Spiritual Progress

What is spiritual growth and how do we measure it? The rise of the questions – Am I growing, I don’t feel any difference in life? what is the point of practicing meditation? It feels like life’s purpose is missing. Something is missing all the time.

Progress is not the absence of problems. It is not the absence of conflict.

Problems are bothering us all the time. The discomfort and uneasiness is difficult to carry. We are tired of our minds and ourselves. Nothing is working. Days and weeks are gone. Yes, it is still running inside our heads. We live in a constant inner pain.

Thoughts are pushing us to react immediately. It does not let us live in peace. Stress does not go away. It is burning inside us for days and nights and in our dreams. Mind is not at peace… never mind. We keep practicing kriya, our only support system. We feel good inside but after sometimes we are back to square one… never mind. We continue our practice, fixing a timetable and following it religiously. Being too much on the phone and hyper-discussion we realize leads us to be more restless, we learned the hard way. But what to do then to tolerate own self. We have no choice.

We do our daily chores slowly. As slow as possible. Stay in pain…stay and stay… suddenly one day it is gone. How did it happen as it was never inside us? I feel the answer is not easy to explain, but let me try. It is a mix of many things – our conscious efforts as we are aware of what is going on inside us, our never-giving attitude of practicing kriya, and the techniques based on our complex thought process. Also, our ability to be one with our thoughts, and to live it, to tolerate ourselves. One cannot experience detachment without being attached. We want to know ourselves at any cost that gives us the power to tolerate ourselves. Practicing silence is like no other option.

Now one reacts in inner certainty, it is precise, and concentrated without losing any energy, and mostly, work is done. One feels proud of oneself, never been so happy. A great sense of achievement, feels we are growing in all aspects. The richest person on the planet. One feels as strong as never before. That is the purpose of life and makes it worth living.