“What is the most important thing on the spiritual path?”

We often ask ourselves “What is the most important thing on the spiritual path?” The most important thing on the spiritual path is self-discipline. It is a word which many people don’t like to hear, but it’s only through self-discipline that you will be able to do your sadhana. Without self-discipline it’s very difficult, because you will always find excuses not to do something. What is  sadhana? What does the word  sadhana mean? It means something by which we will attain our spiritual goal. In  sadhana there is perseverance, there is eagerness and there is patience. Without these three you can try as much as possible, but it will be

very difficult. Your mind will always make you think “Oh, today I’m a bit tired. I will not go to prayers.” or “I will not do this.” or “I will not do that.” You start to build up this self-un-discipline, because there is a lack of perseverance. You want to achieve your spiritual goal. You want to realise your Self, but do you think it’s just like that? No, it’s not. If one thinks that just by sitting around and thinking “OK, I think I will go to the prayers whenever I want. I will do my  sadhana whenever I want.” Then God will also say “I will come to you whenever I want. ”Well, He will come to you whenever He wants, it’s true, but you can make it happen faster. You can make Him awaken within you and be consumed,   attaining Him faster, and this can be done only through your discipline. If you want to become self-disciplined and have one-pointed mindfulness on your spiritual path, in your sadhana, you must aim for what you want; but what is this single- mindedness?

I will tell you a small story. Once there was a fisherman who was sitting on the riverbank, throwing his bait into the river and waiting for the fish to eat the bait. He was very focused. He was just looking at the foating bait, waiting for it to sink. He knew that there were a lot of fish around. A stranger who was passing

by asked the fisherman “Mister, can you tell me where Mr X lives?” The fisherman was so concentrated that he didn´t answer. The stranger repeated his question again – one time, two times, three times – still no answer. He got really angry and walked away. As he was walking away, the fisherman saw the bait going down, so he pulled and caught a fish. Then he called after the man “Hey, you were calling me, asking me something? Tell me what your question was.” The stranger said “I repeated my question several times, but it was as if you didn’t hear me or see me. Why should I repeat it again?” That was single-mindedness, one-pointed focus. When you meditate, when you do your  sadhana, you can achieve this state where nothing can disturb you. No left and right, no hearing, no seeing, because in the deepness of meditation, in the deepness of your practice, you have to be fully focused. If you are not disciplined with yourself, do you think you will have this focus? No, this is where everything gets uncertain. You will do prayer, but you will be really superficial and then not be satisfied with yourself. Self- discipline is something that you have to work for. It’s purifcation of the mind and of the senses. When the mind gets purified, when the mind becomes positive, you will see how easy it is in your sadhana also. It doesn’t matter if you don’t succeed in one go. I know that people when they start practicing, they would like to have quick results, like in one month. They want it very fast. Know one thing, if you go  in fast, you will go out fast also. You see, it’s like cooking. If a Mataji would like to make syrup, but she just took the fruits and threw them into a pot of water and then removed them quickly, would the sweetness go out from the fruit and into the water? It would not. You have to leave the fruits inside for some time. It is the same with your sadhana. If you just go inside and then quickly out of it, being impatient with yourself, it will be the same. It will not be sweet. The sweetness that you have inside of you is waiting to be awakened. It doesn’t matter which path you follow or which sadhana you are doing. How you are doing it is the most important. When you love to do something, you are not disturbed by anything. When you love to do the work that you are doing – let’s say that someone, for example, loves to be a carpenter – you would see how much Love he projects into his work, because he would do it with a full focus. I love painting. I love to paint, because it brings you to such a focus that nothing will disturb you, not even people around you who are talking. Have you ever painted? How many among you paint? That’s nice. So you know what I am talking about. It’s not only about painting. Anything that you do, when you love what you are doing, you will come to that focus that nothing will disturb you.