay Moharan 30:5]

39. Hisbodidus (personal private prayer and conversation with G-d) is a virtue of great height and magnitude more than everything. I.e to set a time, at least an hour (Saba said, an hour on the clock) or more, to be alone in seclusion in a room or field, and express himself to his Creator, with argumentation and justification, with words of favor, good will, and appeasement. To ask and plead before the Blessed G-d, that He should draw him to His devotion in truth. This prayer and conversation should be in one's vernacular. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 25, The holy book of Outpouring of the Soul is dedicated to this subject]

40. A person needs to scream to his Father In Heaven with a powerful voice from the depths of his heart. Then G-d will listen to his voice and turn to his outcry. And it could be that from this act itself, all doubts and obstacles that are keeping him back from true service of Hashem will fall from him and be completely nullified. [Likutay Moharan vol. 2, 46]

41. Know that it’s not enough to have yearnings [for G-d] in the heart alone, for a person needs to bring all his yearnings out into words. [Likutay Moharan 31]

42. When a person has a yearning for something and he brings it out into words, a soul is created. This soul flies in the air and reaches another person thereby awakening in him too a yearning. [Likutay Moharan 31]

43. Behold! Precious is the sigh (called ‘krechtz’) from a Jewish person. [Likutay Moharan 8]

44. When one prays with all his energy as in “my entire essence speaks…” (Tehilim 35), the energy (coa’ach) that he inserts into the words are the 28 (coa’ach) letters which the world was created with. The 10 sayings of creation receive their energy from these 28 letters. The words that come out of this person's mouth are then actually the words of Hashem, as in the verse “I will place my words in your mouth” (Isaiah 51). [Likutay Moharan 48]

45. Prayer depends on the heart. A person should put all of his heart into it, so that it shouldn’t be in the aspect of “With their lips they honor me but their hearts are far from me (Isaiah 29).” [Likutay Moharan 49]

46. Someone who wants to merit to do teshuva (repentance) should make it a practice to say Tehillim (Psalms). [Likutay Moharan vol. 2 73]