Photo by Philippe Gauthier, courtesy of Unsplash.
Everything takes its own time to mature, including one’s spiritual maturity. Just because you pray a raw fruit will ripen, it won’t ripen overnight. Imagine that you plant a seed and you just sit there and pray, “Please seed, I have planted you and I hope you will be a tree by the time I return to water you tomorrow. No, it’s not going to become a tree overnight. It may take more time. It will take its own time to grow. So, let the nature do its job. All that we have to do is to plant the seed, cover it up in fertile soil, water it, and give the proper nourishment. Then, it will grow naturally.
How can spiritual seekers cure impatience? Not by praying to God, “God, God, please teach me patience. Please teach me patience. But don’t delay!” Even praying for patience can become impatient. So, the only way to get deal with impatience is to recognize that everything happens in in its own sweet time, especially spiritual growth.
Don’t be like someone who plants a seed, then the next day digs it out to see how much it has grown. Then they put the seed back, put the soil again, and the day after goes back to see if it has grown. Impatience is not going to help you.
Patience is a great virtue, especially with your sadhana (spiritual practice). If after even 15 years of meditation you didn’t get anything, then there may be something about your quality of meditation. If I ask, “Oh, okay, so you are meditating the past 15 years? How many hours a day?” I might hear answers like, “Oh, well on and off. Some days 15 minutes, some days 2 minutes. Some days while I drive.” But you want the result overnight? So, instead of becoming impatient, make your practice qualitative.
There are other people who say, “Oh, I have been meditating since the past ten years but I am not going anywhere.” I ask them, “Where do you want to go? What do you want to get?” You may be surprised by their reply: “I don’t know.” They don’t know what they want to get, but they want to get something. They should know why they are practicing, what the fruition is that the sadhana and their spiritual path offers.
All spiritual practices are essentially done to help clean your mind. Only when you have a sattvic mind will you experience the Truth—the Truth of your real Self. Yoga philosophy tells us that once the mind is absolutely clean and clear, you will experience kaivalya—the realization of your own True Nature, which is unlimited, boundless, and free.
Your prayer, meditation, and all your sadhana should bring you to the understanding, “I am just doing my job. I trust that everything will happen at the right time. And I know that if I am doing the right things, all will unfold leading toward me toward kaivalya. When, where, how, and why I don’t know but I will just keep doing.” That should be our attitude.
