14 January 2014 - QA 1

How do we know whether we are progressing on the spiritual path or not?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are three points you should always bear in mind when you have come on the spiritual path.
<p>The first is: God is mine. You should think that, ‘God is present right here, and is within me’. Have faith in that and simply relax. You should do whatever seva you can do.
Just observe, all of us are present here today, yet, do not all the events that have happened until today appear like a dream?<br>
Just try to remember what you did a day back, two days back, one month back, a few months back, or what you did exactly one year back on this same day of <i>Makar Sankranti</i>. Does it not feel that all events have passed you by, like a dream? <br>
Right now you are sitting here. But this event too will end and you all will go home. Then this too will appear to be a dream. In the same way, each day will pass by and one day, we will be no more. But this Earth will remain, and continue to exist.<br>
When you think in this way, your entire perspective and way of thinking shifts to a very different level altogether, from where you can say with awareness that <b><i>‘I am not the body, I am the eternal spirit. I have always been and will continue to be for eternity. I will appear on this planet again and again in the future’</i></b>. This experience will not come simply by listening. It can come only when you go deep within yourself. </p>
<p>That is why it is said that you need both <i>Vairagya</i> (dispassion) and <i>Abhyasa</i> (regular practice). When there is a shift or change in your perception, the entire creation appears very differently to you. </p>