kriyayogamalaysia

In Spiritual Matters, There is Nothing to Achieve

From our e-book “We are Here to Celebrate”

Once I prayed to Babaji to show me God. One night, I had a dream of a wise man telling me, “there is nothing to achieve”. I then walked into a temple and sat in meditation in front of a golden Buddha statue. I repeated the phrase in my head and immediately everything turned into bright white light. When I woke up, I could still remember the dream vividly. From then on, I always remind myself that there is nothing to achieve.

Our ego can also get involved in our spiritual development if we see ourselves as ‘Spiritual’. We see enlightenment as a future event and even our daily practice becomes ‘work’ for us.

“So many persons become initiated and then wonder; why have I not yet realized God? They expect that simply by learning to use the tools offered by yoga, they will realize their aspirations. While the tools and the aspirations may remain, however faded, what is missing is the will to apply oneself moment to moment. It is not what you did last year, or what you intend to do later on that is important in the field of yoga and Self-realization, but what are you doing in each moment. You can choose to bring awareness into every act, into every mundane moment of the day or you can allow your old habits of distraction, inertia and unconsciousness dominate your life.” – MG Satchidananda.

Our very expectations may dampen our perseverance. Rudra Shivananda wrote in his June 2008 Journal (available on www.rudrashivananda.com), “First we must understand that the spiritual path is not on a trend which is a graph-like straight line moving upwards at forty-five degrees or some other inclination, but more like a series of plateaus punctuated by a sharp upward jump. It is during the plateau periods when no apparent progress is being made that the students becomes dejected and would often give up. The plateaus are periods of consolidation and actualisation of our potential and their lengths are determined by the intensity of practice as well as the karmic tendencies of the students”. Having read this, please do not expect the ‘sharp upward jump’ or we will be missing the point!

OSHO taught that the inner-guide helps us find bliss and happiness and not ‘success’ as the ego defines it [1]. If one’s intention is to achieve success for ego satisfaction, it is better not to identify with the innerguru. Our inner-guide’s goal is to bring us to happiness and this may involve temporary set-backs for example, a person may lose his job only to venture into a successful business which he wanted to get into all his life.

Our practices need not be complicated. It must be enjoyable and must bring peace to us when we practice them. Once I prayed to Babaji to tell me how I can improve on my practice. In a dream, I saw Babaji practicing Asanas. Before that, I was neglecting my Asana practices because I saw them more as physical exercises rather than a spiritual practice. I rather jump straight into practicing pranayama and meditation which involve the mind. Needless to say, I was wrong.

Asanas helps us to relax and clear the energy blockages in our energy channels. When combined with the breath it becomes a wonderful means of strengthening our awareness.

Joy and relaxation is an important part of Hatha Yoga. When performing the poses, ensure that it is joyful and relaxing – no strain. Then, prana will flow. How well the prana flows will depend on the level of our awareness. When we maintain awareness, the prana will flow towards the focus of our attention. Place your attention on your breath and notice it becoming calm and slow. At the same time, pay attention to the sensations of the body, areas where there is tension and areas which are relaxed. Enjoy it. We use the poses to increase our level of awareness. Let our body be our vehicle to self realization. We use it as one of the tools to understand our true nature.

[1] ‘Intuition, knowing beyond logic’ by OSHO.