The spiritual path & Sadhana
The spiritual path may, in the beginning, appear to be very hard,
thorny, precipitous and slippery. Renunciation of objects gives pain at the
outset. If you struggle hard to tread the path, if you once make a strong
determination and firm resolve, then it becomes very easy. You get interest and
new joy. Your heart expands. You have a broad outlook of life. You have a new,
wide vision. You feel the help from the invisible hands of the Indweller of
your heart. Your doubts are cleared by themselves by getting answers from
within. You can hear the shrill, sweet voice of God. There is an indescribable
thrill of divine ecstasy from within. There is deep, abiding, everlasting joy
and unruffled peace. There is ineffable, unabating, undiminishing, undecaying
spiritual bliss. This gives new strength. The footing in the path becomes
firmer and firmer. The Jivanmuktas, Yogins, Nitya- siddhas, Amara -purushas,
and Chiranjivis lend their helping hands to the struggling aspirants. The
aspirants feel this actually. The feeling of loneliness and of being neglected
and forsaken vanishes entirely.
You are backed up at all times by a mighty power that works everywhere
in the cosmos. Therefore you have nothing to fear. Take care of the details in
Sadhana. The major factor will take care of itself.
Some aspirants leave Sadhana after some time. They expect great fruits
quickly. They expect many Siddhis within a short time. When they do not get
some, they give up the Sadhana. There are several ranges of consciousness
between the ordinary human consciousness and the supra-consciousness of
Brahman. Different veils have to be torn down on the way; many lower centres
have to be opened up; many hurdles have to be crossed before the final goal is
reached.
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS IS LIKE A SPIRAL
You have to plod on and scale many hills. You cannot climb the Everest
in one jump. There is no jumping on the spiritual path.
Self-realization is not like a six-year post-graduate course. It is the
result of intense protracted Sadhana.
There is no short-cut in the spiritual path. There is no royal road to
the kingdom of immortal bliss. There is no half-measure in the divine path. Strict,
hard discipline is wanted. Then alone you can conquer Maya. Only then can you
control the mind.
Saints and Yogins will never think that they have controlled the mind.
Only the deluded Sadhaka will imagine he has controlled the mind and get a
terrible downfall. It is the very nature of life, mind, and Prakriti to be
constantly in motion. When there is the idea in the mind that the highest goal
is yet to be achieved, you will always move towards it. If you imagine that you
have got to the top, you will anyhow have to move, and that movement will be
downward. You will have a downfall. Aspire for higher realization till the
breath ceases in the nostril.
Spiritual progress is slow, as the spiritual Sadhana is difficult and
laborious. It is like the spiral. In the beginning, great striving is needed.
Gradually, the circle becomes smaller and smaller. So also, the striving
becomes less and less. The aspirant gains spiritual strength slowly. He marches
faster and faster. Finally, he does not go by furlongs after furlongs. He
proceeds by mile after mile. He gallops and gallops. Therefore, be patient; be
persevering; be steady.
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
The gradual inward progress is mostly silent and unseen, like the quiet
unfolding of a bud into a flower in the hours of the night. Therefore, do not
be dejected. Do not depress yourself with the idea that you are not
progressing. Real spiritual progress is really and accurately measured by the
peacefulness, serenity, and calmness that you manifest in waking state. You
will have a healthy body and mind, the excretions will be scanty, the voice
will be sweet, the face will be brilliant, the eyes will be lustrous. You will
be ever calm, tranquil, and poised; you will be ever cheerful, fearless, and
contented. You will be dispassionate and discriminative. There will be no
attraction for the world. Things that used to upset you before will not upset
you now. You will have an unruffled mind. You will have introversion. Things
that used to give you pleasure produce disgust or a reverse effect now. You
will have a one-pointed, sharp, subtle mind. You will be longing to have more
meditation. You will experience lights, visions, divine smell, divine taste.
The idea that all forms are forms of the Lord will get stronger and stronger in
you. You will feel everywhere the presence of God. You will experience the
nearness of God. You will have a very steady Asana. You will develop a burning
desire for selfless service.
Watch whether you are stationary in the spiritual path, retrogressing,
or advancing. If your Japa, meditation or Vedantic Vichara thickens your veil
and fattens your egoism, it is not then a spiritual Sadhana. Remember this
point well. It is only a kind of occult practice.
Watch, introspect. Practice self-analysis
and kill ruthlessly this formidable egoism. This is important Sadhana. Egoism
will lurk like a thief and assume various forms like a chameleon or a Bahurupi
(a dramatic actor).
Do not stop the Sadhana when you get a few glimpses of realization.
Continue practice till you are fully established in Bhuma, the unconditioned
Brahman. This is important. If you stop practice and move about in the world,
there is every likelihood of a downfall. The reaction will be tremendous.
Examples are not lacking. Numerous persons have been so ruined. A glimpse
cannot give you perfect safety. Do not be carried away by name and fame. You
can renounce your wife, children, parents, house, friends, and relatives. It is
very, very difficult to renounce the intellectual pleasure, the pleasure from
name and fame. I seriously warn you. A man who can draw happiness from the
Atman within, will never care a jot for this trivial, paltry affair. The world
is a mighty big thing for a worldly man. It is a straw for the Knower of
Brahman. It is a mustard, a pin's point, a dot, a bubble, an airy nothing for a
Brahma-jnani (Knower of Brahman). Be circumspective. Ignore all these trivial
things. Be steady with your practice. Never stop the practice till the final
beatitude is reached. Never cease Sadhana till you can constantly dwell in full
Brahmic consciousness.
Do not let failures discourage you, but go on doing your best.
Do not
brood over your past mistakes and failures, as this will only fill your mind
with grief, regret and depression.
Do not repeat them in future.
Be cautious.
Just think of the causes which led to your failures and try to remove them in
future.
Strengthen yourself with new vigour and virtues.
Develop slowly your
will-power.
Every temptation that is resisted, every evil thought that is curbed,
every desire that is subdued, every bitter word that is withheld, every noble
aspiration that is encouraged, every sublime thought that is cultivated, adds
to the development of will-force, good character, and attainment of eternal
bliss and immortality.
Every bit of Sadhana done is surely recorded without fail in your hidden
consciousness. No Sadhana ever goes in vain. Every bit of it is credited
immediately towards your evolution. This is the law. Think not negative
thoughts, but calmly go on with the Sadhana. Be regular at it. Without missing
a single day, proceed onward with your spiritual practices.
Little by little,
the power accumulates and it will grow. Ultimately, the cumulative force of all
the continuous earnest Sadhana done perseveringly and patiently over a long
period of life has its inevitable grand consummation at the supreme moment when
it bears fruit in the form of blissful Realization.
Let the Sadhana be regular, continuous, unbroken, and earnest. Not only
regularity, but also continuity in Sadhana and meditation is necessary if you
want to attain Self-realization quickly.
A spiritual stream once set going does
not dry up, unless the channel-bed is locked, unless there is stagnation.
Be
vigilant eternally. Meditate regularly. Annihilate the under-current of
Vasanas.
OBSTACLES TO SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
Sometimes the aspirant gets stuck up. He cannot proceed further in his
path. Sometimes he is side-tracked through Siddhis. He loses his way and walks
in some other direction. He misses the goal. Sometimes he is assailed by
temptations and various oppositions. Sometimes he gets false contentment. He
thinks he has reached his goal and stops all Sadhana. Sometimes he is careless,
lazy, indolent. He cannot do any Sadhana. Therefore, be eternally vigilant,
like the captain of a ship, like the surgeon in the operation theatre.
The spiritual path is full of hurdles. If you conquer one obstacle, another
obstacle is ready to manifest. If you control the sense of taste, another
Indriya is simply waiting to assault you with redoubled force and vigour. If
you remove greed, anger is waiting to hurl you down. If you drive egoism
through one door, it enters through another door. Great patience, perseverance,
vigilance, and undaunted strength are needed.
Be frim, steady, and steadfast. People will mock at you; be silent.
People will insult you; be silent. People will spread evil rumours about you;
be silent. Stick to the spiritual path. Do not swerve. Seek the truth wherever
it may lead you to, and whatever be the cost and sacrifice.