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PILGRIM'S
PROGRESS
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By Anil Bhatnagar  Numerous
personal growth techniques
are available today. But for most of us, they seem to be placed on a pan
without a flame. How to ignite our passion for self-growth, so that we
can use the techniques of our choice to get some concrete results? How
do we get ourselves to practice consistently and regularly? These are
pivotal questions that most of us have not even begun asking
It is 7 a.m. Sudhir slips out of bed. His wife hands him the newspaper along with his morning tea. A little later, he manages to catch the chartered bus to office and congratulates himself for making it in time once again. He begins with a yawn (something that he will punctuate his day many times with) another day of files, papers, meetings, e-mails, telephone calls and gossip. At the end of the day, though he has not done anything substantial, he is quite tired. Evenings are usually spent watching TV after a short post-dinner stroll with his wife and inquiring about their daughter. Sundays begin late and are spent socializing, long afternoon naps, reading magazines, watching TV or visiting his parents. Sudhir's life is not very different from that of his colleagues who are not as aware of the possibilities for self-growth as he is. He is forever postponing plans to give himself time to grow and realize his potential. As per a conservative estimate, there are over 70 million people like Sudhir whose life remains almost the same as others, though they have come to learn some personal growth technique. If only they would practice what they have learnt, this number is sufficient to trigger a 'hundredth monkey' phenomenon to raise the level of consciousness of the human race. |
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Thirty million people have learnt yoga, two million Sudarshan Kriya, three million have been initiated into reiki, one million have attended vipassana retreats. Tens of millions of people have read the bestsellers of Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Dale Carnegie. Many more throng to the lectures of spiritual teachers and watch them on television channels like Aastha and Sanskar. However, delicious food is futile where there is no appetite. Great self-growth techniques, gurus and books can help you provided you are hungry enough to use them. Today we tend to outsource all our responsibilities to experts for a fee. There are event managers to organize every major event of our lives. So, we tend to even outsource spiritual growth to an organization or guru, not realizing that others can only serve the food; they cannot chew it for us. And we will chew, swallow and assimilate only if we have the appetite. Many among us never realize that merely learning a technique is of little use, if not practiced. Vikas Malkani, author, motivator and founder of Soulcentre in Delhi, emphatically says that nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without self-discipline and perseverance. Human beings can drive out the essence from any system or practice and reduce it to trivialities that provide only the false psychological feeling of being 'into' it, absolving us from the trouble of understanding and living it. We turn every 'food for the spirit' into 'food for our ego'. Look at the way we have become fanatics—trying to make the world switch to our religion and view of truth, even if at the cost of thousands of sacred lives—including our own! S.N. Goenka, the spearhead of the Vipassana movement, says: "Initially people with knowledge carried the flaming torch to spread light. With time the flames have got extinguished and what is left are mere sticks—and with these sticks we are beating each other." If only we could learn to live by our religion instead of for it! We spend hours comparing the greatness of different spiritual gurus and practices, not realizing that proving the greatness of our master or technique in no way makes us any better than we actually are. God has not sent soldiers in us to protect a particular religion or belief system. He has sent a spark of Him within us, which needs to be discovered and lived till through its constant awareness we become 'it'. The techniques, methods, gurus and scriptures are God's gifts to achieve this purpose. The need to add labels (of having learnt this technique or the other, the gurus we have learnt from or the scriptures we have memorized) is the need of our false self. Our real self, the God self, does not need any of labels. Think for a moment the body of knowledge available to the millions of Sudhirs if they could just start using it. What we need is not a new means to salvation, but an awareness, understanding and realization of all that we already have. Such awareness is essential to shift our focus from merely learning (and gratifying our ego thereby) to 'practicing consistently'. D.R. Kaarthikeyan, former CBI director and now President of Life Positive, says: "I have total faith in practice. Theoretical knowledge is fine for the intellect. It is by emotional involvement and practice alone that the intended results follow. The faith comes from one's being able to realize the benefits." When we allow the means to become more important than the goals, they cease to remain as means. One common denominator for all those who could realize their divinity has not been superior technique or guru but superior determination to stay on the path without losing sight of the ultimate goal. The concept of a 'path' may not appeal to those who subscribe to Jiddu Krishnamurti's view of Truth as a 'pathless land', reiterated recently by Eckhart Tolle. But not toeing a path and being in the 'now' also needs to be practiced. |
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All of us have the seed to become our real Being, but we forget to nurture it. Before we seek a guru, technique or 'ism', we need to fan this spark of intention into a wild fire of yearning that consumes the forest of our negativities. Without this, all tools and techniques are like a pan without a fire underneath. I am giving some concrete suggestions to keep you on your path, but reading these does not obviate your responsibility for 'practicing them. KNOW
AND LOVE YOURSELF We might want to break life's monotony or impress others. We might not want to be left behind in the race, or seek to prove ourselves different, even fill the vacuum that our ego feels. Above all, we might learn for letting others know that we have learnt it and thereby have their approval. These factors do not help us stay on our path because the purpose of learning gets fulfilled the moment we acquire a label. Why are we more concerned about others' approval than with actually transforming ourselves? Because we don't love ourselves enough. We choose to live an eventless life for the fear of failure. We want to fulfill our dreams without working for them. So we either disown our dreams or scale them down. Such compromises create a spiritual void within as our soul's longing to fulfill its real purpose is ignored. It is easier to be lazy and even easier to merely exist than to live a vibrant life. The difference between those who choose to exist, and those who choose to live, is that of motivation. You could be either. To be among the inspired ones, you need to make a conscious choice. Your doubt as to whether things will work out often stands between you and your dreams. Doubt this doubt. Trust the universe and your divinity. The way to a fulfilled life is the way that gets us closer to universal spiritual principles. When we grow spiritually we grow on all fronts as a 'whole'. I was once asked how I managed to practice what I had learnt and also learn new things. I replied: "Just by loving myself enough!" Stand in front of the mirror every morning and smile. Say many times that you love yourself, and feel it deeply. Say that you value yourself immensely and hence will utilize this present moment as a priceless opportunity for spiritual growth. What you usually give your time to shall stay here in this world. It will not add any value to the real you that survives your physical death. To invest in spiritual growth is the wisest, for its fruits are permanent. They may or may not be as tangible as material things, but they stay with you whether your body stays or not. Make no compromises on that! BECOME
AWARE OF TORQUES ACTING ON YOUR LIFE What people like Sangeet need is a reinforcement of their 'Growth or 'G Torque' and weaken their 'Status Quo or SQ Torque'. These are my terms for the two forces eternally acting upon us, to maintain 'status quo' or to 'help us grow'. Let me explain. When we open a tap by applying anti-clockwise force, we work against a clockwise frictional force that keeps the tap shut. The tap will start opening only if the force being applied is stronger than the clockwise frictional force. In physics, forces that enable us to rotate an object about its axis are known as torques. The size of the torque is a multiple of the intensity of force being applied and its distance from the axis about which the rotation is taking place. This means that the other factor remaining the same, the larger the intensity of the force or larger the distance from the axis, the more the torque. In our lives too, two similar but opposing torques are in action. One is the force that keeps us in 'status quo'—thoughts that focus on the pain involved in working for change for growth, and the pleasure of liberating us from feeling the need for bringing about the change, and hence from the hard work involved. The other force is constituted of forces that move us along the spiral of spiritual growth and involve thoughts that focus on the pain of remaining stuck in our limitations, and the anticipated pleasure of achieving joy, bliss and freedom if we work towards change. In the lives of people who feel stuck, Status Quo torque is stronger than growth torque. What they need are not powerful techniques for spiritual growth but creating a strong enough growth torque to overpower and vanquish the SQ torque. Every time you catch yourself thinking a thought that fuels SQ torque with its focus on consequential instant pain and instant pleasure, replace it with a powerful visionary thought of the consequential distant pain and distant pleasure that fuel the growth torque. Think them with great emotional intensity many times during the day. Interrupt yourself often to ask what you are focusing on. Make the necessary correction if you find yourself focused on instant pain and pleasure instead of the distant pain and pleasure. Remember, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly only when it dares to shed the security of the familiar cocoon. |
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PREPARE YOURSELF MENTALLY It is important to make mental pathways with your right brain for all that you intend to practice regularly with your left-brained will. Trying to tread the path without these mental pathways and visualizations is like driving in a desert without a map. Rajendra Goel, senior manager in SAIL, who has been practicing yogasanas for the last 26 years, says the practice helped him become mentally stronger and spiritually calmer. He says that it is important to prepare mentally before starting a new personal growth practice. Often, people do not think too deeply about the effort and time required on a regular basis for self-growth techniques. So when the novelty wears off, they can no longer bring themselves to do these things day in and day out and eventually stop 'practicing Goel recommends that before picking up any practice, we should make sure that the whole routine makes sense to us and we accept it fully. STOP
HANKERING AFTER THE 'NEW' A journey
of thousand miles begins with the first step. USE
INTUITION TO CHOOSE PRACTICES SUITING YOU Rajendra Goel says: "In order to stick to a particular technique, the first thing I ensure is that I can control, if not all, then most factors important for regularity. For example, it is easier to jog every day than play badminton for the simple reason that you need another person for badminton." Sukhdeepk Malvai, reiki master and corporate trainer, has been on the path since 1982. He regularly practices vipassana, falun dafa exercises and Sudarshan Kriya. His advice to the indecisive is: "Do not be like those who try out various practices and whose never-ending quest seems to be for some magic solution to all their problems. Listen to your heart and see which practice can be easily integrated into your normal schedule. This is what you will easily practice Choose it and build it into your routine." Vikas Malkani, for whom treading the path is a 'choiceless choice', says that in the ancient days, an aspirant would know where he wanted to go, for choices were few and there was complete surrender to one master. Nowadays, spirituality has become a huge supermarket; there are so many masters and techniques. New Age literature though welcome, has confused many. His advice is that we need to believe in our divinity and our inner self. He recalls the advice of the Buddha: "Be a light unto yourself", and says that the answers can appear not only in the inner world but in the external world as well, hence one needs to keep one's mind open at all times. |
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WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT AND WHAT APPEARS URGENT We always find time for what is important. However, what seems important at the time may not actually be so if we are not in touch with our real needs. Like almost every irregular sadhak whom I spoke to, Meena Saxena, a Delhi-based schoolteacher, blames external circumstances. Though she has learnt both reiki and Sudarshan Kriya, she is unable to do them regularly because often, when she has just settled down to do her sadhana, there are interruptions, like phone calls or visitors. On being reminded that she could do reiki after initiation for the mandatory 21 days in spite of all these things, she admitted that at that time there was a compulsion and even now, when her knees ache, she gives herself reiki. When there is no compulsion, she is driven mostly by the dictates of the external world and not by an inner resolve. Gagan, a senior finance executive for a gas company, admits that his irregularity is simply a result of lack of resolve and misplaced priorities. He admits that the very purpose of life is to grow spiritually but we often allow it to take the backseat. When we have no important goals we always have enough urgent but insignificant things to keep ourselves busy with—simply because it is much easier to do so and too difficult to make an effort and do otherwise. Whereas 'urgent' things catch our immediate attention, important things do not act upon us; we need to act upon them. For example, if we do not go for a morning walk or do not do our daily meditation or yoga, we will never be questioned or forced to do them. But if we consider them important, we will have to make way for them in our daily schedule on our own. When you start attending to important things you will have lesser emergencies to firefight for. When you do not do so, you may never even begin seeing what is really important in your life. When we do not know our real needs, we do not have a daily plan to fulfill them. When we do not have a plan for the day, we, by default end up spending the day fulfilling others' plans. We fail
to know and act on what is important to us because we usually do not
stay in touch with ourselves. For this, we need to spend some time in
silence. It is during these intervals that our spirit will whisper to
us its real needs. And if we ask, it will tell us how to fulfill them
as well. Unless you habitually accomplish key activities that advance you on your path first in the day, you will end up filling your day with insignificant or futile activities. If you do not put first things first, you fail to find any time for them throughout the day in spite of best intentions. Having done your practice in the morning, you have the rest of the day to be a spiritual person from whom godly words and godly actions alone emanate. If you are about to miss your daily practices on a particular day, reschedule them immediately. If possible, you can do it while waiting in a queue or while commuting to the urgent meeting or you may have to cut down on reading the newspaper or watching TV to make time for it. If at all you miss it for reasons beyond you, make a vow that you will not miss it the next day. Make it a rule that you will never miss your sadhana on two consecutive days. Do not let small chunks of time go waste either. Make it a habit to use these for repeating powerful affirmations, visualizations, contemplation, prayers, or reiki. If it takes 10 minutes for you to fall asleep, plan to go to bed 20 minutes before and lo! You have added to your day another half an hour of reiki, or whatever else you find appropriate. Get in the habit of identifying and stealing smaller chunks of time during the appropriate points of the day. Enroll yourself for a chartered bus or car pool so that at least on the days you are not driving, you can use your commuting time to watch your breathing or feel the sensations in various parts of your body and visualize them getting bathed with a golden yellow light that is driving out all the toxins wherever this light permeates. Tying a handkerchief around your eyes while doing this might help you not only to concentrate, but to focus on what you intend to do. It shall also signal to your co-passengers that you intend to use this time for yourself and not for entertaining them with gossip. Alternatively, you can use this time to watch your thoughts or practice switching off mental chatter. You can also use this time to visualize your goals being fulfilled. After coming home, steal half an hour for bathing and doing Yoga Nidra, Sudarshan Kriya, Surya Namaskar, tai chi or whatever you intend to do. Before falling asleep, quickly review the day's activities. Start with what you were doing a few minutes before coming to the bed and moving towards the morning recall all that you did, thought or felt during the day. This will strengthen your memory and reduce your sleep hours apart from helping you sleep soundly. |
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The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men. —Dhammapada (Sayings of the Buddha) We strengthen
ourselves when we: ALWAYS
BE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT So, moment to moment, check if you act from the divine love within your core or react from fear, hate, resentment, revenge, greed that you have accumulated on the surface. Examine if your beliefs are in alignment with the timeless laws of Nature and become aware of the chasm that exists between them and your actions. Become aware of the food that you eat. Similarly, extend mindfulness to every other activity that you do so that awareness becomes a deep-rooted habit. Begin by choosing two specific points of time to observe yourself for two minutes, for instance 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Next week, add two more points, such as 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Continue adding. Interrupt yourself from time to time to observe how you are feeling within your body, how you are breathing, sitting or standing. Observe your motives, decisions and thoughts. Occasionally take a break to switch off your mental chattering. Tathagata Roy, an Art of Living teacher, says that there are three pillars to stay centered-living moment to moment with a ceaseless awareness of what one is doing in the present moment and why; attending to the breath; and meditation. Dr Kiran Bedi, who is inspired to be on the path because she considers it to be the very purpose of living, emphasizes the need to develop self-awareness. She says: "There are many ways of growing spiritually. The most important is to develop the discipline of 'self-observation' and 'self-policing'. My effort is to continue to enhance it by what I have been taught and have learnt." Vikas Malkani, whose conscious journey on the path began when he was just 16 and who was inspired by an inner awakening to be a teacher at age 29, says that no events are good or bad. It is our interpretation that makes them so. All events are merely our teachers. 'Practicing conscious moment-to-moment awareness is the highest sadhana, and that is what he says he is trying to practice now. STAY
CONNECTED TO GOD While following on your path, sometimes you may appear to be not moving in the right direction but it may be necessary to go south for a while, in order to journey north. What often appears to be nothing may, in fact, just be an essential rough patch in the journey towards order. I hope with these powerful strategies you can now enjoy your self-growth and get wedded to it for eternity!—illustration by Ambili Muralidhar
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