Pursue Sadhana Selflessly and Cautiously
He is a liberated soul who is never but with God. He who feels that he is entirely God's is no longer 'tied'. To forget oneself in the conviction that He alone exists, is liberation. He who lives in the body and yet is unconditioned by it, stands liberated. One who believes that all doership rests with Rama is a liberated one. We become tied, or affected by the body, when we assume ownership of this thing and that; no sooner we cast off this cloak of 'ownership' we stand liberated. When the mind stays unmoved, unaffected, and contented under all circumstances, we stand liberated. We assume doership of many things, good and bad, and presume that we are 'sinners', and reproach ourselves. We should tell ourselves that we belong to God and none else, and should conduct ourselves in the world as an actor does in a play.
Actually, we are enveloped by maya or delusion. This maya is to God like a shadow to a man; it is and it is not; if we deliver ourselves up to God, we discover that maya has no independent existence. To realize the true nature of maya is spiritual discrimination, viveka; while vairagya consists in living contented with God's dispensation.
Sadhana performed in the spirit of a dilettante will not be of much avail. It must be pursued as a serious undertaking, with full faith in both the means and the goal. It should be undertaken for no mundane purpose. There are always people who manage to corrupt your thinking, intentionally or otherwise; a sadhaka must always be on guard against the possibility, and studiously avoid doing a similar corruption, or misleading the thoughts and convictions of others.
Those who never feel that they have faults and drawbacks to cure belong to the lowest order; those who are aware of their faults but do not seriously care to cure themselves, form the higher category; while the best are those that are aware of their faults and pine to cure them; these last a true sadhaka should emulate.
They are not few who progress half-way along the spiritual path; those who persist to the end are rare, indeed; they need to execute sadhana supported by appropriate reading or guidance.
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