Growing Within

Part II: The Process and Foundations of Growth

This part details the essential prerequisites, foundational states, and principal methods for undertaking the journey of inner growth.

Section A: Basic Requisites for the Path

1. The Four Aids

   • The practice of Yoga is supported by four key instruments:
     • Śāstra (The Teaching): The knowledge of truths, principles, and processes governing the path, found in scriptures or the guidance of a teacher. It serves as a map but should not become a rigid dogma.
     • Utsāha (Personal Effort): The persistent and patient application of will, aspiration, and energy towards the goal. It is the driving force of the seeker's progress.
     • Guru (The Teacher): The living influence, example, and direct guidance of a teacher who embodies the path's realisation and can awaken the divine potential in the disciple.
     • Kāla (Time): The recognition that all development occurs within a divine timing and cycle of action.

2. Sincerity

   • Defined as the indispensable condition and the ultimate protection on the spiritual path.
   • It operates on multiple levels: from the basic alignment of thought, word, and deed, to the profound state where every part of the being consents and adheres to the divine Will, free from internal contradiction.

3. Faith

   • It is not a mere mental belief but a certitude of the soul that persists independent of experience, reason, or circumstance.
   • It is the soul's witness to a truth not yet manifested, providing the unshakable foundation to persevere through periods of difficulty, doubt, and darkness.

4. Aspiration

   • The initial movement is a seeking for the truth behind appearances, which must be consciously tended and kept alive.
   • This aspiration, or "psychic fire," is lit and intensified by the will for progress and self-purification. It evolves into a focused concentration and an integral consecration of one's life to the Divine.

5. Patience and the Right Attitude

   • Inner growth is a vast and difficult undertaking requiring immense patience and perseverance. Impatience hinders the process.
   • Progress is often not linear; periods of seeming stagnation are frequently phases of inner preparation for a subsequent leap.
   • The correct attitude is to focus on the effort itself as an offering, without attachment to immediate results, maintaining a quiet, firm, and cheerful confidence in the ultimate outcome.

Section B: First Steps and Foundational States

1. Purification

   • The purification of the mind, vital (emotions, desires), and physical being is the first necessity. An impure nature distorts understanding, clogs action, and prevents stable spiritual experience.
   • Spiritual purity is distinct from social or moral conventions. It is the state where the entire being adheres exclusively to the divine Will, free from egoistic motives, insincerity, and falsehood.

2. Concentration

   • The faculty of gathering the dispersed rays of consciousness and focusing them on a single point or objective. It is the active counterpart to the passive state of purity.
   • It is the key to all attainment, from material skill to the highest spiritual realisation. The initial practice involves steadying the mind from its habitual wandering to focus on an inner object of attention.

3. Peace and Equanimity

   • Peace is the foundational condition for all stable spiritual progress. It is a positive state of tranquility that must be established in the inner being before it can extend to the outer nature.
   • Equanimity (samatā) is the state of being unmoved and undisturbed by external events or the vital reactions of anger, pride, and desire. It allows one to view life with a clear, objective consciousness and learn from all experiences.
   • Establishing this inner quietude, calm, and equality is the basis of the yogic status.

Section C: Principal Means and Methods

1. Diversity of Paths

   • The journey of inner growth can be approached through various methods, broadly classified into three main paths corresponding to human nature's primary faculties:
     • The Path of Knowledge (Jnana Yoga): For the thinking and cognitive being.
     • The Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga): For the emotional and affective being.
     • The Path of Works (Karma Yoga): For the active and conative being.
   • While individuals may have a natural inclination for one path, an integral approach combines all three. Ultimately, each individual must find and follow their own unique way (Swadharma).

2. Meditation

   • A central practice for quieting the surface mind and entering the inner consciousness. Forms include:
     • Concentration: Fixing the mind on a single point, idea, or name.
     • Contemplation: Mentally regarding a single object to allow knowledge about it to arise.
     • Self-Observation: Witnessing the flow of thoughts without identification.
     • Mental Silence: Emptying the mind of all thought to create a blank slate for higher knowledge to manifest.

3. Work (Karma Yoga)

   • Action performed not for egoistic satisfaction but as a consecrated offering to the Divine. It is essential for grounding inner experiences in the external life and transforming the outer nature.
   • The process involves a purification from personal desire, attachment to results, and ego-centric motives.
   • Effective practice leads to the development of a "double consciousness": an inner, silent witness self that observes and guides the outer, active self.

4. Devotion (Bhakti Yoga)

   • The path of adoration, worship, and self-offering to the Divine, whether conceived as a personal Being or an impersonal Truth.
   • Bhakti is a state of the heart and soul that emerges when the psychic being is awake. Intense emotion and love for the Divine are powerful forces for realisation and transformation.