Notes for a Seeker

Moreover, forget not that on all sides you are surrounded by materialistic influences. If you are slack even for a day, the evil forces around you would find their opportunity and play havoc with you. The ball dropped on the top of the staircase takes less than a split-second to reach the ground, whereas it took much longer to take it up. In a moment of heedlessness much could be lost. Life is short, time is fleeting, and you cannot afford to lose an inch of ground that you have gained with so much effort, in your battle against the formidable foe—Maya or the evil mind.

Side by side with your work, you should do Japa, meditation, study of scriptures, Sat-vichara and Sat-Vyavahara. Do not let this monkey-mind have a minute's respite. It is here that Satsanga and spiritual literature come to your great aid. The scriptures are your saviours. How many sublime thoughts are brought by them to your very doors! Study them carefully. Underline the sentences that strike you as having a direct bearing on your life and reflect over them in leisure moments. Thus would you find that you are able to surmount many obstacles and avoid many pitfalls. Is the mind disinclined to read these passages over and over again? That is Maya's potent weapon to put you to sleep! Therefore beware. Are you not taking the same food daily over and over again? You will have to go on reading and re-reading the self-same spiritual sentences over and over again till they are indelibly engraved on the tablet of your heart, till they become part and parcel of your inner nature.
Then will a fortress of Nirodha Samskaras be erected within you. Repetition gives strength and pushes the ideas into the innermost chambers of your heart. Then the ideas will percolate your subconscious mind. The evil thoughts lurking there will be scorched and annihilated. You may not even know what wonders have been effected within you. Such is the salutary effect of repeatedly studying the same spiritual texts. That is why our ancestors have insisted on our ceremoniously reading texts like the Gita, the Ramayana, the Bhagavata etc., daily, regularly, with faith and devotion. These will augment your inner strength and you will grow stronger and stronger and ascend higher and higher on the ladder of Yoga Sadhana. When thus the entire inner nature is transformed into divine nature, then a single effort to meditate will lead you to Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Super-consciousness. You will then realise God in the twinkling of an eye.

Be regular in your Sadhana and maintain Spiritual Diary. Get up at Brahma-muhurta, at 4 a.m., and meditate. Do Japa and Kirtan. Wherever there is spiritual gathering, try to be present there and take active part. You should never miss a single opportunity, if you could possibly help it. Regularity is the most important factor in Sadhana, without which progress will not be marked.Take notes of all the sublime thoughts imparted to you at the time of hearing the discourses, contemplate over the important points and put them into practice in your daily life. Purify your heart through service and charity. Worship the Lord through Japa and meditation and obtain His Grace. Cultivate Vairagya or dispassion. Equip yourself with the knowledge of the fourfold means of Vedanta-Sadhana and march forward to your Goal—Moksha or Kaivalya. May you all shine as Jivanmuktas in this very birth. May your sincere endeavours to attain the knowledge of the Ultimate Truth bear fruit.