The Oath to fight all shortcomings and faults

The Oath to fight all shortcomings and faults

On the path of sadhana of Grahastha yoga, a sadhak is faced with a number of new problems every day. Sometimes due to his errors and at other times due to others' incidents keep unfolding that are not in consonance with the tenets of Grahastha yoga. A sadhak wishes that each of his action should be perfect and according to the principles, but mistakes keeping recurring. Sadhak believes that in a few days, in a few weeks, or a few months all his faults would be rectified and his actions would become perfect. But when a long time passes by and the errors do not subside, then his mind begins to worry and feelings of disappointment and failure begin to creep in. He thinks: "I am trying so hard and yet am unable to sublimate my nature. I err daily and my sadhana is not progressing properly". Sometimes he thinks: "My family members are silly, idiotic and irresponsible. They trouble me and annoy me; they do not allow me to tread on the path of sadhana. So it is not worth continuing my sadhana anymore." Egged on by such disappointing thoughts he gives up on his oath.

Every sadhak must take precautions against this difficulty. It is certainly true that human nature has its own fallacies and shortcomings. The day a human overcomes all his shortcomings he would attain the supreme spiritual state, and become free. Till he has not arrived at his destination, he has to remain in human form with all its known shortcomings. When there is a mix of several individuals, in which some are in an advanced spiritual state and some are lagging behind, it is but natural that new errors and mistakes would surface everyday. Some of these would be committed by us, some by others. The frequency of occurrence of these errors would reduce gradually, but it is impossible to believe that our family would transform into a family of deities. So neither there is any need to be afraid of difficulties nor to get worried and perturbed. After all, sadhana stands for the practice to correct errors and this practice must go on unhindered.

Yogis practice their sadhanas like pranayam, self control and meditation every day because their mental makeup still has some shortcomings. The moment these are removed, they also would attain self-realization. Being devoid of all faults is a sign of reaching the pinnacle, the final destination. Sadhaks should not even expect that all the desired virtues would come into action with a short practice of sadhana. Thoughts can come to mind in a flash but for them to get fully ingrained as an intrinsic tendency is a long, laborious process. To make an impression upon a stone the rope has to rub against it for a long, long time. One must understand that absolute freedom from all faults is the final aim; it is not a sign of the first stage of sadhana. If one begins to search for mangoes amongst leaves of a newly grown plant, he has to return disappointed.

Rather than expecting total perfection, one must observe whether there is at least some increase in sattwik (pure, serene) qualities or not. If there is even a little bit of progress it is a sign of hope, joy and success. A drop on drop fills the whole pot; a grain on grain becomes a quintal. If there is a little bit of success daily, then in the long run, great success will be achieved. And this wealth does not get destroyed ever. This accumulation continues life after life and we would certainly reach our final destination definitely at the end. If progress is being made little-by-little, one must keep going with renewed enthusiasm. There is no need to feel disappointed and disheartened.