• Advice for establishing a regular routine of spiritual practice leading to a more fulfilling inner life and a more effective outer life.

We become Successful in the world by following a daily regimen of spiritual and material practices. Some people follow only a material regimen. They may achieve physical success, but their life may become unbalanced or unfulfilled over time.

The question “Now what?” will begin to lurk within their daily routines, as they have denied a core component of their being, the inner self. 

Bringing forth success and a higher version of ourself goes far beyond just making more money or having a higher position at work. This success is bringing forth what is deep within us to the world around us-affecting the world around us more than it affects us; in essence, to change the world around us to our will. As Hindus, we are fortunate to have many practices that assist us in a holistic life of success, both material and spiritual.

We all relate to the world around us. There are two ways we do this. Firstly, we are affected by the world. Secondly, we affect it. I have found we can enhance our ability to affect the world by following certain Hindu practices. We can strengthen our aura and willpower, bringing forth a stronger version of ourself to the world, by flowing awareness within Hindu mental constructs, performing daily puja, and using affirmations, mantras and various meditation techniques. This enables us to influence the world around us more than it affects us.

This article was first published in Hinduism Today.

For example, if your wife says, “We need to buy milk right now, we ran out.” Your response can be, “Yes, once I finish my puja and meditation. If the store closes, sorry, we will have to do without milk for a day.” Once this happens a few times, you and everyone else around you will understand the priority you have set for your regimen. They will realize that they need to adjust their requirements around your period of sadhana and not the other way around. Going forward, shopping for milk will be planned ahead of time.

Be Consistent

If you miss your regimen or a part of it, then make up for it on another day. Don’t let it slip by and give up on your goals. That would be like skipping a class in university. You make up for it by looking at the online lecture or getting the notes from someone who attended. But if you miss five or six classes, either you will need to spend a few days catching up or you will fail the course. The same is true for your spiritual routine. Take it as seriously (or more seriously) as you would a university course.

If part of your sadhana is to do a certain set of affirmations, but you had no time to complete it today, then do it twice tomorrow. Not in a rush, one set after the other, but perhaps once in the morning and once in the evening. You must perform both sets well, just as you would a single day’s set.

Be gentle with yourself. Don’t be a fanatic. You may genuinely need to pause the regimen at times, but don’t simply skip a day and make excuses because you are feeling lazy. For example, my regimen is on hold when I am on vacation or a religious pilgrimage. Otherwise, seven days a week it will be performed—or made up if missed.

When and How to Start?

Start immediately. Start small. Do a simple five-minute meditation and daily reading for ten minutes. Do something. The longer you wait to start, the less likely you will build a strong daily regimen. Then, as your small practice becomes routine for a month or two, watch for the benefits. In the beginning the changes are subtle and hard to see, but they will be evident if you look do a mental review back to the time you began.

Over time, you will feel the need to intensify your regimen. This may not happen for several years; don’t be in a rush. Over the last few years I have intensified my practice. Now I sometimes have an hour in the morning, an hour in the early evening and then some more time in the late evening. I even have a practice in the middle of some days. This may seem too intense for some, but the results have been outstanding.

This was a long and slow process of many years. I only got to where I am because I made the choice to intensify my practice and to shut out many frivolous activities. But there was no sense of deprivation from giving up those activities. They just fell away as I found something better, something more real.

Author Suganth Srichandramohan lives in Canada. He enjoys reading and writing about Hinduism. You can see his blog posts at www.hinducorner.com. He runs a nonprofit, the Saiva Dharma Foundation, to help war-affected children in Sri Lanka. Email: nadarajah@hinducorner.com

This article was first published in Hinduism Today and Here eSamskriti has obtained permission from Hinduism Today to share.