Men-oI-you!

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Iishatkara - easy/doing little

This is a polite reference to finding the shortest way of doing something - preferably involving minimum effort; in other words, laziness! Why chose this for a series on self-development?

Well, as mentioned yesterday, there are no shortcuts to the proper raising of standards. The exercises and disciplines given by the teachers over the centuries have been tried and tested and proven, not once, not twice, but umpteen times. They have to be rehearsed and polished and checked and rehearsed and polished and checked and… Yet it is the case, especially in the early stages of seeking to make changes for the better, (but it can haunt us even at advanced levels), to want to find the most comfortable way of doing things in the hope of equal results. To become lax and think skipping steps will not be a problem.

The concert pianist will laugh at you. The master builder will watch as you hit your thumb. The jet pilot will blink as you crash and burn.

The sadhu in the Himalaya will not notice you because you have not done enough to rise to the state of unity with him or her.

Okay, so most reading here do not have any interest in moksha - freedom from the bondage of daily living whilst still living life. I would venture to guess, though, that if you have stuck around reading these posts, you do have at least some small interest in improving to some degree as a person.

Therefore, just as the pianist must build the strength of the fingers, the flow of the scales and sharpen memory skills, so it is that personal growth requires us to learn the life lessons of those who have done it before us, build our strength of character and hone our sensibility skills. Just as the master builder must be certain of his tools, sure of plans provided by the architect and have the expertise to interpret them correctly, so it is that we must accept the tried and true practices and trust the proven methods, and not seek to interpret them to suit our low and lazy ways.

Vedanta provides a very straightforward set of 'saadhanas' - daily practices. Not mere words to be read, but processes to be applied in daily life. Just like any other methodology, though, it requires the practitioner to be honest - brutally so - with themselves. We are a maze of personal history. If we cannot be true to ourselves, we can never unravel our own mystery...