by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 53
July. 2005

MEASURING THE SPIRITUAL PROGRESS- Part 1.

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

Many of us who have developed a little awareness of God, are engaged in doing our little bit of Sadhana in daily life. A little meditation there, a little worshipping here, a little study of scriptures or listening to spiritual discourses etc are all part of the daily ritual for many. Each one has his own routine. By this, all of us in our own way are seeking God.

And in doing so, we often wonder: ' Is there some way one can measure how far one has advanced in one's spiritual journey?' What progressed we have achieved so far?

It is a very typical human reaction. Life in modern times seems to have changed so much that in whatever we do, our patience is always being tested. In this age of perceived achievements, our mind is more on counting our steps rather than the journey itself.

We, in this age, are not the only ones who think like this. One would suspect, that if not with this intensity, this must have been true in all ages and at all times.

Yet, most 'unfortunately(?)', in the matter of spiritual pursuit, such value assessments do not work. There are also very logical and good reasons as to why we never come to assess ourselves - as we shall see later.

To start with, let us first analyse: 'What is our goal in this exercise?'

We have answered that in many ways through our previous discussions that our goal is Satchidananda, Sat, The Truth, chit, its realization and ananda the bliss that flows from this realization.

Can any of these three elements have a qualitative limit or a quantitative measurement? Can they be measured? They can not be as it is absurd to ask some one how much or how exactly the truth is or what are the limits of bliss etc.

Not being 'finite' or 'limited' in any way, is the very characteristic of this final goal of ours- of our spiritual evolution. Until we have indeed reached there, no one knows where or in what form lies the finishing line. So it becomes a futile exercise to try to gauge how far we have come and how much more we have to go in concrete terms.

On the face of it, this sounds a little negative, is'nt it?

But it is not that the sanatan philosophy has not addressed itself to this question. As we have discussed often, there simply is no aspect of sadhana which has escaped the wisdom of our ancient seers and has not been reasoned out.

The spiritual journey is basically an evolutionary process. Whether we like to see it as a quest for total perfection, or an attempt for removal of all traces of darkness of ignorance and reaching out towards the pure light of gnosis, or complete freedom from fear or our stepping into a state of absolute bliss or nirvana, in all these matters the finality of achievement is never realized until the sadhak finally loses himself in his goal itself. There is no way, one can say how much less ignorant one has become, or to answer how much more knowledge is yet to come. The moment one thinks of himself having reached perfection, the thought itself reveals the imperfection of his thinking. When one can become totally blissful? No one can say.

The journey that began with the first spark of existence until the soul loses its individuality by merging with Brahman or the source itself, is one single, uninterrupted journey. As the soul proceeds towards this union with Brahman, he keeps on shedding ignorance, he keeps on adding knowledge, he keeps on refining his own imperfections, keeps on loosening his shackles of misery and keeps on experiencing more and ever more happiness and bliss.

Spiritual enlightenment does not happen in stages. There are no grades available. It is not like one phase ending and the soul taking up the next phase. Being a continuous process, there is no stage-wise appraisal of success, which may qualify the sadhak for the next stage. The upalavdhis or the gains in one phase, keeps on aiding and assisting the efforts in every stage of sadhana, till the very end.

It is a homogenous, all- comprehensive process.

Although for simplification of understanding and for continuance of practice, our sages have differentiated the sadhana into many limbs or angas as they are named, yet none of these really is exclusive or stand alone exercises.

We are all familiar with Patanjali's classification of eightfold Yoga. We practice Yama or self-restraint, Niyama or good practices or practice of religious canons, pratyAhAra or non-covetness and so on. It is a fallacy to think that the practice of Yama is ever completed or for that matter any of the other elements of Yoga ever reaches a stage where we can say no more is needed. Yama continues all the time even till and during the last stage of samAdhi or total absorption in God consciousness- so also all other steps of yoga. The gains of every other stage are the vital inputs in maintaining one's practice of every other stage. Any drawbacks or residual imperfections from any stage can frustrate and contaminate- so to say- every other stage. Did not our puranas through their illustrative stories try to drive home this point? The great sage Vishwamitra, even after attaining great heights in Brahman consciousness had lost self- restraint and fell for the charms of the damsel Menaka. We have the story of sage Jada Bharat. He was an enlightened soul but his practice of self control was not complete. At the time of his last breath, when his mind should have been fixed on Brahman he could not stop thinking of his attachment to his pet deer. He had to return to the worldly life again for further purification. Even the great sage Narada lost his yama and niyama for long years and had to undergo a long stint again as a householder.

Let us not argue on the historical truth of these stories. The importance of such puranic stories is for their instructional value that until the very last moment you remain ever vulnerable. All your gains can come to naught if the vigil is relaxed.

All these go on to establish that there is no stage-wise finality in yogasadhanA. You are there when you are there. Till such time, all along it is one journey of constant vigilance.

As we said earlier these classifications help us to understand and practice what should be a "way of life" for us, our very charater.

The various divisions or stages have no significance independent of each other. They compliment each other. Our dhAranA or fixation with the objective will not be steady unless the mind is continuously assisted by the practice of yama, niyama, Asana or prAnAyAma. The gains from all these become pre-requsites for even to reach the stage of samAdhi.

YogasadhanA is always an integrated process.

However, as no process is well understood unless all the sub-activities are also understood, our seers had to analyse and experience for themselves, the specific effects of each practice on their body, mind and psyche to be able to perfect them.

This concept of integrated development covering every aspect of life and existence and not in limited isolation, is important to sanatan philosophy. Therefore our seers like true research scientists, not only analysed every process that forms the yogasadhana, i.e. the astAngas or eight limbs of Patanjali yoga we talked about, but also the specific domains where their effect is to be felt and perfected. The sadhak must know where exactly within him he feels their effects and in what way.

Thus they discovered this concept of koshas or domains of our patters of consciousness. The domains were identified as the five sheaths or the pancakoshas that make up any created form. Earlier we discussed at length the influence of yoga on these pancakoshas i.e. annamaya kosha, the gross food sheath, which is our physical body, the prAnamaya kosha, or the sheath of breath the life force, the manomaya kosha, or the mental sheath, the jnAnamaya kosha, the knowledge sheath, and finally the Anandamaya kosha, or the bliss sheath.

( It will be worthwhile here to look back on the four part article "On meditation" appearing in the July, August, September, October and November 2001 issues of AHWAN)

In this process of integrated development or total transformation, the gains of every stage is also continuous and non-stop. Whatever gains are realized in any sheath goes on to assist further gains in every other sheath. Body helps the mind, life, knowledge etc. Knowledge further purifies mind and physical gains, so on and so forth. One can not quantify or qualify them.

A question then logically arises as to if we are in a state of such uncertainity about how far we have journeyed, what keeps the sadhaka steadfast in his sadhana and keeps him motivated to go on, or protects him from abandonment of purpose?

That is understood when we start appreciating the great divine scheme that has been ingrained in every creature - an undying desire for self-perfection. Whether we realize or not, each of us is by nature programmed for excellence, programmed for perfection.

As we proceed in sadhana we start acquiring rewards even from the first step itself. Benefits of spiritual quest is not confined to saints and enlightened ones alone. Even you and me and those in the lowest wrung of the ladder can and do feel these benefits. Any one can check this for himself. As we discussed this in detail in the articles 'On meditation', our Upanishads like Svetasvatara Upanishad, have recorded:

Laghutvam, arogyam, aloluptam, varnaprasadah svarasausthavam ca

Gandhah subhah mutrapurisam alpam yoga pravruttim prathamam vadanti

Lightness of body, not getting sick now and often, non-hankering after physical needs, a clearer body complexion, controlled voice and manner of speech, pleasant body odor, reduced body excretions, these are said to be the first signs after initiation to meditation. These happen at the very gross body level and it is easy for the individuals to recognize them. Seeing these benefits for himself, the sadhak remains motivated. This has worked since the beginning of human awareness and will continue to work for them.

As we also discussed in these articles, the gains are soon seen at other levels of our psychic existence. The overall improvement is felt and that makes a spiritual approach to life the very nature of every creature in the creation.

As this powerful influence of spiritualism possesses us, nothing remains the same any more. The transformation is indeed uncontrollable. Within one's own comprehension the 'inferior being' is seen to evolve into a 'superior being' as the worm in the cocoon slowly transforms into a butterfly. We shall discuss more about it next.