How To Walk The Path Of Spirituality?

When we walk the path of spirituality,

It's actually an individualistic journey.

You can't really define that this path should be like this in a particular way.

But I would like to look at the spiritual journey in a logical way so that it's easy to understand.

The journey can be classified broadly as a formation stage and stabilization stage,

Not the accomplished stage.

What is the formation stage?

V formation stage is the most toughest because we are a bundle of patterns and we have a lot of habits.

We have a lot of fears,

Habits,

Likes and dislikes,

So many different things.

And in this whole jungle or variety of things that we are consisting of,

From there we have to detach because most of this is connected to the world outside because this is our dependency to the world outside.

It could be places,

It could be materials,

It could be relationships.

So many things connected to the world outside.

So to detach from all that and come inside,

It takes a lot of effort.

So that's the most difficult thing in the path of spirituality.

Spiritual journey.

Spiritual journey is basically being yourself.

Finally what you're going to be is be yourself totally.

So in that journey,

The first part has a lot of value.

Once that's crossed,

Then it's easier.

But to cross that first path,

To detach yourself from the habits,

Your usual patterns,

Your usual likes and dislikes,

All the things connected to the patterns,

To come out of it,

It takes heavy determination,

Great determination,

More than determination,

Discipline.

These two Ds you should remember.

Discipline is essential.

I used to get up at 2.

30 every day.

Start from 3 o'clock every day.

Whatever happens,

Whether it is sun,

Rain,

Cloud,

Whatever,

It doesn't matter.

I used to get up at 2.

30.

I used to take a bath and always without taking bath I never used to indulge because that's a part of discipline.

Why take bath?

Because water refreshes you immediately and just removes the tedium and the tamas,

The tamas which tries to overpower you in your sadhana,

In your practice.

Immediately that's cut.

Water takes it away.

So with the help of water,

With the help of a determined mind,

Then you start your journey.

You start your journey means you start your practice.

And that should be very consistent.

Big time determination.

And determination also,

Sometimes you don't even know what you are looking for.

This is the big problem.

So the usual,

The known things always attracts you back.

Your known,

I mean the known things means what you are familiar with.

What you are familiar with always takes you back.

That's usually the case.

And we tend to go back and then we lose the track.

And this is why time of isolation is a lot of value.

In this time,

It's forced isolation,

You can't go anywhere.

Otherwise you have a lot of options.

When you have a lot of options,

When you have a lot of means and avenues for fulfillment,

Then that's all distraction.

So the enemy is distraction,

1D.

And your ally is determination and discipline,

2Ds.

So these 2Ds are very important.

D and D,

Two pillars.

And that has to be,

That will be the main thing in the formation stage,

Formation time.

So in the formation stage,

This is what we must remember.

2Ds,

Our friends,

Discipline,

Determination.

And distractions,

They are like shadows.

They just,

They are behind you.

Distractions are behind you.

And distractions connect itself to habits and patterns.

So patterns and habits are your comfort zones,

The zones of comfort where it attracts you back.

So take one sadhana,

One practice.

It's very important.

Maybe one mantra,

One practice,

One discipline.

One discipline means one method,

Like a time,

A consistent space.

It's very important.

We must be in one space continuously because if we change the space,

Mind likes it.

That's a distraction.

Do not change the space.

Keep the same space.

And it takes,

It takes months and years probably because the patterns are so strong,

Don't underestimate them.

They keep coming back or they keep reclaiming their position in your life.

So what you need to do is to be consistent,

Very,

Very consistent.

Always remember when you are using a mantra,

That mantra should be by heart.

You should not read from somewhere because if you have a picture,

Mind wanders over pictures.

If you read a book,

Mind gets occupied with the book.

See don't underestimate your mind.

It really distracts you.

So to avoid all distractions,

Immediate action,

Avoid thoughts.

When you get up in the morning,

Immediately get on with your,

You should have a discipline and don't change the discipline because even if you change the discipline,

Mind occupies in that because mind gets involved.

So today I brush my teeth first.

Then I went to toilet.

I mean these kind of things.

Don't dumble it.

Just follow the same routine and that will help you because you contain things on the time,

Means you are not crossing over time.

Then one thing is very important that only chant or only do things which you are familiar with.

If you are not familiar with a mantra,

Don't even try.

Until you become familiar for sadhana,

I'm talking about for practice.

Otherwise you can chant any mantra you like,

Which if you want to chant on the rest of the day,

While practice time.

I'm talking about during the practice.

Use only familiar mantra.

If guru has given a mantra,

That's the best for you because guru knows what is good for your alignment.

So chant that and chant continuously,

Consistently and feel and chant,

Chant and feel that that way you,

You're chanting 90% inside you and 10% outside.

So that means you're chanting outside because you don't fall asleep.

You're chanting inside and you're feeling the vibration.

So the outside world is existing,

But you are not,

You're not looking at the outside world.

This is after chanting for some time,

You can go to that state.

If you're chanting,

Otherwise,

If you're doing pranayam,

Same thing,

Like you connect to the lamp.

I used to have a lamp lit,

Only the lamp,

Just the flame and look at the flame for some time,

Connect to the flame and chant to the flame.

And then you chant inside and then you bring yourself inside like that.

You can practice so many different practices we have explained already.

That I don't,

I don't want to say about that again,

Because it's already there.

We have meditations and practices,

Kriyas and stuff.

So that,

That's the thing.

And in case if you are feeling a bit sleepy,

Drowsy,

Breathe through one nostril,

Close the,

Close one nostril,

Breathe through the other nostril to the count of six to eight,

One count,

Either six or eight,

And then close that nostril and breathe out double 16.

If it is eight,

16,

If it is six,

12,

And then breathe through the same nostril,

Again six,

If it is six or eight,

If it is eight,

And then release through this,

The other nostril,

Double.

Do that for about 10 times and you will come back,

You can actually start it again.

So this is important.

Discipline is very important.

And this should be very consistent.

Whatever happens in the world,

Whatever external factors are,

We must not stop that.

See,

One of the basic practices which all of us should follow,

Because in the world of distraction to get back is the presence of mind.

Make sure that nothing happens without your mind being present.

That's a very good practice.

That's a daily,

All the time practice when you're in your waking state all the time.

Even if you're moving your hand,

Let your mind be there.

If you're speaking something,

Let the mind be there.

If you're eating,

Let the mind be with the food,

With the taste.

If you're doing anything,

Thinking anything,

Talking anything,

Let the mind be present.

Without the presence of mind,

Do not do anything.

That's a very good practice.

If you can do that consistently,

Then you will feel a lot of stability.

You will feel a lot of stability.

There'll be no waste of energy,

There'll be no excesses,

There'll be no mistakes,

There'll be no disappointments.

You will be feeling very stable.

Presence of mind is a good practice and that helps your other practices.

And once this discipline starts,

Discipline means the order of your activity,

Let's say getting up early in the morning,

Have a space,

Same space,

Same practice,

Same mantra or same practice,

Same connection.

All those things should be same so that it will actually increase your boredom because you will want variety.

You will crave for variety.

That is the mind's job.

Mind wants variety.

But what you want to cut across the mind and reach a state of accomplishment.

So here,

Mind will try to bring you back to a pattern while you are refusing to be in a pattern while making a pattern.

This is the point here.

Now making a pattern means same mantra,

Same practice,

Consistently boredom hits you,

Continue again and again and again,

No change.

And then finally,

Mind withers away.

It takes time,

But mind will break.

So the formation stage then shifts to stabilization stage.

Determination stage I have already explained,

Discipline and determination.

Enemy is distraction.

Consistency is very important.

And along with consistency,

Along with the routine,

All those things.

So conviction is extraordinarily important.

And imagine your conviction on something proved to be wrong later,

Doesn't matter.

Because it's not the object you're connected to.

It's your method,

Your conviction that's helping you.

So don't look at any outside material,

Person,

Place and think that this is what is helping you.

They do complement,

But it's you who's helping yourself.

And finally,

You're reaching yourself.

So the journey is to yourself and the path is yourself and the practitioner is yourself and it's all yourself.

So basically it's your own journey to yourself,

In which all external factors have no deep value that way.

So don't blame an external factor and say,

Oh,

Because of that factor,

I couldn't accomplish.

That's not true.

That's because your determination failed.

And later on,

Once you become,

You cross over,

You finish the stabilization state,

Etc.

You don't have to follow those.

And sometimes those things you can't follow because the practices completely wipes away or vanishes.

Those practices will not stay because you reached a state where you are that state.

It's almost like studying hard for graduation and you became a graduate and then you don't need to study all of them again because you're done.

So once you reach a state of accomplishment,

You don't actually go back to your practices.

Now the stabilization stage.

Once this stage is over and you are in a path and how do you know whether you are stabilizing?

Distraction level will be less.

Less distraction.

Whatever happens,

You are peaceful.

Your calm,

External environment or environment around you does not affect you or it cannot affect your equilibrium.

So that is your stabilization time.

That time,

What you need is consistent practice.

You have to continue with the practice.

Don't stop.

At the same time,

You also should practice witnesshood.

Means you are witnessing yourself practicing.

That is the stabilization stage.

You witness yourself doing all this.

So there is an impersonal feeling there.

You are not that.

But at the same time you are doing it.

So you are not fighting your mind at that time because that's finished.

That part is over.

And when your distraction level have reduced and nothing distracts you anymore,

Then you automatically understand that you are on the stabilization time.

So it's a settlement time.

And slowly,

Slowly you are settling.

And the more and more you settle,

The deeper and deeper you go.

Deeper and deeper you go,

More and more silence settles in.

So when you go deeper and deeper,

Noises reduce.

It's like from a heavy world of noise or world of heavy noises,

You are withdrawing and you are going to a world of silence.

And for some time the noises will be there.

Again you are going and you are determined to go to the world of silence.

And after a while when you reach silence,

Closer to silence,

You will hear the noises far away.

It's not even near you.

And then when you enter the world of silence,

Then the noises completely stops.

So this is the journey.

So stabilization is that you are actually far away from noises.

And to go back to those noises,

You have to walk all the way back,

Which you may not because that stage is over.

But initially then you will tend to go back to your old habits of noises.

Noises means activities,

Various things.

So in this mode,

When you are in a stabilization mode,

You need to witness yourself.

You will watch yourself because there's nothing distracting you.

No distraction.

You watch yourself.

You feel yourself.

And you feel yourself entering into the world of silence.

And stabilization time is more of,

Definitely you have to do the,

You continue the activity.

You must continue the activity.

But at the same time,

You realize you are not the activity.

You are the product of all these,

But you are not any of these.

So that means your level of detachment has really increased.

And activities do not bind you,

Nor the results bind you.

Nothing binds you.

You are really,

Really free.

Real freedom you start experiencing at that time.

No dependency on people,

Places,

Time,

Materials,

Any habits,

Any patterns.

That itself is freedom,

Huge freedom.

And that's when you realize that this is the real freedom.

This is what we are capable of.

And why we have never understood it,

Because we never tried it.

We never invested in ourselves.

That's why we didn't experience it.

Here you are investing in yourself.

So one of the things which will come overwhelmingly in you is the gratitude.

Gratitude to the guru,

The guide,

The one who guides you,

The one who actually guided you to the silence.

You will have immense gratitude.

That is the secret of Guru Parampara.

Where the disciple is overwhelmingly grateful to the guru.

But that gratefulness is sometimes not visible in the world of noises,

Is because this gratitude is from the mind.

Mind cannot hold anything.

Mind never holds it.

Mind keeps it for some time,

Throws it away.

Sometimes picks it up,

Sometimes throws it away.

So mind is never consistent.

So we will never understand gratefulness from the terms of mind until we go into silence.

And then we know that,

Oh,

This position,

This place we have arrived to,

We have reached because of the grace of the gurus.

Then you will be brimming with gratitude,

Which opens up grace further.

So the last part where you are almost entering into silence,

Overwhelming grace comes to you because of your overwhelming real gratitude.

Real gratitude is not from the mind.

It's gratitude because you understood that it's the guru who brought.

That's why the shloka says that,

The verse says that if guru and God comes together,

Who will you bow down to?

So the answer is to the guru because he showed me God.

So this happens and then you enter the silence and you're stable.

That means you're settled down into yourself and the outside world is not yours anymore.

You can go to the outside world,

You can interact with outside world,

You can be anything in the outside world.

There's no problem.

But you are not the outside world.

You don't belong there.

So now you're going back to the outside world as silence.

Earlier you were going to the outside world as a noise,

Another noise.

But now you're going to the world of noises as silence.

The difference is very big.

You entering the world of noises as another noise,

You are insignificant.

But when you enter the world of noises as silence,

You become very significant.

This is a very tricky time,

Very tricky time because you are different.

So different means people look at you through their eyes in different ways as they are.

And some of them look at you as an alien.

What sort of an animal is this?

Some of them look at you as a challenge.

Some of them do not even understand you and they ignore you.

That's okay.

But everybody looks at you as they are and then it will be confusing to you.

What is the best thing to do?

Allow everything to happen.

Let everything happen.

You are not worried.

You are not at all worried.

Let everything happen.

Somebody loves you,

Somebody hates you,

Somebody criticizes you,

Somebody praises you.

Doesn't matter.

It's all fine.

Everything is fine.

You are not bound by them because you are fully settled inside.

The world of noises does not shake you anymore.

It can't.

Then is the time.

Then is the living accomplishments.

Then you are living the accomplished state.

Accomplished state is state of silence.

The living accomplishment is just beingness.

There's nothing else.

There's no doingness there.

Even if there is doingness,

That is only for the purpose or for the purpose of your existence.

As long as you exist,

You have to deliver.

And for that sake,

You will deliver.

And what will you deliver?

What is needed to be delivered?

It's case to case,

Situation to situation.

It's not a pre-planned delivery method like which happens in the world of noises.

So in the world of silence,

There is nothing to do.

It's only to be.

So in that mode,

When it's only to be,

When somebody comes to you,

You look at why this association,

This relationship or this meeting happened and you just deliver what you have to deliver.

But you will not be worried about,

Oh,

Will I be able to deliver because there's no I.

Why this person came to me?

There's no why.

So there's no why.

There's no I.

So it's very simple.

You give what you have and that's what's expected.

And there's no pretension.

There's nothing to pre-plan.

There is nothing to prove.

That's the world.

So the third state,

State of accomplishment,

You don't need any guidance because you automatically do what it takes,

What you need to do.

So that's the three stages.

The first is the formation state where you need a lot of discipline,

Determination to avoid all distractions.

Then comes the world of stability,

Stable world where you need to witness,

You need a lot more witnesshood activity plus witnesshood.

Then you,

You reach a state of accomplishment,

Means you're accomplished in that state.

What you need to do is just be you.

So being you is what is the ultimate being yourself.

And that's the journey.

All the people,

All of us,

All the 7.

5 billion people of the world have the same potential to achieve it.

And the one who is capable of doing manana is a manav.

That means one who is able to contemplate is a man.

Manana has something to do with manav,

Which is a Sanskrit word and also man,

English word.

It's all manana connected.

It means somebody who is able to contemplate,

Penetrate,

Understand,

Assimilate and experience themselves.

It's not experiencing the world outside.

That's easy because all you need is senses and mind,

But that's not,

That's nothing.

That's just a normal thing.

But experiencing yourself,

That capacity we have,

That is something which we can achieve in a lifetime.

And that is something which we must achieve in a lifetime because that's the real thing.

The world of noises,

World of materials,

World of sounds and colours,

They are fleeting.

They are available only when you are awake.

That's not available all the time.

When you are sleeping,

They are not available.

But here we are talking about a world which is available for you all the time.

Same world,

Same brightness,

Same freedom all the time.

That world is worth it.

That's worth it.

And that's exactly what is the highest of human experience.

We can call it self-realisation,

We can call it God realisation,

Doesn't matter what you call it.

But in the world of being you,

You are experiencing yourself all the time.

Whether you are awake,

Whether you are sleeping,

Whether you are dreaming,

Doesn't matter.

You are experiencing yourself.

And that world is very,

Very powerful.

From that world you actually experience the Creator.

Then you start experiencing the Creator from inside.

All the time you experience being the Creator.

And then you have no separation with anything on earth.

Because Creator and the creation are one and the same.

All the things you see around are the creations.

All the materials,

All the moving,

Immoving,

Immovable things,

All the things are creations.

And there is an element of Creator in the creation.

In every creation there is an element of the Creator.

And we start witnessing that Creator within us and outside us.

So then we can't have a separation.

There's no separation.

There's no me and mine.

There's no ownership.

There is no possessiveness.

There is no control,

No need to control anything.

There's nothing to control.

So once you understand the mind of the Creator,

You become the Creator.

You and the Creator are one.

And then it's dissolution.

That's a state of dissolution.

Once that awareness settles in,

Then you dissolve.

Then there is no you.

And that state is beautiful,

Perfect.

The state of being the Creator.

The creation has become the Creator.

The dancer has become the dance.

Then there is no separation.

Then there is no division.

And the song and the singer becomes one and the same.

You are fully melted.

You are one with the whole creation.

So from the world of noises to the world of silence,

It's a consistent walk.

It's worth it.

All the masters have said the same thing over and over again.

Many of them have seen it.

Many of them have witnessed it.

Many of them have become that.

And those who have become that never came back to the world of noises.

Those who witnessed it tried again and again.

And they tried to go back to this state of peace,

Perpetual peace,

All the time.

And they did.

Many of them did.

But those who have knowledge and they're teaching,

They are still in the world of noises.

So that difference is there always.

They might have learned a lot of things,

The books,

The materials,

So many things they would have learned.

And they understand.

Understanding and experiencing are two different things.

A very tasty dish.

You understand how to make it.

But how will it taste?

Only you have to eat it to see.

And once you taste it,

Maybe you won't be able to explain about it because it's not explainable.

Some things are not explainable.

You have to experience it and just allow that experience to settle into you.

You become the experience.

But you can't explain.

What you can explain is the noises and the expressions.

So many people who have attained silence never spoke because there was nothing to speak and the speaking was difficult.

It was very difficult because world of noises is a gross world where you reach a level of subtlety.

It's almost like you don't have a body.

How will you communicate?

How will you act?

How will you touch?

How will you feel?

How will you experience the world as a body?

So it's like that.

Imagine that your level of subtlety is too high when you are completely subtle and your body is just an attachment to your system and you don't really feel the body.

In that mode,

Another person comes to you.

One person comes to you and talks to you.

You become that person.

You will express that level of grossness as much as you need to express.

You need to communicate to that person.

If a person comes with very,

Very subtle person comes to you,

If that happens,

You become that subtlety.

So because you are very flexible,

You are not bound by the world of noises.

The world of silence is huge flexibility,

Totally flexible.

You don't have to think that,

Oh this man is coming now,

How I will respond.

Nothing's a thing.

You are put in a position,

Words flow through you as per the need,

As per the requirement of the person or the society or the environment or the time.

That just happens.

You don't have to really do anything.

So I think I have explained the three major aspects of the path of awakening and this has to be assimilated.

You should listen to it many times and feel.

Feel these words,

Not listen to these words.

Actually feel these words.

So you will understand that the formations,

How important is the formations.

That's the most important stage.

Very,

Very important because you are actually destroying your patterns at that stage.

It's not easy.

It's not easy at all.

Don't underestimate that time because don't underestimate your patterns.

Don't underestimate your habits,

Your inclinations and tendencies,

Your desires.

Don't underestimate them.

They are very powerful.

They can literally turn you around and they can literally keep you as a slave to it.

So usually we are not slaves but these things make us slaves,

Dependent on the world outside and we are behaving like slaves,

Helpless.

We don't have to be helpless.

We don't have to be.

We have to be.

We should know.

We are the depth of silence.

We are powerful.

Very powerful.

Very,

Very powerful.

And that power you got to experience then only you will know.

Otherwise it's just an idea,

A theory.

You wouldn't even know.

When you experience,

When you establish yourself in the world of silence,

Deeply in the world of silence then you are a God-man.

You are one with the God,

One with the Creator.

You are a God-man.

That until then you do not understand God-man.

Who is a God-man?

He looks like a man,

Human being.

How can he be God?

What is his state makes him that.

His state,

His stature makes him God-like.

God is not one unit.

God is omnipresent.

God is universal and God has no boundaries.

So when a person loses his boundaries,

Becomes universal,

He is a God-man.

So God-men do exist.