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Excerpt from Mastery of the True Self – The Discipline of Love through Sadhana, Aradhana & Prabhupati, by Sadhana Singh, a new release by Kundalini Research Institute, to be launched on June 20th.
In my experience as a teacher, I have explored the nature and methods of discipline and its technology. I am fascinated by how discipline can produce substantial, predictable, and repeatable changes in our physiological systems and consciousness. I have tried to unfold the teachings with enthusiasm to read between the lines, in the corners and triangles they employ, and the levers they use to lift the impossible. Until now, I have focused on the “how” and “what” in the realm of discipline. Our understanding is not complete unless we explore the “why.” So today, I ask the unequivocal question, “Why is discipline necessary to live a conscious, healthy, and happy existence?”
When we choose discipline to avoid the present moment’s discomfort, it is no different from taking an aspirin when we have a headache – we are treating the symptom. Although it is not a cure, it is a start! Becoming aware of the symptom broadens our perspective. It awakens us and calls us to take time to sit and reflect upon ourselves. Starting from the symptom is like stepping into an existing story, looking at life with its trends, characteristics, and circumstances. Viewing ourselves under the lens of discipline exposes those things that do not allow us to be who we are. It does so gradually, inevitably, and precisely.
Discipline is a tool for self-evaluation, self-acceptance, and self-projection. Lacking discipline, we tend to look only on the outside, blaming the world for our inabilities and sense of inadequacy. We want to govern the world, change it and organize it. With discipline, we observe our inner world and can separate the real from the imaginary, facilitating the understanding of the Self and experiencing how each shift in consciousness, every opening, growth, and inner revolution impact the outside world. We recognize how sensitive the environment is and how it reflects our attitude and internal condition.
When we put aside the concept of right and wrong, it may help us understand our inner reality and our projection of it to the outside world. No external situation defines our inner state, level of awareness, or degree of discipline. Still, the way we react to what happens to us is a precise diagnosis of how aware we are at that particular moment in time. If we do not have discipline, we perceive the external world as wrong. When we begin to discipline ourselves, we understand that the outside world is actually manifesting in response to our energy frequency.
We attract all that revolves around us by projecting consciously or subconsciously or a conflicted mixture of both. The frequency that we project will attract a similar or an opposite frequency. For example, occasionally, we perceive that everything seems to happen at the same time. Calamities are not accidental; we have drawn them to us. What we have attracted brings opportunities as well — we only have to be able to see them. Without discipline, calamities become oppressive burdens that we would like to escape, but we actually miss the opportunity by running away.
I would like to share my own experience with the phenomena of discipline. In writing my last book, Everyday Excellence, something remarkable happened. For the first time, I wrote without a predetermined didactic scheme. Instead, I allowed myself to tell stories, ask questions, and follow a natural path in presenting the teachings. To my delight, the writing flowed quite naturally. It opened me up to new and unexplored aspects of my creative potential and, at the same time, revealed hidden aspects of myself that I had been reluctant to bring out of the shadows. I realized that I had been maintaining an outdated stereotype that suppressed the “symptom,” which was the creative tension naturally found in writing, to avoid the awareness of inner fear. Giving space to this unexplored weakness allowed me to deeply understand that the teachings were very practical and concrete to rely on in real-life experiences. Affording myself to be in that state of awareness allowed me to go deeper into my humanity and better assimilate the teachings, transforming division into unity, differentiation into uniqueness, and a stereotype into a pure state.
This new process led me to open up to a more complete understanding of discipline, its application, and resulting consequences. The consequence of success sheds light on the depths that we did not want to explore, understand, or accept. Only by diving deeper into these depths can we maintain success bringing a large number of possibilities and relationships to be contained and nourished. It is a call to humility, which is the foundation of all excellence.
The evolutionary process of human life is to become ourselves, consistent and competent. As human beings, we live successful lives when we are complete and when our electromagnetic field radiates. The process of being successful implies exposing ourselves to life completely. This brings multiplication and intensification of interactions, greater complexity in managing the energetic and material fruits we have attracted, and greater choices regarding possibilities and responsibilities.
We can see this progression as awakening and transforming. In Kundalini Yoga, the three stages of spiritual development are Sadhana, Aradhana, and Prabhupati. The understanding of discipline is a prelude to exploring these three facets. In this study, we will delve deeper into why the human being, already perfect in creation, needs discipline to experience the true Self and live life freely, in love and happiness.
About the Author
Sadhana Singh is a Kundalini Yoga Lead Trainer committed to teach and empower new teachers and future trainers in Level 1, 2, and 3 courses internationally. An inspired author, he wrote 15 books in the past three decades about the practice, discipline, and philosophy of Kundalini Yoga and its different applications in the many fields of human life. He is also a dedicated counselor for individuals and companies, addressing the Science of Mind and Humanology for creativity, excellence, leadership, and success.
Teacher
KRI is a non-profit organization that holds the teachings of Yogi Bhajan and provides accessible and relevant resources to teachers and students of Kundalini Yoga.
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