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  Opinion   Oped  13 Oct 2017  Mystic Mantra: Drop out of the race

Mystic Mantra: Drop out of the race

The writer is an internationally renowned spiritual leader, a visionary, humanitarian, author, poet and speaker. He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org.
Published : Oct 13, 2017, 4:32 am IST
Updated : Oct 13, 2017, 4:32 am IST

Sadhana is just to mature your energies in such a way that if you sit down, you don’t need to do anything.

The problem is, you keep evaluating yourself by your own standards as to whether you are progressing or not. (Photo: Pixabay)
 The problem is, you keep evaluating yourself by your own standards as to whether you are progressing or not. (Photo: Pixabay)

It does not matter what you want to be in the world, in some way you are always trying to be like someone or be better than someone. If you want to play music, you think of a certain kind of music only because you have heard it before. If you like someone’s music, you either want to play like them or one step above them. Whatever you do with what is around you, you are always trying to either be like someone else or better than someone else.

The spiritual process is essentially to become in such a way that: “I am complete by myself. I don’t need to become anything or to make myself into something. If I simply sit here, I am so absolute, all existence is within me.” The ultimate goal and the process itself is such that it is not necessary to be like anyone else. Each individual can be his or her own way and still progress.

The problem is, you keep evaluating yourself by your own standards as to whether you are progressing or not. This evaluation should not be done by you. When you were in school, you were not the one who evaluated. Though it would have been quite simple to do it, it was someone else who did it for you. When that is so, why do you struggle by evaluating yourself when you are on the spiritual path? There is no need to evaluate yourself. You simply do what is needed. The evaluation will happen in a completely different dimension. You cannot do spirituality, you have to allow it. If you allow it, it will happen. To allow it, you need a certain level of maturity within you. Otherwise, you will want to meddle with it all the time.

Sadhana is just to mature your energies in such a way that if you sit down, you don’t need to do anything. You are willing to allow whatever happens to happen. If you want small, petty things to happen to you, you can do it, but if you really want something enormous to happen to you, this “you” is not needed. If you know how to keep yourself aside, it will happen. “How do I do that?” You cannot do that. You just have to allow it. Yoga means to bring your energies to that level of stability where you can just be. You are not trying to do anything or to get somewhere. You simply allow what has to happen to happen. This is not a race that you have gotten yourself into. This is a way of settling back into yourself.

Tags: spiritual, yoga, sadhana