{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/sadhana.htm","path":"bud/tib/sadhana.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/sadhana.htm","text":"Sadhana !\nFor those who want to seriously practice kriyas, it is time to\nformulate a specific sadhana. Sadhana means \"endeavoring to obtain a\nparticular result.\" The result kriyabans seek is accelerated spiritual\nevolution. Sadhana becomes a powerful method to achieve this result.\nThere are three important aspects of sadhana: choice, commitment and\naspiration.\nThe first stage of sadhana is to choose a practice. Even the most\nsimple sadhana will be challenging to the newcomer. Consider the\nsadhana of lighting a candle every night, then immediately blowing it\nout. Nothing more or nothing less. Do this for ninety days. You will\nobserve the mind coming up with every reason why you shouldn't do it\nand every excuse why you missed a few (or many) nights. Yet by\naccepting it as a sadhana, you make a choice to do it and it becomes a\nspiritual practice.\nThe second aspect of sadhana relates to regularity -- doing\nsomething at periodic intervals. This typically would be at the same\ntime in the same place everyday. Yet it doesn't have to be everyday;\nit could be every other day or every Tuesday and Thursday, as long as\nit is regular. Doing practice irregularly is not sadhana. Once the\nschedule is selected, the challenge of sadhana is to stick with it --\nnot to miss the appointed time. This is the first measure of\ncommitment. The second measure is to make a commitment for a specific\nperiod of time; that is, choose do the practice for thirty days, sixty\ndays, ninety days, or even 108 days. Notice the level of your success,\nthen take a break. Decide upon another practice (or the same one) and\nmake another commitment.\nYet choice and regularity are not the only aspects of sadhana. If\nthey were, simply dressing every day would be a sadhana. We choose\nwhat clothes to wear and we do it. Dressing could be a sadhana, yet\nit is just a mechanical action done every day. Thus, the final key to\na successful sadhana is conscious intention. This is where the power\nis generated, and more still, when the intention becomes an\naspiration.\nWhen I first started my sadhana, I chose a simple action, that of\nthe yogic practice of \"neti\", the washing of the nostrils with water.\nI had been doing yoga for many years but never as a sadhana. I had\neven been doing kriya practice for about a year, but never as a\nsadhana. I chose \"neti\" because every morning I took a shower in a\ntypically mechanical way. Since I was immersed in streams of water, it\nbecame a convenient place and time to remember to do \"neti\". Besides,\nsnorting water is one good way to shock the mechanism awake. For this\nto be a sadhana, however -- rather than just another cleansing action\nlike washing behind the ears -- intention was necessary. The one I\nchose,\nthe one I still employ in all the practices of my sadhana today, is\nrepresented by the simple statement: \"This is all I have to do to\nevolve spiritually.\" Other variations included: \"This is the only\npractice I must do to spiritually grow.\" \"This is the only act that I\nneed to do to develop as a spiritual being.\" With those words not only\nwas an intention created around the practice, but an aspiration. For\none moment each day, I became consciously aware of having a spiritual\ngoal, of being a spiritual being.\nConsider once again the candle exercise cited above. Initially, it\nwill challenge the mind and the ego. The spiritual \"you\" may even win\nthe battle, but to keep it from becoming mechanical, an intention is\nrequired. Try this variation. Light the candle. Say, \"This is all I\nhave to do for the benefit of self, other, and the world.\" Then blow\nout the candle. Doing no other practice than this will begin a\ntransformation process that will alter your life. To add even more\npower behind it, consider this statement, \"This is all I have to do to\nremember who I am; I remember this for the benefit of Self, Other,\nand the World.\"\nOne immediate result of sadhana is the remembrance of \"who we are\"\nrather than \"what we are\" during the brief moments the sadhana takes.\nRepetitively remembering our inner essence nature is at the heart of\nall spiritual growth. One day we will remember our spiritual essence\nin every moment. That is the realized state.\nSo start with a simple sadhana to build your confidence. Add\nanother sadhana in addition to this one. Expand a sadhana to include\nmany practices including yoga or other bodily movement, chanting or\ninner mantra, and kriya practice.\nCopyright 1994, Alan Verdegraal, \"Tantra: The Magazine\", P.O.Box 108,\nTorreon, NM 87061, Issue #8, p22-23.\nTranscribed with permission of the author.","title":"Sadhana","type":"page"}