Saturday Satsang

Hari Om

"Be firmly established in saadhana. One does saadhana until one comes to feel that s/he is not doing any more saadhana. The very saadhana becomes the routine of his daily living. In short, we continue saadhana until we live saadhana."

There are certain requirements in Advaitic practice, such as morning prayers, meditation, japa and so forth, that are specific as saadhana. When setting out on this spiritual discipline, these things can feel strange, time-absorbing, clumsy. In fact, they can, at times, feel like an imposition on life. This is because we are not truly focused or invested in the benefits that can be gained from their practice or do not have our hearts where our minds and lips are.

Assess your saadhana. Perhaps you need to adjust its content until that becomes familiar and then add in more? Or spread it more evenly around the other tasks that are repeated each day. 

The critical thing is not to let the saadhana go. One day missed will undoubtedly lead to another. There may be no loss apparent in daily life, but the spiritual depletion will be there. 

Daily practice of anything results in that thing becoming comfortable, familiar and regular. Yes, it also contains the risk of becoming a 'chore', and again we lose focus, letting our minds wander freely even as our hands and lips go through the motion of practice. It then becomes incumbent upon us to refocus, pay attention, and perform each task with the fullest attention. This includes the cleaning of body and home, eating consciously... in other words, if we are performing saadhana correctly, then every task itself becomes part of that saadhana!