Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize – Swami Sivananda
Purify. Spirituality means growing into the form of Divine Ideal. It is the transformation of your nature from human to Divine. This is brought about by Abhyasa, spiritual practice or Sadhana and Vairagya leading to renunciation.
A conscious attempt to merge ourselves in the Supreme Reality is called Spiritual Sadhana, which should be the common aim of all, though the process may be different.
If you wish to evolve quickly, you must have the right kind of Sadhana. If you are a student of the path of self reliance, you can select the Sadhana for your daily practice, yourself. If you are a student of the path of self surrender, you should get the right kind of Sadhana from a Guru and practice it with intense faith. Constant Satsanga with the wise and study of the Srutis under a Guru will slowly wipe out the wrong and worldly Samskaras. Make intense inner Sadhana the keynote of your life. Base your life upon the ceaseless remembrance of the Divine consciousness and constant feeling of His presence.
Sadhana is at first mechanical and it is only in the later stages that it becomes a part and parcel of one’s own life. It appears as a drudgery in the beginning, but later on it imparts joy, peace, strength, courage and freedom. Do not be slack in your Sadhana. It is Sadhana that will help you in the long run. It is the only asset in this life. Be regular in your Sadhana and attain Self Realization in this very birth. Never mind repeated failures in your Sadhana. Despair not. Do not give up the struggle or the Sadhana. You are nearer to success each time you try. Every failure is a stepping stone to success. You are sure to succeed in the long run.
Only when you have purified the heart, silenced the mind, stilled the thoughts and surging emotions, withdrawn the outgoing senses, thinned out the Vasanas, you can behold the glorious Atman during deep meditation. The practical method of realizing one’s divine nature is the complete transformation from the base animal nature, transcending the human nature and awakening fully the dormant spiritual traits within. This is done through perfect ethical evolution, self restraint, self analysis, self purification, concentration, meditation, practice of selfless love, service to all and systematic inner culture through right speech and right conduct. This alone is the pathway to Yoga and inner unfoldment.
Never complain against bad environments. Create your own mental world wherever you remain and wherever you go. Do not try to run away from bad unfavourable environments. God has placed you in unfavourable environments to make you grow quickly. This World is not a hindrance to your spiritual path. This World is your Guru. This World is a training school. This World is Virat or Isvara.
Perfect serenity, cultivation of divine virtues, entertaining holy thoughts, discipline of diet – all these pave the way to success along spiritual path. Right from the very beginning of your spiritual life, you must understand clearly that in true humility, sincere desire to root out gradually pride, egoism and jealousy, earnest and increasing introspection to find out one’s own defects and improve oneself, lies your hope of progress.
The nature of the mind is such that it becomes that which it thinks upon intensely. Thus, if you think of the vices and defects of other person, your mind will be charged with those defects and vices. Those who know this psychological law, will never indulge in censuring others or in finding faults in the conduct of others. They will always praise others. They will only see good in others. That is the way to grow in concentration, Yoga and spirituality.
No person is absolutely bad. Everyone has some good trait or other. Try to see the good in everyone. Develop a “good finding” nature.
Examine your character. Pick up some distinct defect in it. Find out its opposite. Let’s say, that you suffer from irritability. The opposite of irritability is patience. Meditate on it regularly every morning for a few minutes taking one aspect of it – such as its value, its practice under provocation on different days. Choose one virtue for every month and keep it before you as an ideal to be achieved throughout. Meditate on it morning and evening just after getting up from bed and just before retiring at night. There is no easy path to salvation except through small improvements, correction, purity, Japa and celibacy. If you are established in Ahimsa or non-violence, you will never be harsh, rude and haughty even for a moment. No thought of evil or of injuring others will ever occur to you, even for a moment. Your heart will be filled with love, kindness and affection.
Do not hurt others. You will have to become mindless. instead, kill your Egoism in total. Develop patience to a maximum degree if you wish not to be hurt by others.
From the DLS article by Swami Sivananda – Serve Love Give, Purify