Basic principles of Spiritual Practice How can we ensure rapid spiritual progress towards achieving Bliss? Rapid spiritual progress can be achieved when we do spiritual practice according to the basic principles of Spirituality. Even though there are many different types of spiritual practice, whether our spiritual practice adheres to the basic principles of Spirituality is a true litmus test for its effectiveness. If not, we run the risk of putting in a lot of effort but not seeing the results that match that effort. The six basic principles are There are as many paths to God as there are people Going from many to one Progressing from gross (tangible) to subtle (intangible) Undertaking spiritual practice as per the spiritual level or spiritual capacity Doing spiritual practice relevant to the times Offering to God as per your talent or capacity Spiritual Practice should be done on a daily basis If we are serious about any endeavour in life we need to be both persistent and regular. For example, if one wants to be fit one would need to do exercise regularly. So also if one wants permanent happiness one needs to do spiritual practice on a daily basis. Increasing the level of spiritual practice regularly Just as we increase our levels of fitness by steadily increasing our exercise regime, the same is true in spiritual practice. If we do the same spiritual practice year in and year out it would lead to stagnation. To avoid stagnation in spiritual growth we need to adopt increasing levels of spiritual practice. Do not waste your spiritual energy By doing spiritual practice one gets spiritual energy. If we use this energy, for example in the form of prayer to get worldly benefits then the spiritual energy gets depleted. The reason for this is that we draw upon our spiritual energy to orchestrate something for our worldly gains. Therefore instead our spiritual energy being utilised to enhance our spiritual growth we could even regress spiritually. There is no end to worldly difficulties and most of them are due to our destiny. With spiritual growth one derives increasing ability to face destiny and ultimately overcome it.
