Sastras say that all jivatmas are eligible to attain moksha and hence no one is denied the chance to enter the exam of life; but they also state that the basic requirement to qualify in this open exam is proficiency in Adyatma Yoga. This is a stiff demand and depends on each one’s individual merit and effort alone and, of course, the grace of the Lord, pointed out Swami Budhidananda in a discourse.
The difficulty in the practice of Adyatma yoga is pointed out in the Katopanishad: “Realising through self contemplation that primal God, difficult to be seen, deeply hidden in the cave of the heart, dwelling in the deep, the wise man leaves behind both joy and sorrow.” It means that first of all, the absolute truth is not to be accessed easily, especially through the ordinary spiritual exercises that factor in the senses, mind and intellect, etc. It is beyond the knowledge of the sastras, and of the ability to discuss, debate and argue on them; it is totally an experience of the Infinite that pervades the entire universe, including the innermost recesses of one’s being. The only means is to understand that spiritual realisation cannot coexist with the awareness of the phenomenal world; and that there is no room for physical and material pulls in one’s consciousness.
Viveka, the sense of discrimination to sift the real from the unreal, the permanent values from the transitory, is to be cultivated. Along with this Vairagya, dispassion, the practice of the six-fold qualities of rightness that can gain control over the senses, and a burning desire for salvation, Mumukshutva, have to become part of one’s life.
Unfortunately, some of these difficult practices are part of the life of an ordinary being in the context of his worldly pursuits. Prahlada, aware of this tendency among beings, wishes that the Lord grants him the same steadfastness of purpose in his spiritual awareness.
