Tuning the sitar string just right

Hari Aum.

I will write about the importance of balance in spiritual life today. I will share my views on how to continue long-term spiritual practices based on my own experience of what works and the obstacles.

We all know that sadhana is only successful if one is willing to work for a long time. The light of our sadhana needs to be steady and regular like the sun which rises every day. It should not be like a comet, which flashes dramatically in the sky for a short time and then disappears.

But how to sustain sadhana for years and years like the great yogis so that we can experience the benefits?

The secret lies in balance. Sadhana must be intense but yet it should be enjoyable. Now this may sound like a paradox. When we say intense sadhana, we usually mean that this should involve some suffering. Like standing on one leg for years, or fasting for months or some other self-torture. Yes some suffering and penance is inevitable in spiritual life. But one's sadhana must never feel like a type of self-torture or one will not be able to do it for long.

One needs to feel one's sadhana is enjoyable, one must slowly develop a love for it- so much so, that one desperately wants to ensure it happens every day. This way, no matter what the life circumstances are, one will ensure that one can do sadhana regularly.

So how to do sadhana daily without it feeling like a punishment, a torture? The key is balance, a sattvic approach.

One must take great care in building up a daily practice. The rajas and tamas elements in the mind will always try to mislead one.

Let me give an example relating to the obstructive forces of rajas and tamas when it comes to building a daily practice.

About 14 years ago, I was in my first year at medical school and the first term was over. An end-of-term examination was coming up and six weeks were given beforehand to prepare for this. There was a lot of material to learn and I was determined to do well in the exam. I therefore made a very tough timetable and studied hard for long hours every day without allowing any proper breaks.

As a result, after about four weeks of working like this my mind felt burnt out. I felt I just could not face looking at a medical textbook. Due to this burn-out, the final two weeks of the holidays were wasted as my mind felt unable to study. Fortunately the exam still went okay, but I learnt a serious lesson from this experience.
The mind must be handled carefully to get work out of it. One must work hard with proper breaks to give the mind time to recover so it will work efficiently. Needless to say, for the rest of my medical school examinations, I ensured a careful balance between work and rest and performed well.

I have applied this same rule to my spiritual life. The same rajasic part of my mind, which made me overwork and burn out on that occasion in medical school, tries to make me burn out in spiritual life. This side of the mind says "Do more, do more"- basically do an unsustainable amount of daily sadhana.

We all have this rajasic component in our minds. This side of our mind promises everything and does nothing. It tells us the sadhana we are doing is a mere nothing, one must do huge amounts that are unsustainable to succeed. The moment one tries to do this, the rajasic mind turns tamasic.
Like a chameleon, it rapidly changes colour and says "Oh I am too tired, this sadhana is too tough, I cannot do it, it is torture, I want to give up and stop".

This way the mind tricks one in to committing to a huge amount of sadhana which it promises it will do, and later it rebels and stops everything.

Stopping sadhana is a very unfortunate situation which must be avoided for success in spiritual life. So how to handle the danger of this rajasic-tamasic mind?

The answer is the sattvic approach. The middle way. The path of balance. One has to tell the mind- "Look here, I want to do sadhana every day for years, understand? So I will work every day, and I will rest and recover everyday. I will neither overwork, nor underwork. I will take the balanced approach, the middle way. This way I can continue sadhana for a long time".

Yogis give the example of tuning the sitar. If the sitar string is made too tight, it will break and you cannot play music (this represents rajas- overdoing it and breaking in the process).  If the sitar string is too loose and slack, again you cannot play (this represents tamas- not doing enough).

If the sitar string is tuned just right, you can play beautiful music (this represents sattva, the balanced approach). Similarly the mind must be tuned just right to get proper sadhana out of it. It must be handled carefully like musical instrument.

One must take on only that much sadhana which feels comfortable and enjoyable to do. If one enjoys the sadhana, one will do it daily. If it feels like a terrible pain, a tremendous strain, our mind will give it up at the earliest opportunity. And then we will be nowhere.

As my third puraschanara comes to a close (will be completed in about three weeks), the rajasic component of my mind has been inciting me to increase the number of malas dramatically.

Over the past six years, I carefully built up a routine of doing on average 11 malas a day. (Before I started my purascharana practice, in 2011, I was doing just 1 mala twice a day- so 11 malas a day was a big step for me.) It took me some years to become comfortable doing 11 malas every day without a break.
In the past few months, after very careful consideration, I increased this to 15 malas a day. This was because 11 malas felt relatively easy-  and although 15 malas daily requires some effort, it is still not a huge strain- I should be able to manage this every day if I am disciplined.
I intend to do the fourth purascharana at 15 malas a day so this will take 1.5 years instead of 2 years to complete (and therefore gives me more time overall for future sadhana).

However my old friend, the rajasic mind, regularly tries to sabotage my sadhana efforts. It says "Come on, what is all this nonsense of just 15 malas a day? What kind of tapas is this? Why don't you do 21 malas daily, then you would finish a purascharana in a year! Why not do 24 malas a day, then you would complete it in just 10 months. That would be great!"

I know that my current situation will not permit  me to do 21-24 malas daily- this is due to my work as a doctor and other home-related responsibilities. I am a japa yogi but I combine japa with karma yoga (my work/home responsibilies). Furthermore, my Guru Sivanada, advised a balanced approach- japa, karma, jnana, hatha yoga (not just japa yoga).

Therefore the balanced aspect of my mind says- "Wait, wait. Go slow and steady. Don't jump too fast and break your legs. Don't burn out. You find 15 malas a day comfortable although this is still an effort- stick with this for now. Do not increase or decrease the number of malas for the present". I trust this balanced side of my mind, I feel this is the sattvic side that provides the recipe for continued regular steady sadhana. This balanced approach has always helped me in the past, both in spiritual and material life.

I therefore ignore the rajasic side of my mind which promises me it will do huge amounts of sadhana daily, and later rebels and turns tamasic, refusing to do anything at all. I have seen this rajas-tamas play of my mind plenty of times before and refuse to fall for its tricks this time. However it is not at all easy to always recognise the tricks of one's mind and this is where prayer to God to ask for His/Her grace becomes very necessary.

I pray to God to keep me on the spiritual path, no matter what happens in daily life and no matter what tricks my mind tries to play. I feel it is only because of the grace of God that I have been able to stay on this spiritual path so far.

Now it is coming up to Navaratri time and I have taken a week off from work to recharge spiritually. I plan to enjoy this week by doing kirtan, reading some spiritual books, visiting  a temple or two and just be happy. I want to express my thanks to the Divine Mother for helping me get this far in my sadhana and to request Her help to continue until I attain God.

Aside from reciting the navarna mantra during this time, I will chant the saptasloki Durga and other hymns to the Goddess - basically I will just do what comes spontaneously from the heart (I am disciplined with my daily mantra japa so I allow my mind to be spontaneous when it comes to other sadhanas including this).

Happy navaratri to all. I wish you all the best of luck in tuning the sitars of your minds, to enable regular daily sadhana and attainment of spiritual wisdom and bliss.

Hari Aum Tat Sat



P.S. I am writing a little conversation here between the sattva, rajas and tamas components of the mind. This is intended as a caricature to highlight the absurd conflicting thoughts that can arise in our mind when it comes to starting and doing sadhana.  You may or may not experience something similar at times.

Let's say a hypothetical sadhaka thinks "Hmmmm, let me start doing 5 malas of japa daily. This is a good start as unfortunately I have not been doing any sadhana at all for a while and I want to attain God in this lifetime".

Immediately the rajasic mind wakes up and says "What! A mere 5 malas a day! Don't make me laugh! You will get nowhere with just 5 malas a day. You must do at least 50-60 malas a day- that's more in line what all the past great yogis did. Don't doubt yourself, you are fully capable of this, O hero!"

Then the sadhaka thinks "Well, maybe I would be doing too little going from 0 malas to just 5. Maybe I should do 50 malas daily. As they say, no pain, no gain."

The sadhaka then does 50 malas a day but this takes around 4-6 hours daily, and there is not much time for anything else. If s/he is living in a cave with no other people, this is fine. But if s/he is living in an Ashram or a house with other people, there will be some work expected from the sadhaka. The sadhaka struggles with finding time for Ashram/home/office responsibilities as well as japa. S/he gets exhausted after 2-3 weeks of doing 50 malas a day. Sleep has been reduced because the malas are done late into the night (cannot finish all malas in the daytime due to work in the Ashram/home/office). The sadhaka feels tired and exhausted and unable to concentrate properly on the mantra- the sadhana is not enjoyable and feels like torture.

At this point, when the sadhaka is feeling tired and sad, the tamasic mind attacks him/her. "What are you doing? There is no time right now for this kind of sadhana. It is better you stop this  nonsense now. Your seva/service in the home/office/Ashram is quite enough to worship God. No need to take the name of the Lord for hours like this. Utterly ridiculous! Where do you get such foolish ideas?"

The exhausted sadhaka then gives up the sadhana with relief and some sadness. The rajasic mind now berates him/her severely for stopping the sadhana- "What a complete failure you are! Such a little sadhana you could not do. Look what great sadhana the great yogis can do, and look at you. Where is the comparison! No point worrying about yoga and attaining God. Just live your life as a normal person- you are not fit for any tapas".
Note how the same mind which said the sadhaka was a great hero who could do great tapas, now criticises him/her severely and makes him/her feel like a complete zero. The poor sadhaka shrinks away feeling like a failure and and sadly contemplates giving up the search for God altogether.

At this point the sattvic mind intervenes and says "Friend, don't lose heart. You did not listen to me earlier because the rajasic mind sounded more impressive, but listen to me now. Just start doing a little bit of sadhana daily, something you can manage comfortably. Little by little, as you gradually grow stronger with time, you can increase the sadhana steadily. You are not a failure, neither are you a hero. You need to set some simple achievable goals for sadhana and do it while taking care of your life as a whole. Just start with the 5 malas a day you were thinking about- you will be able to do this easily and this will be a definite improvement on your current 0 malas a day! The name of the Lord is all-powerful and auspicious. Every little bit of japa counts towards your spiritual progress. Come on, let's get started!"

The sadhaka feels renewed hope, and this time resolutely ignoring both rajasic and tamasic components of the mind, says "Yes, I can do a little every day!". In time the sadhaka begins to enjoy the sadhana and continues this steadily for a long while, thus reaping the rich reward of spiritual progress.

Let us therefore listen to the balanced sattvic side of our minds, and try to ignore as much as possible the unrealistic rajasic side and the lazy tamasic side. May God and Guru bless us all in our efforts.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

The acid test of spiritual progress

Hari Aum.

Many of us who are on the spiritual path wonder whether we are progressing. Many people define spiritual progress in different ways. Here I will share the views of my Guru Sivananda on this issue.

The ultimate test of spiritual progress is not whether one can fly, has siddhis, can materialise things, have spiritual dreams, have interesting experiences in meditation such as seeing lights/colours and so on. All these things may or may not indicate spiritual progress. People who are not at all spiritual, who have no humility or devotion, can also develop such powers- these are not indicative of true spirituality.

However one thing definitely indicates spiritual progress- that is being able to forgive those who harm one. Let us examine this further.

It is said in yoga philosophy, that those people who:

1. Do good to those who do good to them, and do evil to those who do evil to them are average human beings. We have all experienced this. We like people who are nice to us, and dislike those who are  nasty to us. This is what we call 'normal' behaviour in society and the majority of human beings on our planet are like this. Such people have a mixture of sattva, rajas and tamas.

2. Do evil to those who do good to them are asuric/demonic in nature. Those who harm people who have done good to them are filled with rajas and tamas. Such people are also ultimately divine (we are all part of God) but have a long way to go to manifest the divine within them.

3. Do good to those who do evil to them are divine/saintly in nature. This takes a long time to develop. This shows spiritual maturity. This is the hallmark of every saint since time immemorial. This is the nature of those who have attained God, or those who are on their way to doing so.

The hallmark of true saints

The hallmark of a saint is not whether they can exhibit some magic tricks, read one's mind, walk on water, fly in the air or any of these things. A saint may be able to do all this, but this is not saintliness.

The hallmark of a saint is tremendous compassion which manifests as an extraordinary ability to forgive those who harm them.

Some famous examples are well-known. Jesus is regarded as a great yogi, a great master by those who walk the path of yoga. He may have walked on water, but this was not what made him a saint. His amazing saintliness shone through when he was treated most brutally by ignorant people who could not understand his greatness. Despite being treated in a most terrible way, he remained deeply compassionate and forgiving, even saying "Father forgive them, they know not what they do". This conduct revealed his divine nature to the whole world.

Similarly Buddha demonstrated great compassion. In his previous lifetime, before he became the Buddha, he is said to have seen a hungry starving mother tigress who was about to eat her own cubs as there was nothing else to eat. Buddha seeing this, offered his life to her so that the cubs would live. It was this wondrous compassion that was the hallmark of the individual who later became the great Buddha, the embodiment of love and wisdom.

In this context I will also mention a more recent example of compassion and forgiveness which involved my Guru Sivananda.
One evening during a satsang at my Guru's Ashram in Rishikesh, a man appeared out of the blue with an axe and tried to attack and kill Sivananda. He came close to Sivananda and would have succeeded but for the quick actions of some disciples who caught hold of him in time. The police were called and the man was arrested and spent a night in the local prison. The next morning, Sivananda visited the prisoner who tried to kill him in jail and worshipped him as a manifestation of God- he presented the man with garlands and sweets. He then requested the police to set the man free without any punishment- the police were not at all happy with the idea and said the man might return to try to kill Sivananda again. However Gurudev was adamant that he wanted no punishment for the man and he was released. This experience transformed the mindset of this man and he is said to have become a disciple of Sivananda and taken up spiritual life. This is the transforming power of compassion and forgiveness.

I will also briefly mention as interesting story of compassion from the Bhagavata Purana. A noble king called Ambarisha was a great devotee of God who he worshipped in the form of Vishnu. He had kept the sacred Ekadasi fast which is observed by devotees of Vishnu. He was about to complete the ritual by breaking the fast the next day when the sage Durvasa arrived. Now Durvasa was famous for his anger and tendency to put terrible curses on people who annoyed him.

Ambarisha greeted him and invited him to join him for a meal - kings would always show respect to great sages. Durvasa agreed but said he needed to bathe first and went off. Now Ambarisha had a problem. He needed to break the fast right away to complete the ritual of worshipping Vishnu. But if he ate before his guest, this would be disrespectful. So as a compromise, he decided to take a sip of water only and did not eat anything while waiting for Durvasa to return.
When Durvasa returned, he realised through his yogic vision that the king had taken a sip of water and broken his fast. He felt angry and insulted thinking that the king had broken his fast before he, the guest, had eaten. In great anger, he pulled out one of his hairs which he made into a demon- he ordered the demon to kill the king.
However before the demon could do anything, the mighty weapon of Vishnu, the great discus known as Sudarshan Chakra appeared and destroyed it. Then the mighty weapon turned on Durvasa to destroy him. Durvasa ran all over the three worlds, and then to Brahma and Shiva who both said they could not help him. He then went to Vishnu Himself and begged for forgiveness. Vishnu advised him to go and ask for forgiveness from the king Ambarisha. The king, on hearing about the unfortunate situation of the sage, immediately prayed to Vishnu to forgive him. Vishnu then withdrew the Sudarshan Chakra and the life of Durvasa was spared.

This story shows that a true devotee of God is one who has compassion and forgiveness in great measure like the king Ambarisha. And that people who have mind-reading powers and wander about as sages, such as Durvasa, may have siddhis, but they have no true devotion to God.

Krishna famously gives the definition of a true devotee in the twelfth chapter, called Yoga of devotion, of the Bhagavad Gita:

"He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving, ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-controlled, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he My devotee, is dear to Me"

This forgiveness of saints is born of great compassion, of great wisdom and understanding of the mindset of those who do harm. People who do harm to others are usually suffering themselves. They have ignorant ideas about right and wrong, they harm others and themselves too. They suffer terrible negative karmic reactions for their negative actions. The Divine Law of Karma gives them appropriate punishments for their cruel negative deeds.
A saint sees all this, and probably more. A saint can see when we are in the grip of rajas and tamas, negative thinking. They know the suffering we are going through, and the suffering that is to come to us as a result of our negative thoughts and actions.
Furthermore, a saint is ever rooted in God. S/he knows that their true essence is immortal soul, Atman, ever united with God.

As the Bhagavad Gita says, the soul, Atman, cannot be harmed in anyway by any force on Earth or elsewhere. Water cannot wet it, fire cannot burn it, the wind cannot dry it, a sword cannot kill it. It is ever immortal, ever blissful, full of wisdom and beyond the comprehension of the mind and intellect. So ultimately, saints who have experienced their true nature as Atman know that no harm can be done to them. However they are filled with pity for ignorant people who identify with the body-mind complex and try to harm them.

A true saint has three main qualities:

1. Wisdom- a saint has discovered his/her nature as one with God, is ever united with God. S/he rejoices in the bliss and peace of God experience, far beyond worldly conflicts and suffering.

2. Compassion- having attained the supreme heights of God-experience and eternal peace, saints feel compassionate for those who have not yet done so. They see the suffering of such people and try to help those who also seek to walk the spiritual path. They try to motivate people to walk the spiritual path. And they feel great compassion for those who turn away from the spiritual path and engage in negative self-destructive activity which leads to suffering.

3. Forgiveness- a saint understands the nature of human minds- its changeable nature, its impurities-  full of lust, anger, greed, jealousy, pride and delusion. So when deluded humans attack them, they who have reached a state beyond all attack, are filled with compassion for such unfortunate self-destructive beings. Because ultimately, it is not the saint but the one who tries to harm them who suffers.

The acid test of spiritual progress

So when we ask ourselves "Am I progressing in spiritual life?" we should consider- am I growing in compassion, forgiveness and understanding towards other living  beings? Not have I got siddhis/mind-reading and other meaningless powers.

One may have stood on one leg doing tapas for forty years, one may have given up food and drink and be living on air only, one may be doing japa all day long, one may be able to do the most impossible asanas and the most difficult pranayamas, one may have memorised all the scriptures and be able to quote them with ease, one may have acquired some siddhis like clairvoyance or mind-reading- all this matters nothing if one gets angry with others and has thoughts of harming them, if one is cruel to animals, birds and insects, if one has pride, jealousy and hatred for others.

All such magic tricks are worth nothing. The only thing that matters in spiritual life is character development. A spotlessly clean and pure mind, a heart that beats with compassion for all other living beings, an incredible ability to forgive and genuinely wish well those who harm one- this is the acid test of spiritual progress.

We may not be there yet, but if there is some improvement in our ability to forgive those who harm us, then we are progressing. If we feel genuine grief for those who suffer, and do not just stop here- if we actually start taking some action and do something practical for others on this planet who are suffering, we can say we are progressing in spiritual life.

If we lose interest in winning battles with others to prove who is right and who is wrong, we can say we are progressing in spiritual life. We must express our views of course if we feel they are correct but no need to force them down anyone's throat. Let people think, say and do whatever they feel they must- there are seven billion people on this planet and each has his/her own way. We are all free to act as we please, but we must then face the consequences of our actions as per the law of karma.

This character development may sound boring and dull, it may sound much less glamorous than having siddhis, clairvoyance, mind-reading and so on, but it is the only way to God. Only a spotlessly clean and pure mind and heart can attain God.

The purpose of all yogic practices is to purify the mind and heart and develop true devotion to God. Mantra japa and service of living beings is the formula advised by my Guru Sivananda for rapid spiritual progress.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Qualities of a good disciple: the pledge of purushartha (self-effort)

Hari Aum.

There are many Gurus out there. One chooses a Guru based on one's own character. One gets what one deserves.

Some disciples do not wish to do any sadhana. They want a 'quick fix', a fast route to samadhi with minimal effort. They are attracted by false Gurus who promise everything quickly and easily with  no effort. Such disciples end up nowhere ultimately -their lives are wasted being cheated by 'Gurus' who promise samadhi by giving a drop of water from their kamandalu (water pot of a sadhu) or similar cheap tricks. This is very unfortunate. 

Nothing worthwhile in this world comes free. One should always remember this.

In both material or spiritual life, good things comes to those who are prepared to work for them. A good student who works hard excels in examinations. A lazy student who hopes to pass by sheer luck fails miserably. People blame their bad luck for their failures. The truth is that they simply did not put in the effort.

The law of the universe states that you reap what you sow. If you sow hard work, you will get results. It may take time, but you will get your just deserts in time. If you sow laziness, you will get nothing in return.

If you give nothing, you will get nothing.

If you give everything, your whole heart and soul, you get everything. This applies to spiritual and material life.

As Thomas Edison, the well-known American inventor and businessman said, "Genius is 1 % inspiration (chance/luck), and 99% perspiration (hard work)".

Every genuine Guru attained wisdom by purushartha (self-effort) themselves. They worked very hard to purify their minds, to do tapas, to concentrate, to meditate and attain God. Look at Tulasidas, Mirabai, Jesus, Buddha, Ramakrishna, Sivananda and others. All worked hard to remember God constantly, to develop genuine love of God- and in the end, all attained God.

Such genuine Gurus, who themselves worked very hard, tell their disciples to also work hard. They tell the disciples that there is no short-cut. One must be prepared to put in the effort. Help comes to those who try.

Hari Aum Tat Sat