Mystic Mantra: Expectations in the spiritual process

Question: I have been doing yoga for one and a half years now. The more I wait, the more frustrating it becomes. How do I know where I am on the spiritual path? Up to what level have I reached?

Sadhguru: All levels are relative. You want to be one step above someone else? As long as this is in your head, there is no spirituality. When the frustration builds up sufficiently, when you think, “To hell with this yoga, I am not getting anywhere,” just keep doing it. The yogic process is structured in such a way that you cannot do it without being alert. The day you remain alert without being interested in getting anywhere, something will explode within you. As long as you keep thinking, “What level am I at?” You are still in the rat race — you do not go anywhere.  

You have to make it in such a way that every aspect of your life becomes yoga. Sitting, eating, sleeping and everything is yoga. Yoga means that which allows you to reach your higher nature. Either you use your body, mind, emotion and energies to entangle yourself, or you use these four faculties to liberate yourself and to move into higher dimensions of blissfulness.

The body, mind, emotion and energies are all functioning at different levels for different people. The proportions of this concoction are unique for each person, but it is the same four ingredients. Unless you do yoga that handles all four in an appropriate proportion for you, you will not move ahead.

There are many reasons why it takes a different amount of time for different people. Do not worry about that. Just do the practice. If you do not know how to just do it, do it as an offering. “This is not for me. I will just do this everyday, dedicating it to my Guru.” That is a simple way to remove this rat race mentality.

Life will not yield to you because you desire it. Life will yield to you because you make yourself capable — because you do the right things. On a certain day, a man fell into a septic tank, up to his neck in filth. He desperately tried to climb out but could not. After some time, he started screaming, “Fire, fire!” Neighbours heard this call and called the fire brigade who promptly came rushing. They looked all over the place — no fire. Then they found this man in the septic tank, pulled him out and asked him, “Why were you screaming ‘fire’? Where is the fire?” The man retorted, “If I had said, ‘shit, shit’ would you have come?” You have to do the right things, otherwise the right things will not happen to you.