Hari OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
You were given a small assignment last W-day... didn't want the bother? Thought you'd stay spectator, not participator? That is your choice of course.
Be aware that no glossary is going to be provided. It will be a commitment to yourself to participate, even with this one small thing. The very nature of this blog and its subject will ensure that it is small, select, personal. It is a blog to participate, to engage...to apply the activities and thinking to your own life and experiment with whether it makes a difference.
Naturally, familiarity with the terminology will arrive. However the discipline of keeping even a simple 'diary' is important. Unpopular word, 'discipline'.
It is used here not in the context of punishment or cruelty but rather in the context of self. Without self-discipline, we really can achieve nothing. We require it to rise at a regular hour, to eat correctly and regularly, to act responsibly. This fact is acknowledged in such famous quotes as,
In Vedantic tradition the daily discipline is referred to as साधन /saadhana and this is the word which will be used from here on.
Much can be involved in saadhana of course, but like everything else, small steps only are required at first. Beginning any regime of change, which involves 'exercise' of any part of our body or being, must be carefully judged to ensure no 'injury' occurs. No running before the walking gait is properly measured. The walking itself cannot reach fulfillment without having coordinated the crawl.
Saadhana can look, to the observer, like a selfish activity. In its larger scope it certainly is not as it will have aspects of भक्ति /bhakti (devotion) and सेव /seva (service) incorporated. However, in order to devote oneself and to serve fully, one must know oneself very well. It is imperative to root out hidden motivation (we may not even know it resides within!), to have clear intent (without colouration of ego), to have no doubt about the purpose of Life... In these times of increased home-nursing-care it is a familiar phrase that 'you cannot help another unless you first help yourself'. A more ancient rendition of this is that of 'God helps those who first help themselves' - often accredited to the Bible, which is an error. To omit such self-care and self-improvement would also be an error, for it surely results in resentments rising, anger bursting, exhaustion burning.
Saadhana is a promise to yourself to impose self-discipline, to apply yourself to daily routine for the health and betterment of that self. It begins with self-care, of the setting of boundaries. It requires the dropping of the habitual diversions which tend to be built up to fill the emptiness at the core. It will steady your stance as you lift one foot to place it in front of the other.
Will you perhaps start that note-book today? Might you practice the five-minute sit-and-stay advised two posts back? They are small things. As acorns are small.
Share your experiences, doubts, thoughts, questions via the comments. Want private assistance? Reach me via the P-O-O-P.
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
You were given a small assignment last W-day... didn't want the bother? Thought you'd stay spectator, not participator? That is your choice of course.
Be aware that no glossary is going to be provided. It will be a commitment to yourself to participate, even with this one small thing. The very nature of this blog and its subject will ensure that it is small, select, personal. It is a blog to participate, to engage...to apply the activities and thinking to your own life and experiment with whether it makes a difference.
Naturally, familiarity with the terminology will arrive. However the discipline of keeping even a simple 'diary' is important. Unpopular word, 'discipline'.
It is used here not in the context of punishment or cruelty but rather in the context of self. Without self-discipline, we really can achieve nothing. We require it to rise at a regular hour, to eat correctly and regularly, to act responsibly. This fact is acknowledged in such famous quotes as,
...early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise...Women and children too, it may be added! It is no accident that every generation hears from its elders that there is a better way of doing things and invariably that 'better way' requires self-discipline. With or without any spiritual philosophy. Having such a support, however, can surely aid in the application of our discipline.
In Vedantic tradition the daily discipline is referred to as साधन /saadhana and this is the word which will be used from here on.
Much can be involved in saadhana of course, but like everything else, small steps only are required at first. Beginning any regime of change, which involves 'exercise' of any part of our body or being, must be carefully judged to ensure no 'injury' occurs. No running before the walking gait is properly measured. The walking itself cannot reach fulfillment without having coordinated the crawl.
Saadhana can look, to the observer, like a selfish activity. In its larger scope it certainly is not as it will have aspects of भक्ति /bhakti (devotion) and सेव /seva (service) incorporated. However, in order to devote oneself and to serve fully, one must know oneself very well. It is imperative to root out hidden motivation (we may not even know it resides within!), to have clear intent (without colouration of ego), to have no doubt about the purpose of Life... In these times of increased home-nursing-care it is a familiar phrase that 'you cannot help another unless you first help yourself'. A more ancient rendition of this is that of 'God helps those who first help themselves' - often accredited to the Bible, which is an error. To omit such self-care and self-improvement would also be an error, for it surely results in resentments rising, anger bursting, exhaustion burning.
Saadhana is a promise to yourself to impose self-discipline, to apply yourself to daily routine for the health and betterment of that self. It begins with self-care, of the setting of boundaries. It requires the dropping of the habitual diversions which tend to be built up to fill the emptiness at the core. It will steady your stance as you lift one foot to place it in front of the other.
Will you perhaps start that note-book today? Might you practice the five-minute sit-and-stay advised two posts back? They are small things. As acorns are small.
Share your experiences, doubts, thoughts, questions via the comments. Want private assistance? Reach me via the P-O-O-P.