Sadhana

Yogi Bhajan Answers Questions About Sadhana

Question: What is the greatest reward of doing sadhana?
Answer: The greatest reward of doing sadhana is that the person becomes incapable of being defeated. Sadhana is a self-victory, and it is a victory over time and space. Getting up is a victory over time, and doing it is a victory over space. That is what sadhana is. And when you do a sadhana in a sangat, you enrich yourself in multiple ways. First, the isolation in which can hit anybody and make them go totally crazy is defeated. Secondly, when all of you meditate on God, the total effect of your sadhana becomes multiplied by he number of people participating. Sadhana is not a matter of advantages and disadvantages. It is simply a means through which you can defeat all your miseries, misfortunes, and handicaps. It is a very personal thing that does not relate to anybody but yourself.

You are supposed to go through self-evaluation everyday. That is what sadhana is. On one side is God, the superiority of you; on one side is you; and on one side is the devil or the inferiority to you. Between the three you have to assess yourself.

A sadhu is a being who has disciplined himself. Sadhana is the technique to discipline yourself. It is a scientific way to live.

Question: I have been having a problem with sadhana. I fall asleep in the same posture every morning.
Answer: Whenever you have a problem with sadhana, you are very fortunate, because it indicates you are working on something. That is the time to conquer it, and get it out of our system.

Question: How can I find out what it is?
Answer: There is nothing to find out. Just go through it. Whenever you have a problem with sadhana, luck is smiling on you. That is what you have been waiting for. There is a challenge, you and challenge it, and go through it.

Question: How do you challenge it?
Answer: Challenge it by doing it. Sadhana gives fearlessness and a sense of self, as well s projection, polarity combination, equilibrium, respectability, totality, internal and external self-knowledge, purity, dignity, divinity, and grace. In addition, it gives you radiance, pranic and auric shakti. Finally, it gives you the quality of metal which is ever shining. You become a shining, living grace. The quality is embodied in loh-iron-which can absorb all the heat. Sarab loh means that which absorbs the entire heat and cold of the entire universe, and still remains neutral. That is what sadhana gives you. When you want to be bountiful, do sadhana.

Question: Is leading the yoga exercises in sadhana the same as teaching a yoga class?
Answer: No. There are differences. One difference is the amount of talking that should be done. On an outside class, there is more need for inspiring, coaxing and explaining. Sadhana occurs in the quiet ambrosial hours. At the time, mostly we should listen to the infinite.

Question: Should I change the exercises and kriyas everyday?
Answer: One part of the sadhana should stay constant long enough for you to master, or atleats experience, the changes evoked by a single technique. Each kriya and mantra has its individual effects, although they all elevate you toward a cosmic consciousness. Learn to value the pricelessness of one kriya, and all others will be understood in a clearer light.

There is a natural 40-day rhythm to habits in the body and mind. It takes about 40 days of consistent practice to break a habit. It takes about 90 days to establish a new habit in action and in the subconscious. It is good to take these biorhythms into account when designing our practice.

Question: If I have to leave sadhana what is the best way?
Answer: The same way you entered. Be aware of the presence of the teacher by bowing in you consciousness. Be quiet so nothing is disturbed. Choose a time to leave that is between kriyas and meditations. A sharp noise during a deep meditation is total shock to the total system. Do not come and go as you please, but to please the highest teacher.

Question: Should I wake someone up who is sleeping in sadhana?
Answer: No. God should wake him. The experience of sadhana is between the individual and God. Do not interfere. You can inspire beforehand. If sleeping is a chronic habit, discuss it with the person at a convenient time, but do not abruptly wake someone. He may be at a different level of experience than you think.

It is our intention, of course, to stay alert and awake during sadhana. If you are leading the sadhana, you can lead exercises, which can stimulate the brain and supply blood to the brain to help people stay awake.

Sadhana is to bring physical and mental awareness. Some people pretend to be tired. They are not fortunate enough to catch up with that gap. But it is very fortunate on the spiritual path when, instead of inspiring people, we start criticizing them. That is projecting your hatred.

I feel that in the morning when you go for sadhana, you are going to be sadhus. What does it matter if nobody just gets to say, “hmmmmmm?” That person is still doing something. At least he is not sleeping. It is far better than a person who is snoring at home in bed. Do you understand? Sadhana is a willful effort to prove you are not lazy about your own infinity. When the sun rises early in the day, even idiots rise. But blessed are those who rise before the sun and prove that they are children of the Almighty. Does it sound clear to you? Those who have guts will open the gates of the heart at 3:30 am.

Answer: In all Kundalini Yoga sadhanas, the same teacher teaches every sadhana – Guru Ram Das. Anyone who is qualified to teach can lead a good sadhana. It can be very beneficial for the group to experience the effects of slightly different styles of leadership.

Question: When chanting in the morning, the pitch often gets low. What, if anything, should be done to change the pitch?
Answer: Chant at a constant, mid-range pitch as much as possible. If your breath rhythm is not correct, your spine is not kept straight, or you do not take complete breaths in the Adi Shakti Mantra, the chant will lose energy and drop in pitch. If you project the sound of the mantra from the back of the moth in a full and roundish way, the power of the chant will increase as you continue, and the pitch will stay constant.

If you are constant and listen to the sound of our chant, you will hear different pitches. These are actually overtones of the basic sound you are creating. The overtones will be high-pitched, subtle, and seem to float around the room. You cannot identify that tone with one person since it is formed by the combination of group sounds. The overtone is a good sign that the sadhana group is tuned in to each other and beyond each other. As you listen to the first overtone and become very calm, you may begin to hear higher and more subtle overtones. This awareness aids of meditation on the etheric echo of your chanting, as you sit silently after chanting aloud.

Question: Is it alright to harmonize with the main tone?
Answer: Chanting is not singing. It is vibrating all the cells of the body, all the thoughts of the mind, and the core crystal of the whole to the same shabad. Chanting in meditation is beyond personality. Chanting like a choir with many harmonies can turn the group consciousness, which is striving for universality, into individual consciousness. Leave vocal harmonizing for kirtan and group songfests. Learn to harmonize the mind, body and soul while chanting.

Sadhana

Sadhana means a practice of self-discipline that allows one to express the infinite within one’s self. It is a time each day to notice the patterns that lead away from higher consciousness and to transcend those patterns.

Sadhana is a conscious activity. We consciously choose to rise up, to exercise the body, and to meditate. Each day is different. Each day, we are different. Every 72 hours all the cells of the body totally change. Sickness comes and goes. Motivation waxes and wanes. But through all the flux of life, through all the variations of the mind and heart, we consciously choose to maintain a constant and regular practice.

Morning Sadhana

The 108 yogic scriptures called the Kundalini Upanishads, call for at least two-and-a-half-hours of sadhana before the rising sun. The duration of two-and-a-half hours is determined by the law of karma: everything you give, you receive back tenfold. So if you dedicate one-tenth of each day to your higher consciousness, your whole day is covered by the retuning energy.

To exercise before sunrise is important because the angle of the sun to the Earth is very good for meditation. Also there is much prana in these hours, and the body rhythms are more set to support physical cleansing than during the rest of the day. Few people are awake and busy, so the clutter and bustle of daily activities does not interfere with your practice.
Though many challenges may come to stop this constant early morning practice, as we conquer each one, we will build our willpower, confidence and ability to concentrate. This is no small accomplishment. If at the same time each day, we tune all of our mental and physical rhythms to each other, then the entire day flows better. Besides this, if we learn to meditate at the same time every day, this natural rhythm will make it easier and easier.

In meditation, we are clearing the subconscious of fears. As each fear comes up and we look upon it neutrally, the fear loses its power over us. We become more flexible and feel freer. Most fears were learned at a particular time of day. So these fears tend to occur most intensely at the time of day they were originally experienced. By meditating at sadhana time, we slowly attract the anxieties from all other parts of the day. Normally we react to anxieties on their time and conditions. In meditation, the effects of old fears come to us on our time and under our conditions. Since they come at the same time each day, it becomes easier and easier to deal with each one. Eventually the mind is cleared of the clouds of fear and begins to see the light and power of creative consciousness. Then the morning meditation clears out the daily worries and projections so no further long-term subconscious fears can accumulate.

After practicing a regular sadhana for some time, the effects begin to seep into the deeper parts of the mind. This might take 40 years or one and a half years. It depends on the individual, the intensity of effort, and the starting condition. The subconscious mind finally gets the message. It understands that we are sincere, the meditation is a priority, that everyday at this time we begin to wake up automatically without the aid of an alarm, and that even when traveling we will meditate every day on time. The subconscious begins to support us, and sadhana begins to feel effortless. The subconscious, which directs about 60 percent of our activities and responses by habit, has now acquired a habit to have the consciousness of sadhana.

The Effect of Sadhana

CHANT ONG NAMO GURU DEV, AND FEEL THE IN-FLOW OF ENERGY and light to the body and mind, and the presence of the Teacher. Meditate on the higher Teacher within, and feel that in all devotion and humility we are asking for guidance in sadhana.

Many people build a regular sadhana but fall into the pit of boredom, because of false expectations. They want an experience of flashing light and sparkling energy. Although this does occur at times, (well, maybe not the flashing light!), it is more important to have contact with the infinite. Realize that doing the same chant or the same exercise we have done many times before can give us a totally different effect today. We are not at all the same person who went to bed a few hours before. The body’s cells have renewed themselves, and in the deep slumber of nocturnal meditation we have forgiven ourselves for all the errors we have made the day before. We are fresh. Let the individual mind rest in the neutrality of the Infinite Mind.

Integration and Commitment

The lifestyle of modern civilization includes a split from nature’s rhythms and consequently from the natural attunement o our inner life. This leaves a split that runs between the two sides of our brain. It is a popular notion to recognize that our brain has two sides, which have differentiated functions. The yogis have recorded the same difference. The two sides deal with action, emotion, and perception in opposite ways.

Another element in the sadhana process is commitment. Yogi Bhajan once said that 90 percent of today’s insanity comes from a lack of commitment and the lack of a capacity of a commitment. Commitments set the value of the self. The values of the self allow you to subject the power of the self to create. Creativity allows detachment. Detachment allows judgment. Judgment plus forgiveness give progress in the process of expansion of the self.

Sadhana acts as a counselor to the two sides of the self. It encourages a central self to become bilingual and translate the languages of the two sides.

Sadhana creates a meditative mind, which can absorb all the stimuli in the environment, compute it, and hen act wisely, instead of just reacting. The inner observer can understand logic as well as intuition, activity as well as rest, science as well as art. We must develop the bilingual self, full prepared with a clean sense of values and a deep capacity for commitment.

This capacity comes through sadhana.


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