What does it take to keep advancing spiritually?
Most of us would have heard of the story of the race between the tortoise and the rabbit. The rabbit raced ahead but then got complacent. It decided to rest and the tortoise won while the rabbit slept.
Making the mind more spiritual and benefiting from the resulting happiness is quite similar to the effort of the tortoise. Spiritual advance is a slow process and needs sustained effort over a long period of time.1 This sustained effort needs to be based on routines. And, these routines need to keep the person both healthy (for example adequate sleep, exercise, and right food) as well as spiritual (meditation, reading of spiritual literature that stimulates the mind,2 and maintaining a journal to introspect and record progress).
Take meditation, an important part of spiritual advance. It needs patience while doing it. And, benefits from it come with time and persistence. Initial experience with meditation are often positive. But, sustained practice is needed to keep the gains coming. Making spiritual actions routine is obviously easier said than done. One can start with sincere determination. Then, like the rabbit, granting himself exemptions can become the norm. An interesting point to keep in mind is that the days when one is most inclined to skip meditation are also likely to be the days when he is most likely to benefit from it.
Recommended Readings
The Advanced Meditation Exercise (TAME) : This meditation technique is an incredibly powerful way to keep the mind peaceful. It is prescribed in Bhagwad Gita, the primary book of Indian spiritual heritage. It derives its power by activating three key things in us: detachment, stillness, and transformation.
Why TAME meditation appears to work better than other techniques: TAME meditation appears to be more effective than other meditation techniques because it activates three essential elements of meditation: detachment, transformation, and stillness. Meditation needs all three.
Footnotes
1: It is common for a spiritual aspirant to see immediate benefits from a spiritual effort. An example of such a benefit could be the peace that one feels during meditation. However, in the beginning, such benefits typically dissipate quickly as the spiritual activity stops and a person gets sucked into his “normal life”. Like the rabbit, a person can stop at this point, satisfied that he has made “good enough” spiritual progress. However, over a period of sustained practice, such spiritual benefits become more pronounced and a lot more resilient. They stay strongly with the mind and raise the overall happiness level of the person.
2: A good place to start would be The Bhagwad Gita. I have found Yogananda’s version particularly good.
