A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE

 
For most persons, spiritual sadhana, or practice, consists in the external observance of rituals and ceremonies prescribed by their own religion. In the initial stages such observance has its own value as a factor contributing toward self-purification and mental discipline. But ultimately the aspirant has to transcend the phase of external conformity and become initiated into the deeper aspects of spiritual sadhana.

When this happens, the external aspect of religion falls into the background; and the aspirant gets interested in the essentials revealed in all the great religions. True sadhana consists in a life that is based upon spiritual understanding, and it comes to a person who is truly keen about spiritual realities.

Sadhana must never be regarded as consisting in the application of rigid laws. Just as in life there cannot be and need not be strict and unrelieved uniformity, in spiritual life there is ample room for diversity of sadhanas. The sadhana that is useful for a particular aspirant is bound to be related to his sanskaras and temperament; and so, although the spiritual goal for all is the same, the sadhana of a given aspirant may be peculiar to himself....

The spiritual goal of life is to be sought in life itself and not outside of life; thus sadhana in the spiritual realm has to be such that it brings one's life closer to the spiritual ideal. Sadhana in the spiritual realm does not aim at the achievement of a limited objective, which may have its day and then ingloriously disappear forever. It aims at bringing about a radical change in the quality of life, so that one's life permanently becomes an expression of the Truth in the eternal Now.

Sadhana is spiritually fruitful if it succeeds in bringing the life of the individual in tune with the divine purpose, which is to enable everyone to enjoy consciously the bliss of the God state. Sadhana has to be completely adapted to this end.