Day 18. Pride and Prejudice- 3

 Once, one has risen above  pride and prejudice, then one is ready to embark on the spiritual journey. This journey can be compared with a plane journey. The route is straight and there is no traffic jam at all to disturb the journey, unlike the travel on a busy highway.

 You are on your own though with a significant difference. The journey is inward into one’s own self. Hence there is no question of any traffic , other than the one created by the self.

So, in order to take up this journey, some preliminary preparations are called for. Acquire the Sadhana Chatushtayam, already cited in an earlier blog.

But here we will briefly touch on the Ashtanga yoga prescriptions of Patanjali Maharishi viz. Yama and Niyama to start with.

Yama	Niyama
1Aahimasa- non-injury    2 Satya- truth 3. Asteya- non -stealing 4 Brahmacharya- celibacy 5Aparigrah- non-covetousness	1 Shoucha- cleanliness 2Santosha- happiness 3 Tapas- meditation 4 Swadhya- study of scriptures 5.Iswaraparidhana-worhsip of God

 Simple but essential steps. We have heard of all these from childhood in one form or other. This is the time to start acquiring those qualities, if we are keen on this journey.

These are essential too. Like while climbing Everest, carrying oxygen cylinder is inevitable.

It is timely to ask, how many of the ten areas listed  are already under our control. Our pride can be re-directed in the above direction to acquire these in  time bound manner.... I have mastery now on these-- and others I will acquire by…………date. Shall we start taking stock?

We will see some of them in detail in due course.

Be happy. Be safe.

9 AM