Yogi Baba Prem

Mystical Spirituality and Modern Life. Finding Balance in the Modern World.

By Yogi Baba Prem Tom Beal, Veda Visharada, CYI, C.va, C.ay

Commonly it is said that many of us would pursue a life of dedicated spiritual exploration if we could, but the baby is crying, the boss wants that report due tomorrow, and we have a little league game on Saturday.

The spiritual longing in our culture has given birth to numerous movements periodically. The most recent was just called “The new age”. Regrettably the new age fizzled out as we entered the new millennium. Older movements such as theosophy share important work and teachings but occasionally wax and wane in popularity with different cycles within the consciousness of mankind. So how will we feed the inner spiritual hunger and balance life’s other demands on our precious time this lifetime? I believe the key is in the acknowledgement of several factors:

1) Realization that we are householders.

2) Acceptance of limited time for practice and study.

3) Realistic goals.

4) Realistic time for practice.

Realization that we are householders.

The first step is realization that we are householders. A householder is a term meaning that we have chosen to function in the world in a particular way. Having a family, procurement of wealth, various material desires etc. The householder thinks of themselves as regular people participating in the world and its concerns.

Within the Vedic system from India, there were four steps for householders which were called ashrams. These are basically the four stages of life. Basically, they run in 21 year cycles, but this is not a hard and fast rule. People incarnate with different karmas and are drawn to the different stages in different combinations. The four ashrams are:

1) Brahmacharya

2) Grihastha

3) Vanaprastha

4) Sannyasa

Brahmacharya is from birth to about 21. It is a period of study, learning, and maturing. Commonly, there would be a great deal of spiritual study, as well as academic study during this time period.

Grihastha is from the age 21 to about 42. This is the main householder period that involves development of a career, having a family, and social responsibilities.

Vanaprastha is from 42 to about 63. This is an important transition period, as the householder is leaving the responsibilities of raising children and moving back to spiritual study. But during the vanaprastha cycle, there is still participation in work and other activities. But these are starting to take more of a ‘back seat’ to spiritual study over this cycle. During this time period, one would cultivate wisdom more and the ability to guide society from a distance.

Sannyasa is from 63 til death. This is the stage of renunciation. We remove ourselves from outer goals and fulfill the role in society as teacher and emanation of wisdom for our culture.

It is important to remember that this is a basic guide. Individuals evolve at different rates and start at different points. It is not uncommon to see someone incarnate and move quickly into the sannyasa cycle. Likewise, it is possible for someone to have difficulty with the Brahmacharya cycle and spend their life trying to work issues involving that particular cycle.

Acceptance of limited time for practice and study.

So our focus is currently on Grihastha and Vanaprastha. During the cycle of Grihastha, most householders would apply what they had learned in Brahmacharya and continue their study but at a reduced level. During the vanaprastha cycle the study that had continued would be refined. So how does the householder become successful with their spiritual study and practice while attempting to ‘juggle’ so many different issues? The key is in consistency. Earlier I mentioned the “new age movement” which largely came to an end as we entered the new millennium. The failure was that the process of teaching and practice developed into a weekend workshop mentality and format. While there is nothing initially wrong with attending a weekend workshop; the key to spiritual growth is in regular practice and study, rather than intensive study in a short period of time. While our culture thinks that intensive study over a short period of time would yield the best results, as we commonly do as most study for business this way, in reality, for spirituality, taking the slower and longer approach will yield better results.

For the householder, this could be as little as 20 minutes of daily study or meditative practice. This is a relatively small commitment considering that the average American watches 4 hours of TV every day. By missing one 30-minute program each day, a powerful disciplined spiritual practice could be developed.

While the common argument is that “I need to just relax and unwind from the day in front of the TV”. The reality is that we don’t relax in front of the TV. While watching TV one of two things occur, either a variety of emotions are stimulated due to the emotional impact of the programming; or one goes into a mind numbing zone that is devoid of thought, but rather absorbed by the flickering light and changing contrast on the screen. This has been called “orienting response” by some experts. It is something that animals do. But this response within humans becomes a drain on their mind and nervous energy.

So each householders goal should be to work up to 30 minutes of study, mantra, yoga, or meditation a day. Which reminds one of our third point, set realistic goals.

Realistic goals.

It is important to set realistic goals. Most people get on a “high” when they decide to do something. They go and buy all the equipment, food processors, or whatever is required of the current fad. This actually produces chemicals in the brain that make us feel good. Not just the idea of getting started produces these chemicals, but the actual shopping gives everyone a real high. Once the high is over, the items usually collect dust, and we are off to the next fad.

Realistic goals involves getting a simple book and starting a short manageable practice. For some people this might mean starting with 15 minutes a day and then building to 30 minutes each day.

While we all have good intentions of spending hours and hours in meditative bliss each day. The reality is that few people have the focus or discipline to spend hours in meditation each day; and even fewer have the time.

30 minutes of good meditation will allow a person to experience higher levels of conscious and reduce stress over time.

Realistic time for practice.

The final key is a realistic assessment of the best time to practice. While convincing arguments could be made for practicing at different times, the key is what works for you. I think for most people a realistic time is in the evening, once the kids are in bed, and things are starting to quiet down. But for many, they will fall asleep trying to meditate during this time. For others, early in the morning before the little ones are up, or before going to work is best. The key is to experiment and find what works best for you and remain flexible that the time might change.

Exploring these simple approaches can start one on a lifelong road to fulfilling spiritual enrichment. You and your friends will see visual changes over time, but most importantly, you will feel the changes.