Sadhana-the Main Purpose of Life by Swami Sivananda

Sadhana-the Main Purpose of Life

by Swami Sivananda

Sadhana means any spiritual practice that helps the aspirant to realise God. It is a means to attain the goal of human life. Sadhana is steadying the mind and fixing it on the Lord.

Everyone must take to some kind of Sadhana to attain the state of final beatitude.

Sadhana is the real wealth. It is the only thing of real and everlasting value. There is butter in milk, but it can be got only after churning. Similarly if you want to realise God, do Sadhana and worship constantly in right earnest.

Whatever spiritual practice you do, either Japa, practice of Asanas, meditation or Pranayama, do it systematically and regularly every day. You will attain immortality or eternal bliss.

If your persist in your Sadhana vigorously and diligently, if you are regular, systematic and punctual in your Sadhana, you will attain success.

Be contented with whatever you get by chance and apply yourself to Sadhana with a dispassionate mind.

Regularity in Sadhana is of paramount importance. He who meditates regularly gets Samadhi quickly. That man who is irregular and does his actions by fits and starts cannot reap the fruits of his efforts.

Keep your mind always busy in doing Japa, concentration, meditation, study of religious books, Satsanga or in doing something useful to others.

Little acts of virtues, little acts of purity will help you a lot in your Sadhana. Removal of Vrittis and impurities is the most important Sadhana. The wandering mind must be controlled by sticking to one place, one preceptor and one progressive method of Sadhana.

That Sadhaka who has turned the mind inward by the practice of Sama and Dama and who has keen longing for liberation sees the Self in his own Self by constant and deep meditation.

You can move the whole world by your spiritual force.

A spiritual diary is a whip for goading the mind towards righteousness.

Selfishness retards spiritual progress. If anyone can destroy his selfishness, half of his spiritual Sadhana is over.

You must get up at 4 a.m. and start meditation. Have concrete meditation in the beginning. Feel the indwelling presence of God in the form and think of the attributes-purity, perfection, all-pervading intelligence, bliss absolute, omnipotence, etc. When the mind runs again and again bring it to the point. Have another sitting for meditation at night. Be regular in your practice.

Write your Ishta Mantra in a notebook for one hour daily. Discipline the senses. Observe the vow of silence. Develop right thinking, right feeling, right acting and right speaking. Eradicate vicious qualities, such as anger, lust, greed, egoism, hatred, etc. He who regulates his life on the above lines, is sure to attain success in this very birth, nay, in this very second.

Qualities of the Mind - Sattva, Rajas & Tamas by Rachel Hull

Qualities of the Mind - Sattva, Rajas & Tamas

by Rachel Hull

According to Ayurveda, Samkhya philosophy and Yoga, all of creation is made up of three qualities called sattva, rajas and tamas. These qualities (gunas), along with our physical constitution, strongly influence our mental state.

·       Sattva – creative; clear; harmonious

·       Rajas – activity; movement; agitation

·       Tamas –inertia; dullness; lethargy

We each contain all of the gunas in varying degrees and they are in constant interplay with each other. Excessive rajas and tamas have a disturbing influence upon the mind, so the aim is to reduce them and increase sattva to about 70%. 

Comment of Atman

For those who aspire and practice to reach liberation the mind must be 100% sattvic.

The good news is that we can make choices via our diet and lifestyle, and in this way influence which guna we allow to predominate in our lives.

GUNAS & FOOD

In Ayurveda, foods are categorised in a variety of ways. One of these ways is observing if the food has a sattvic (harmonising), rajasic (agitating) or tamasic (dulling) influence upon the mind.

SATTVA

SATTVA is creative, clear and manifests life.

Harmony, peace, truth and love are all sattvic qualities. People who are predominantly sattvic tend to be quietly spiritual and steady in their faith, without being fanatical. They are happy, humble, content and not easily prone to anger. Their minds are alert and their perceptions are clear. They are creative, curious, inspiring and pleasant.

With sattva we know the most beneficial action to take and we take it.

SATTVIC FOODS are full of prana, easy to digest and light,

such as lightly cooked organic vegetables, ripe fruit, nuts and seeds, raw honey, ginger, fennel seeds, cardamom and small amounts of ghee (clarified butter). Pure cows’ milk is considered sattvic in Ayurveda, if taken from cows raised in a peaceful environment. In cases of increased toxins including lymphatic congestion and high cholesterol (common in kapha dosha types), care must be taken in consuming dairy. In Ayurveda, milk is taken warm, not cold, as cold dairy increases phlegm. If dairy doesn’t agree with you, alternatives include rice and oat milk, which are good substitutes, although not listed as sattvic.

TO INCREASE SATTVA we need to engage in sattvic foods, sensory impressions, relations and activities (Sattvic way of performance all performed in a peaceful and non-goal-oriented way). These could include gentle Yoga, pranayama, meditation, chi gung, tai chi, walking in a peaceful environment, and listening to relaxing and uplifting music. Another important consideration is limiting our exposure to those situations, substances and people, which we know will disturb the mind.

RAJAS

All forms of movement and activity are influenced by rajas.

We need movement to get things done in life, but excessive rajas brings restlessness and hyper-activity. The mind cannot rest, resulting in fear, anxiety and agitation.

When imbalanced, rajas leads to excessive pride, competitiveness, aggression, and jealousy. People with a lot of rajas tend to value power, prestige, business and success on the material level. Impulsive actions are taken that are later regretted and which disturb the mind.

People with rajasic temperaments tend towards fanaticism. While they hold their beliefs, they hold them very strongly, trying to convert others. There is often frenetic activity and drama surrounding them. Their minds are so full that they don’t really listen to any advice they may seek.

On the positive side, we need some rajas to get things done and to set and achieve our goals.

When rajas is in excess, we know in our hearts what is the most beneficial action to take, but the mind chooses to take us elsewhere.

Excessive exercise to the point of over-exertion is rajasic and disturbing to the system, as is excessive thinking, talking, travelling, working or any kind of over-stimulation. Talking on the telephone, hours on the computer, exposing ourselves to anything violent including on screen, will all have a disturbing effect upon the mind.

RAJASIC FOODS stimulate and irritate the system.

Junk foods like potato chips and chocolate bars, excessively sweet, salty, spicy or pungent foods (such as raw onions and garlic), can cause the mind to become agitated and disturbed mind. Most legumes and beans increase rajas slightly, creating wind; to make them easier to digest, they need to be taken with appropriate oils and spices.

TO BALANCE RAJAS means, limiting our exposure to foods, people and situations that disturb our minds and increasing exposure to more sattvic foods, lifestyle and people.

Anything that increases sattva will decrease rajas.

TAMAS

TAMAS is the way nature completes or destroys things. 

Although we do need some tamas to help us sleep and rest, excessive tamas dulls the mind, making us inert, lazy and depressed. Individuals with a strong tamasic nature engage in a self-destructive diet and lifestyle. They tend to eat, drink and have sex excessively (gluttonous). They likely take drugs and drink alcohol in large quantities.

As the tamasic mind becomes dull, heavy and confused, the individual becomes increasingly less caring about themselves and others.

The mind becomes so dull, that they can’t articulate clearly, and need assistance to help themselves. It is unlikely that they will read an article like this, or show up to Yoga class unless dragged there by someone else.

When tamas is in excess, the individual truly needs help, as the ability to discriminate between what is beneficial or not, is weak. The mind has become so unclear, that it can no longer be relied upon to make good judgment calls.

TAMASIC FOODS are lacking in prana and do not support life.

These include old and leftover food, deeply fried food, excessive meat, chicken, seafood, eggs, hard cheeses. Alcohol and drugs are tamasic and can also have a rajasic effect. Certain herbs and spices, such as nutmeg have a dulling effect upon the mind, which is why in cases of insomnia, nutmeg is used as a traditional aid to sleep. Although nutmeg is tamasic, it is relatively less tamasic and damaging than a heavy drug.

TO BALANCE TAMAS means clearing out the cobwebs in the brain. Fresh air, peaceful yet dynamic exercise and sattvic food, lifestyle and environment will all help.

Who is a sage of steady wisdom - Bhagavad Gita

Who is a sage of steady wisdom

- Bhagavad Gita Ch. 2

Arjuna said:

54. What, O Krishna, is the description of him who has steady wisdom and is merged in the Superconscious State? How does one of steady wisdom speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?

The Blessed Lord said:

55. When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom!

COMMENTARY: All the pleasures of the world are worthless to an illumined sage who is ever content in the immortal Self.

56. He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not hanker after pleasures, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

57. He who is everywhere without attachment, on meeting with anything good or bad, who neither rejoices nor hates, his wisdom is fixed.

58. When, like the tortoise which withdraws its limbs on all sides, he withdraws his senses from the sense-objects, then his wisdom becomes steady.

59. The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man, leaving the longing (behind); but his longing also turns away on seeing the Supreme.

60. The turbulent senses, O Arjuna, do violently carry away the mind of a wise man though he be striving (to control them)!

61. Having restrained them all he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.

62. When a man thinks of the objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment desire is born; from desire anger arises.

63. From anger comes delusion; from delusion the loss of memory; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of discrimination he perishes.

64. But the self-controlled man, moving amongst objects with the senses under restraint, and free from attraction and repulsion, attains to peace.

65. In that peace all pains are destroyed, for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.

COMMENTARY: When peace is attained all miseries end.

Naasti buddhir ayuktasya na chaayuktasya bhaavanaa;
Na chaabhaavayatah shaantir ashaantasya kutah sukham.

66. There is no knowledge of the Self to the unsteady, and to the unsteady no meditation is possible; and to the un-meditative there can be no peace; and to the man who has no peace, how can there be happiness?

67. For the mind which follows in the wake of the wandering senses, carries away his discrimination as the wind (carries away) a boat on the waters.

68. Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, his knowledge is steady whose senses are completely restrained from sense-objects!

69. That which is night to all beings, then the self-controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night for the sage who sees.

COMMENTARY: The sage lives in the Self; this is day to him. He is unconscious of worldly phenomena; this is like night to him. The ordinary man is unconscious of his real nature. So life in the Self is like night to him. He experiences sense-objects; this is day to him.

70. He attains peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the man who is full of desires.

71. The man attains peace, who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of mine and without egoism.

72. This is the Brahmic seat (eternal state), O son of Pritha! Attaining to this, none is deluded. Being established therein, even at the end of life one attains to oneness with Brahman.

Hari Om Tat Sat