Summary: In answering a question clarifies that in deeper seeking one would not find arrogance. Explains that to avoid this arrogance the sadhak must always remain open to the guidance. Gives the example of Judas – his conceit blinded him to the truth of Christ. Explains that sadhana is a long journey and the foremost obstacle is one’s own self. Further elaborates on the process of sadhana – the point when it becomes joyful, doubts along the way and finding answers within.

L.: I have a question: when I say I am a sadhak, there might be ego in that statement. I need clarity on this.

You have to describe yourself in some way or the other, even in the world out there. Even if you were not a seeker or sadhak, and were asked what you are, who you are, you would identify yourself in some way. While as a sadhak it is something you say to yourself to inspire yourself. It is not about putting yourself out in conceit, and even if you were to, it is a better conceit than many other conceits that people involve themselves with. Of course ultimately you have to go beyond all conceits and arrogance. Ultimately it has to reach to a certain maturity where you understand what is the right and real attitude one must have. It is only an immature mind that approaches a thing with conceit and arrogance. It exists universally. But to begin with, one could say that it could be self-inspiring even if it may sound a little arrogant initially. It need not be so. I do not think we are so immature so as not to see our arrogance only in this case; what about the other moments in other cases? In the daily interaction it comes to almost everybody and some people live from there anyway. So it has nothing to do whether one is a sadhak or not a sadhak. Sometimes it can act as an inspiration and a drive. For example, you want to climb a mountain, you can self-inspire, egoistically self-asserting and say, ‘I can do it, I will do it.’ It is the same thing here too: you are confirming yourself as a seeker, a sadhak, “I am a sadhak,” and so approaching life in that certain way – you convince yourself, you remind yourself, self-asserting yourself as a seeker. When you take to seeking you are a seeker, a sadhak, when you do not take to seeking you are not a seeker, not a sadhak. It is as simple as that. So it is only to confirm it, there is nothing wrong with that. I am sure people are mature enough to understand the difference that you do not boast about it for the reason of boasting, rather it is only to remind you and others of the journey that you have taken to – it is as simple as that. You can find ego and arrogance under every rock, under every leaf, under every nook and corner, it exists.

Even the Buddha when he left home, he was a seeker before he became the Buddha. He too said, “I am off for seeking the Truth and will not rest until I know the Truth,” self-asserting his endeavour. Along the way, even if you began with arrogance, the reality will strike you, which is the whole approach of ‘self-work’. A lot of people begin with a self-asserting arrogance; with anything, their existence is all about how superior they are, how great they are, and they may be idiots for whatever reason, but along the way, if they have sincerity, if they have self-reflection, self-introspection, they will be able to see it. Modern societies are full of arrogance. But if you take to real seeking, it comes from a deeper level. So the idea of arrogance sounds out of place. Real seeking begins from a position that is not from arrogance. It is something deeper; it is from a deeper level of consciousness. Anyway mere boasting does not last very long – that you discover in life with anything. People may boast but when the reality strikes and they discover and see the shortcomings in themselves when dealing with real situations they end up finding the emptiness of their boast and it is better that they do so for the sake of their own growth. Life is such a great leveller. So I do not think that it is much of a worry. I have had idiotic people come here claiming to be enlightened. There are many people in the world who claim many things in their self-delusion, but on this journey for sure you have to be very honest and self-doubting, self-inquiring and self-introspecting.

Ordinarily, you always tend to doubt the other and the outer, while you are always correct and perfect. You are always biased and prejudiced in favour of yourself not requiring any self-work and introspection, and that your judgments about anything and anyone are always right, and this is kind of unconsciously present in almost everybody. But a seeker, a sadhak, is supposed to really start self-questioning to the extent that even when it may seem that one is right, sometimes the truth can be many-sided or things may not be what they may seem, besides which you could be mistaken and plain wrong. So there can be many sides to the truth. A seeker has to have a different attitude. He may begin in an immature way but ultimately if there is sincerity, honesty and introspection, if there is the will and right attitude and willingness to learn, then there will be no problem. Seeker means that you are seeking, you have to learn, you are not a knower, definitely not an all-knower, so really there would, should not be much room for arrogance, although arrogance could be used as a driving force to begin with, ultimately to be given up. Yes, you are privileged if you have taken to this journey, just like any human being feels privileged, say, in comparison to the animal. You are privileged in terms of your consciousness; you have a greater manifestation than an animal consciousness. Although it is another matter that the human consciousness contains within itself a lot of the animal consciousness. Human consciousness has not completely freed itself from the animal consciousness from where it has emerged and evolved.

So, the seeker, firstly, is supposed to seek and be open to guidance. There is not much room for arrogance and if it is there, it will sort itself out or be sorted out by the guide. In fact I would say sometimes that that kind of pride is helpful. Like I said you can say, ‘Yes, I can do it,’ it gives you the vitality, the impulse and the drive that might be required in the beginning. Ultimately of course, it has to deepen and rise and reach to something high and more profound. You know you can be arrogant about being an idiot also. I have travelled round the world and I have seen all sorts of arrogances; it is just the energy. You can be proud of anything – even being an idiot!

So, I do not think there is much to fear here. As you go along, you continue to grow and mature if you have taken to the journey, truly taken to the journey, and not just the mere saying of it, ‘Oh, I have taken to the journey.’ This is the thing, not just theory but in practice – not just a notion. So you have to be open to the guidance and take to the real journey. When you are being guided in a certain direction it must be accepted with grace, dignity and faith, then there is no chance of arrogance ever waylaying and hijacking your journey and taking you in the wrong direction. So when you offer yourself for any guidance, obviously arrogance will have no place, or it would be put in and shown its proper place, it would stand corrected every time.

The arrogance and conceit that you speak of comes from the vital consciousness, it is founded in vitality for it is then most visible. When you have a strong vitality, the stronger and more visible will be this kind of expression. Some people have subdued vitality, but they too have an ego for it is not only the expressive and violent self-assertiveness that is considered to be of the ego. You can be egoistic even in being a victim. So ultimately this journey is supposed to place you in the right position, and it is very subtle and therefore it requires that kind of commitment to the journey, to the guiding.

When you compete in sports for example, what do you do? You want to win that particular game – ‘I am going to win this game, I am a better player.’ This is the same thing, and of course, if you were to lose, you should be able to accept the other’s victory. That is called the sportsman’s spirit which matures your individuality making it larger – it is narrow, otherwise – conceit is very narrow and disconnected from the reality of things. But this journey as a sadhak is supposed to bring you to the reality of things. It is supposed to make you understand and see your strengths but also your weaknesses, where you need to make changes, alterations – acceptance of your conceits. You have to see it, it has to stand revealed, you have to become naked so to speak in the light of that Truth, your soul has to uncover itself. However imperfect you may begin, ultimately it has to get there. So if you journey rightly, if you accept the guidance, then it happens, there is no chance then of this ever tripping you up, otherwise it can. For example, Judas had arrogance about his scholarship – giving you an example from the life of Christ – because he was the educated one, he was the scholar amongst the other disciples. And Jesus himself was a carpenter’s son, and so was seen to be simple-minded in his understanding and expression by Judas. You require a certain temperament, consciousness and insight to be able to sense and feel that kind of a person, His depth and height; not everyone can recognise it though they may be near and around them. When Jesus asks all of them, “How do you look upon me, how do you see me?” it is only Simon Peter who says, “You are the One who was to come, the Messiah.” So it is not everybody that can recognise an awakened, enlightened man. He may not necessarily advertise and market himself, like so many false prophets do today. It is another matter that Jesus did try to attract people by doing miracles but ultimately it did not work for they all turned against him. The awakened man does not do these things from the ego; it is not in his nature. He does not need to, his light is Self-lit – it is not because of the numbers of people around him that he is enlightened. This is utter nonsense; He may have none around him, he will still be what he is. And it is not necessarily that anybody and everybody would recognise Him for what he is – so even with Jesus, only Simon Peter comes forth and says, “You are the Messiah.” Others still had doubts. Thomas himself had doubts, and it was the miracle of bringing the young girl to life that made him believe – but you do not have to do miracles, why do you have to do miracles? Again, it will only be for people with immature minds, where you have to create this magic and miracle – but that kind of faith does not last very long. You need something else, something deeper and inner, to be able to understand this, to be able to recognise. That is why Arjuna also asks Krishna, “How do you recognise an enlightened man, how do you recognise an awakened man, how does he walk, how does he speak?” Krishna explains that it is not easy to recognise, he will seem to be just like anyone else to the outer eye, but you must have the eye to see; like Jesus saying that if you have the eyes to see, you will see. But arrogance prevents you to see, there is a conceit in it – that ‘I know’ which blinds you.

Judas had this, the others had it too in their own way to whatever extent, but then they subjected themselves to their faith in Him, for they had that inner soul connection to Jesus. They accept in faith, in their simplicity, because, unlike Judas, they do not have the ego of scholarship. When you are educated, the ego ‘I know, I am educated,’ develops in you which can blind you, and that is what prevented Judas to be in tune with and in full faith with Jesus. He thought he knew more than Jesus. That is why Jesus said, “Go and do what you need to do.” And this fellow thought Jesus was endorsing him and that he would work with the scribes and organise the work better because Jesus may be too simple to do so, and so forth. This was his mental projection because of his arrogance, and what happened? He got deceived by the scribes and ended up hanging himself from the tree for having been directly instrumental in the betrayal of Jesus.

When you take to the journey, if there is a deeper call, then it becomes easier. The same thing coming from a different position has a different attitude, a different force, a different energy, a different feel. When Krishna tells Arjuna, “I am the Supreme,” he is speaking the truth. Every idiot can say, ‘I am the supreme.’ It does not make him the supreme; yes, he may have the supreme conceit! You can fool yourself, but you cannot fool people like Jesus; when Judas decides to do what he did, He reads Judas’s mind. Ramakrishna used to say, “I can see through people like you see objects in a glass case.” Things in a glass case you can see, through the glass. Awakened people can see like that through people but Judas cannot understand that Jesus knows him through and through. And Jesus knows all of them through and what they are going to do; he knows that Simon Peter will deny him three times, before the cock crows twice. Simon Peter does not know that of himself. People think that they know so much about themselves but they do not. That is why you have to offer yourself to the Master, the Guru, and be guided, for that surrender is required. But that cannot be overnight for all, while for some it is so. Arjuna was completely surrendered to Krishna so much so that he would offer his life to Krishna, the Divine. So therefore the Divine will offer Himself completely to him, even the Truth. If you commit and offer yourself to the journey and the Truth, then the Truth will offer itself to you and that is the law of the universe, there is no compromise. If you try to be clever and say, ‘Oh no, no, I will carry on as usual and still have the Truth,’ then it is not going to work. It is not from the ego, it is only the Truth that recognises the Truth, it is only the Truth that will commit itself to the Truth, it is only Light that will commit itself to the Light; it will not commit itself to darkness. So Judas, in spite of knowing ‘much’ because of his scholarship could not see this, because clearly that is not enough for this journey. Yes, you may be able to articulate; once you have the realisation it is only a mere instrument like a language. An awakened man maybe knows one language, he will speak through that language, awakening has no connection with the language, it is only a mere instrument to express that, do you understand? So even the scholarship of Judas is only limited to that, is restricted to that, but he is as foolish as anyone else could be. And you can see, in his foolishness he ends up in a conspiracy against the Divine and then ends up hanging himself. So it requires humility, arrogance requires to be humbled. Humility is acceptance of truth; you have to understand this word. People in their arrogance do not like this word, humility. But humility is wisdom, the acceptance of wanting the Truth and nothing else. It is the ‘I’ committed to the Truth. That is the actual definition of humility. This is also developed as you go along the journey and that is why the Buddha also says, “Right attitude, right action, right expression.” It is developed along the journey.

We may have our idiosyncrasies, we may have our weaknesses, we may have our misinterpretations, our misunderstandings to begin with, it will all stand corrected as you go along in your sadhana, as long as you stay on the journey, as long as you are committed to the journey, as long as you are open to guidance. The moment you start applying your self-will in contradiction to the guidance, it is finished. That is arrogance, that will defeat the purpose and that is what Judas did. That is what Christ did not do. When He could foresee that he was going to get persecuted and would be crucified, he requested of the Father, “May this cup of poison pass from my lips.” It was a very painful experience that He would be going through; who would go through that knowing beforehand what one was going to go through? But He still accepts it as ‘the Divine will, not my will’. That is humility, meaning He is only for the Divine, he is only for the truth, he is only for the light – in spite of the persecution and crucifixion that was in store for him. Truly remarkable!

L.: Jesus had so much strength.

Of course this requires commitment to the Divine and Divine alone, to God-will and not ‘my will’ separate from the Divine will. Only then ‘my will’ can be God’s will. This is a development over a period of time and that is why the required association is necessary. That is why the Buddha says, “Take refuge in and with the awakened one, take refuge in and with the dhamma, take refuge in and with the sangha,” with the environment of sadhana, the community of sangha and then take refuge and follow the dhamma, the guidance, the teaching and the work involved, inside and outside.

These are the basics for the journey, if you accept moment to moment, every moment – that is humility. Then you will continue to progress, there will be ups and downs of course, big ups and downs, this is not an easy journey, it is not a convenient journey. People usually believe that it has to be very comfortable and convenient. No, no, let me disabuse you of this! Because you have to deal with yourself, with your personality, with your perceptions, your misunderstandings, your misinterpretations and of course your ego. Judas could not; he could only accept Jesus up to a point, so his journey ended abruptly. The transformation of your entire self is a long journey, until the Divine alone abides in you and nothing else. Divine is not a commodity; meditation is not a commodity, for and of the ego. It requires the transforming of one’s self.

So there is no harm in being proud of your sadhana, but I am quite sure you are mature enough to understand what it means.

Yes, it is a privilege. Say you come from a good family, would you not say, ‘I come from a good family?’ You are stating the truth. So if you say you are a sadhak, and therefore privileged, and there are people who are not seekers and therefore not privileged – although they may not understand this and see it that way – it’s fine!

Just be mature about your seeking, be committed about your seeking. If you are committed there will never be a problem. The thing is, there should not be stops and starts, there has to be continuity, like with anything else. If you want to become a good musician, leave alone a great musician, or even a genius, you have to have that kind of commitment. There has to be continuity, music is a very good example, or any art for that matter. Meditation is the greatest music, the greatest art and the most difficult. Sadhana is the most difficult and that is why even if you were to be arrogant to begin with – ‘I am a sadhak’ – very soon you will get mature about it, if you have genuinely taken to it. You are brought down to earth right away and sometimes you feel even below ground! It is the only thing that will make you profound, when you get grounded, because you have to map the entire consciousness, consciousness in its heights, and consciousness in its lows. When you start to discover this about yourself if you are a true seeker, if you are a true observer of yourself, introspecter, committed, sincere and honest, there is no chance that you will live in some kind of make-believe ego.

To be a sadhak itself, completely, it will take a long journey, which you discover over time. Just saying you are a sadhak will not make you a sadhak. You take to seeking, you take to sadhana, as you go along the sadhana will keep improving and you will become more and more a sadhak, and if somewhere there is an instance where you find somebody is from the very beginning, somehow, a more complete sadhak, that is because he or she has done the work in the past. Because what you do today will not be lost for the future. If you are consistent and keep going ahead, it will make your future. So it can also have a very positive inspiration for oneself: when you are finding a tough moment, when you are finding yourself in a weak moment, you can say, ‘I am a sadhak, I have to do this’ or, ‘This is not expected of me as a sadhak.’ So it works to motivate you, give you the drive to do the right thing and a boost to yourself to carry on.

I would say that the first and foremost obstacle is your own self. There is in you the self that can help you in the journey but also act as an obstacle in the journey. What happens ordinarily is that you believe everything about yourself to be true and right because you have not understood that what you call yourself now is not really yourself in its absolute sense. You do not even give it a thought, ever since birth you have accepted it, you have just accepted it, the misreading of yourself. As is the case for almost everyone, most people in life when placed in some tough situation or a situation which brings forth from them something unexpected, they say, ‘Oh I never expected this of myself’ or, ‘I did not expect this of you.’ So obviously you do not know yourself and neither do you know the other, no matter how much you have lived with or known each other. So, there is always the unknown and the unexpected, even there.

Aurobindo says there are three fundamental obstacles that can stand in the way, (reading) ‘The first is absence of faith or insufficient faith.’¹ That is why I was talking of faith yesterday – do you lack faith? Faith is also a development; ultimately, you have to apply. Second is, ‘Egoism: the mind clinging to its own ideas, interpretations, the vitals preferring its own desires to a true surrender and commitment, the physical adhering to its own habits.’ Not open to guidance, self-belief to an extent you disbelieve the Guide, not ready and open to change of habit and behaviour patterns because you believe ‘this is me’ and so the resistance that comes from all this. Third, ‘Some inertia and fundamental resistance in the consciousness, not willing to change for it is too much of an effort, or because it does not want to believe in its capacity or the power of the Divine, or for some other more subconscient reasons.’ This is the basic difficulty for all because it is in the consciousness. But one step at a time the journey is easy. You can do a lot in the way you approach it and in your attitude to make it easy, but also like I said you can do a lot to make it difficult.

(Reading on) ‘All who enter the spiritual path or this path have to face the difficulties and the ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from the outside. The difficulties in the nature always rise again and again till you overcome them. They must be faced both with faith and patience, but the vital part is prone to depression when ordeals and difficulties rise.’

Then reaction and the resistances come and that moment of weakness, ‘I cannot manage!’ No, you can manage anything and everything, if you apply yourself. And this is the self-belief required. I am talking about faith and in faith you will have to speak to yourself, convince and motivate yourself. The greatest of victories have been won only in this way even in the outside world. When everything seems to be failing, one must rise like the Phoenix rising from its own ashes, because the Immortal lives in you, it can never be defeated, so if you can find that strength in you and you can, you will make it. That is why you have to be patient with yourself and patient with the other also. So this is a natural consequence, the resistance from your nature, you have to learn to stand behind, develop this ground of faith, the strength of belief and will that you will go the whole way. If you give up it is lost, if you do not give up you will get there, how long it takes does not matter. Everyone has their own unique journey, it is like if someone is taking the journey from Rishikesh to Gangotri. Everyone takes their individual journey, somebody may arrive a little faster, somebody may take a little more time. And along the way each one will have unique experiences, difficulties, diversions and so forth, as simple as that. If you have the Guide, then of course he will organise so that you reach, and anyway the inner journey is impossible without the Guide, except for a few rare exceptions.

(Continues reading) ‘All who cleave to the path steadfastly can be sure of their destiny. If anyone fails to reach it, it can be only for one of the two reasons, either because they leave the path or because of the lure of their ambition, ego, arrogance, vanity, desire, they go astray from the sincere commitment and dependence on the Divine.’

Judas is the example, he had the association of Jesus, and yet, you can see, he could not make it because he had the vanity, ‘I know more.’ Not only that, he ended up hanging himself – that is why I say, hang that mind that says it knows more. And anyway if you know more, then why take to the Guide? That is why Jesus says, “Go and do what you need to do,” since you think you know more because of lack of faith and devotion; even in your conspiracy I will rise above as it were, while you end up hanging yourself and losing your soul.

Krishna tells Arjuna the same thing, “I reveal to you the greatest secret, this Yoga, for you are devoted to me, and my faithful friend.” Not the Yoga that the people understand today – reduced to acrobatics and mere therapy – that is not the Yoga Krishna is talking about, that is to keep your body and mind healthy. You can approach Yoga in many ways, but it is not the full definition of Yoga. Today it has become famous all over the world and so, ‘I am doing Yoga!’ is the refrain for mere bodily exercise, kriyās and breathing techniques. Nothing is changed inside, but they become big teachers, make a lot of money, become famous, but that is vanity, it is not Yoga. The definition of Yoga is something different and when Krishna says that he will teach Yoga, it is not some bodily exercises. To understand this word you need depth of understanding. Two people looking at the same thing can understand and see differently, one person may see more than the other dependent on the depth of one’s understanding and sight. And there are those who also see through things.

So Krishna tells Arjuna, “You are my devotee, you are my faithful friend, never in conflicting will with me; you are dedicated and devoted to me, so therefore you are the ideally qualified to whom I can reveal this Yoga, for you will value it as it should be valued.” That is what Jesus tells Simon Peter too – because Simon in his faith recognises that, Jesus is the Messiah – “It is on you therefore that I shall build my church because the light is upon you revealing this to you, so you are most qualified to carry my work forward in the world.” It is another matter that there was another moment when Simon denies Him, because of the horror of persecution, but later on he repents, seeks his own crucifixion because his Master had to go through it. So, you see, his commitment is there, his devotion is there, the commitment to the Divine. He could not manage it earlier, but goes through it later, crucified upside down, in repentance for having denied Jesus, the Divine, for just one moment in his life. Arjuna is the same when he affirms, “It does not matter if I lose my life, battle and kingdom, I want only your association,” for Krishna is most special to him, and not because of being a relative. That is why when once Jesus was having satsang with the people and his brothers and mother came to see him, and one of his disciples told him, “Your mother and your brothers have come to see you,” he responded, “Who is my mother, who is my brother?” and pointing to the gathering said that they were his mothers, sisters and brothers. He means those who are related to him with and through the Father of heaven, not the father of flesh. He sees his relationships in relation to the heavenly Father not the earth father, not through this body of flesh, because he differentiates, “That which is born of the Spirit and that which is born of the flesh.” The sangha is born of the Spirit, and so, “Take refuge in the sangha” says Buddha, “Take refuge in the Buddha, the Spirit Supreme.”

This is your second birth, your birth in the Spirit, this is the ultimate journey and therefore you are privileged. The other journey is of the flesh and will end in death. This relationship and association will never end because it is immortal; the other is mortal and it will all end in mortality. It is only when the relationship is lived through the spirit that it will not end; all relations can be lived through the spirit. But you will have to be realised and transformed in the light of the spirit, not reduced to flesh and blood, so to speak.

If and when you are able to start to see in this way, think in this way, not thinking ordinarily, you are starting to think spiritually, extraordinarily. So this sangha is different from any other sangha because the dhamma is different, the philosophy is different. Dhamma is the foundation, support to your existence, life. Dhamma, dharma – your dhamma, dharma is sadhana and you must value it above all else. So also the sangha, therefore Jesus says, “Who is my brother, who is my mother?” He is saying something, indicating something profound and true. So that you see the connection that the Truth is one, I join you to Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Aurobindo, for they are saying the same thing. Truth is truth not because it is Christian or Hindu or Buddhist, it is truth because it is Truth. When you start to think like this, your life is truly blessed, your life has become universal, you are cosmic, you are touching and reaching the Divine. Then you are a lover of Truth, you are a devotee of Truth and Truth will be devoted to you.

Then you have to be very careful, if you say something it will happen! Yes, your body becomes ‘dhamma kāyā’ as Buddha says, body of truth. Your mind becomes the mind of truth. Your soul is all truth. Whatever you do or say will happen. This is the power that you acquire; it is the power of truth. So long as there is some untruth left, it will not happen. So when people like Jesus, Buddha, Rama, and Krishna say something, it will happen. When Jesus says to Simon Peter, “You will deny me three times before the cock crows twice,” it happens. For Truth to manifest completely, no falsehood must remain. Falsehood in its very existence must be eliminated, in the way the things are seen and lived because of which you do not see clearly and completely, you do not see the Truth, the entire Truth, and live at best a partial truth because the falsehood covers it. That is why this journey is a wonderful journey; it is the recovering of the Truth, through the maze of falsehood. The Divine has entered into and is concealed in the falsehood; the Divine has entered into ignorance. The Divine has enveloped itself in darkness and lives within it to emerge through the process of manifestation and a self-recovering of divine life, for the increasing manifestation of the truth which you conceal within your own breast, your own self; it is there, you have to bring it forth. But for that you have to work, and that is sadhana. If it was not there it would never be able to be brought forth, but it is there, it is there in all things, and in all beings. For those who want to recover it, those who want it much, it will be possible, and that is the Law. To those who do not want, it will not, but it is there. So you have to have the right attitude, joyfully you can approach it, very simply and easily with the right attitude, and that is why children have to be brought up with the correct attitude, it saves them a lot of trouble, because they will not have to struggle later. It is another matter that you have to struggle because society is not in that way, the environment is not in that way. So even if you create the environment inside the house, how much can you do? The children will have to go outside. It is not there in the collective consciousness, more so in these times. You cannot protect them, put them in a prison and prevent them from going out. You can do your best in educating them about it, but then they have to take to their journey, because each one has their own destiny, parents can only do so much. But ‘do’ they must, as much as they can.

There is a point in your sadhana that you come to, where it becomes joyful, like I say, it is a point where you cross over, it is like a region that you cross, when it becomes not seeking but finding. Seeking means there is still the ‘not knowing’, but when you cross over, there is not the ‘not knowing’, there is all the time the finding, every time something reveals itself to you and with it comes the joy of the journey. There is a point in sadhana when this happens, until such time there is the struggle, the doubt, the anxiety, the frustration, and that everybody has to go through in the initial phase of their sadhana. Everyone who has gone through this will tell you so, it is only those who have not gone through sadhana that will say otherwise, or they may trick you with sops to attract you to this journey but then you will discover the truth about these things one day if you are sincere in your journey. Hallelujah! Because ultimately the Divine, God, is too clever for all.

So when you have doubts along the journey, and in life too, sit quietly and meditate on the Heart, it will take care of itself. You will be able to manage, this is a very simple thing to do, you must remember and remind yourself, just do it, make a habit of it. If you are having a difficult moment and not managing, just sit quietly, you can use the breathing, centre yourself and go into your Heart. It needs to be in an attitude of prayer, an attitude of seeking, all answers are there for you. Of course when I say, all answers are there, many things will come up before you arrive at the Truth, you have to observe all that comes up objectively and honestly, for you may believe anything and everything that comes up to be true which may not be the case, but if you are sincere and you want to seek something really true and not give in to your usual patterns and egoistic beliefs, then you will know what is right and not what you would prefer. You will be able to discriminate, and this practice is the basis of sadhana.

Our sadhana includes the body also, the physical consciousness; it too is touched and transformed because of sadhana and so it will express it in one way or the other even at that level, especially if it is deeply profound. Ultimately, even if you do not notice anything, everything that you experience or live from affects and modifies the body accordingly, so therefore, when you take to seeking and sadhana, or you work with yourself, it is also bringing about a change in your body, because your entire consciousness including the physical has to be transformed, so therefore nothing has to be left outside of sadhana, even so the body.

Arya Vihar

8 Jul 2011