9 Days to Change Your Life

What Karma Means Buddhist Definition of Karma What exactly is Karma? Karma? What does it mean mean to be free of of the Karmic cycle? These are excellent questions and today I will will try and shed some light on this this important topic. This topic is important important really because understanding it deeply, will help you a great deal in living your life correctly and accelerating your spiritual progress. To help with this complex topic, I am going to provide the thoughts of the great Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, from his A+ book Zen Mind, Beginner¶s just a Buddhist view of Karma, Karma, this is actually a clear Mind . This is not just view of the Law of Karma. Also, I provide a nice 9 Day Karma Cleansing Challenge which is a great spiritual test to take in the bottom of this article. Zen

en  Z en

Buddhist Master Shunryu Suzuki on What is Karma? Mind, Beginner¶s Mind 

ages P ages

100, 102

According to the traditional Buddhist understanding, our human nature is without ego. When we have have no idea of ego, ego, we have Buddha¶s view of  of  life. Our egoistic egoistic ideas are delusion, covering out out Buddha Buddha Nature. We are always creating and following them, and in repeating this process over and over again, our life becomes completely occupied by ego-centered ideas. This is called karmic life, or karma. The Buddhist life should not be karmic karmic life. The purpose of of our practice is to cut off off the karmic spinning mind. mind. If you are trying trying to attain enlightenment, enlightenment, that is a part of o f karma, you are cr creating eating and being driven by karma, and you are wasting your time on the black cushion. cushion. According to Bodhidarma¶s understanding, practice based on any gaining idea is just a repetition of your karma. Forgetting Forgetting this point, many later later Zen masters have emphasized some stage to be b e attained by practice. He

goes on to say«

Before Buddha attained enlightenment he made all possible effort for us, and at last he attained a thorough understanding of the various ways. You may think Buddha attained some stage where he was free from karmic life, but it is not so. Many stories were were told by Buddha Buddha about his experiences after he attained enlightenment. He was not at all different from us. When his country was was at war with a powerful neighbor, he told his disciples of his own karma, of how ho w he suffered when he saw that his

country was going to be conquered by the neighboring king. If he had been someone who had attained an e nlightenment in which there was no karma, there would have been no reason for him to suffer so. And even after he attained enlightenment he continued the same effort we are making. But his view of life was not shaky. His view of life was stable, and he watched everyone¶s life, including his life. He watched himself, and he watched others with the same eyes that he watched stones or plants, or anything else. He had a very scientific understanding. That was his way of life after he attained enlightenment. When we have the traditional spirit to follow the truth as it goes, and practice our way without any egotistic idea, we will attain enlightenment in its true sense. And when we understand this point we will make our best effort in each moment. That is true understanding of Buddhism. So our understanding of Buddhism is not just an intellectual understanding. Our understanding at the same time is its own expression, is the practice itself. Not by reading or contemplation of  philosophy, but only through practice, actual practice, can we understand what Buddhism is. Constantly, we should practice zazen, with strong confidence in our true nature, breaking the chain the karmic activity and finding our place in the world of actual practice.

Buddhist Understanding of What Karma Means The above excerpt offers the best way to view and Karma, Karmic Bondage and Karmic Living. In addition, I wanted to present this excerpt to you as it has other hidden gems in it as well. Let me highlight these points for you below. 1.

What is Karma?

Karma is life and action that is led by the ego and for the ego. The more the ego is involved, the more Karma there is. Both as a driving force and in accumulation as fuel (Karma) for future egotistical action. Lets see this cycle at work using the simple pleasure principle. When you experience some pleasure, that is fine, it is just sensation. But then the mind tends not to leave it at that. It forms an emotional memory and starts to chew on the memory of that experience, giving it more and more strength. Then, it starts to crave that pleasure experience again. This emotion soaked memory then lays the foundation for desires and influences future actions. So Karma is formed by the mind spinning the pleasurable experience, building emotion soaked memory, which then becomes the seed for ego gratification in the future, leading to more experience and sensation. This then forms more emotion soaked memory, if it is spun around in the

mind, and the Karmic cycle continues. Thus we are bound by our Karma, as we already have in us emotion soaked memories, which are the seeds that will then influence our mind to pursue more ego oriented activity. Purging this emotion soaked memory is the emptying of the mind which you hear about in meditation. As this is a very interesting and important topic and there is a lot of  confusion around what Karma is I will go into this in more detail in a future article, but for now I think you should get the gist of what I am saying from the explanation and example above. 2. How

to Free Oneself from the Karmic Cycle?

The answer to the question, " How to be free from the Karmic Cycle?", emerges from the understanding above. Do what the Buddha did. Learn to become a detached witness to the comings and goings of your life. Even the Buddha, after enlightenment, had to live out the Karma that was already present in him, but by bearing witness and not getting drawn in, he stopped creating more emotion soaked memory, or more Karmic seeds. Also, by bearing witness, the content of consciousness (emotion soaked memory) starts to reveal itself and gets purged. In other words, develop the Witnessing Consciousness. Residing in this Witnessing Consciousness or Big Mind, means to not live via the ego oriented, small mind, but to live instead in moment to moment awareness. This awareness is your Buddha Nature. It is the Big Self and the substratum on which the drama of life is being playing out on. Residing in such awareness, is residing in your Buddha Nature and this alone frees you from the cycle of Karma.

Summary and Karma Cleansing Challenge: So karma boils down to a very simple thing. If you strengthen the ego, give it more importance and are caught in nothing but ego-centric desires, then you are accumulating karma, if on the other hand, you are residing in pure consciousness and witnessing, you are freeing yourself  from the entanglements of karma and the dualistic world. Of course this is not at all easy to accomplish, but it can really be a lot of  fun to do if you are up for the challenge. To help you on this journey here is a great 9 Day Karma Cleansing Program. It is difficult to do, but even trying it will give you a great deal of insight into how your ego functions and also, how to live with moment to moment awareness. If doing all of  what this challenge requires is too much, just pick a few of the requirements, that too will be of enormous benefit to you

Days to Change Your Life: Karma Manual  Dr. Jonn Mumford  Chapter 12: 9 Day Karma Clearing P rogram 9

"If  you

can do this f or nine days, you will experience nine days o f  amazing unconscious material - you will prevent Agami Karma (un-sprouted  Karamic seeds) f rom being watered and converted to Prarabdha Karma (sprouted unavoidable Karmic consequences). Best of all you will  emerge, like a butterfly from a cocoon, a more powerful, sensitive, insightful human with an increased sense of purpose, destiny,  self-mastery, and satisfaction! "  Need I say more? A word of advice though. This test is not easy! It is rare that anyone is able to pass it perfectly. I challenge you to take it if  you feel ready. I will start it myself in the near future and maintain it for the 9 days required. I will record my progress in the comment section below and invite you to do the same if you like. Day Test of Your Spiritual Evolution (aka: 9 Day Karma Clearing Program) 9

The test comprises of the following 11 disciplines to be done daily for each of the 9 days. My version is only slightly different from the original. 1.

No media news input for the entire global gossip. y y y y

9

days: Take a break from

No newspapers No internet news No radio For Television see #2 below

2.

No Television of any kind: Take a break from staring at the box and escaping from yourself and your life. 3.

No communication of dissatisfaction: You may do anything you wish to try to bring about the changes you need to, but, you may not express any dissatisfaction regarding any aspect of your life during these 9 days. 4.

No Criticism of any kind: Very similar to discipline #3 is this requirement - no criticizing anything« person, object or activity. 5.

Witness Thoughts & Actions: This will actually start to happen naturally as a consequence of the above disciplines (which build up immense psychic pressure). Don¶t allow anything to happen without awareness. Many articles on this website explain this art of witnessing in

greater detail. To read more about it you are check out The True Meaning of Laziness. 6.

Wake up Earlier: You are to wake up 1 hour earlier than you normally do. To help you with that and understand its benefits you can read the following article The Secret of  How to Become an Early Riser. 7.

One Major Meal Only: This requirement in conjunction with the above disciplines is designed to cause deep seated emotions to surface, thus giving you a rare chance to observe deeper aspects of your being. This one meal should also only be a vegetarian meal. 8.

Daily Mediatation: Meditate everyday for minimum of 20 minutes between dawn and dusk. I suggest choosing Zen Meditation Technique, Ajna Chakra Meditation Technique or So Hum Meditation Technique all of  which are available on this website. 9.

Do Something That you Dislike: The important aspect of this discipline is that the activity which you pick to do, is not just something you dislike, but, is also something that is not essential for you to do. This will help you build willpower. 10.

Selfless Act: The act of kindness should be done without anyone having any knowledge of the source. So you are not getting any overt credit for your goodness. 11.

Review & Recall: Review your day entire either backwards or forwards and pay special attention to emotional situations and decisions you made. Study yourself in this way and reflect on the actions you took. See where you would have done things differently had you applied your higher self. This activity is item #7 in the article 10 Things Your Should Do Everyday for a Happy, Meaningful and Good life, which you will find has many of the elements that are also a part of this test. In fact, once you take this test you will incorporate many of these disciplines into your daily life and find you are meeting most of the requirements set out to help have a Happy, Meaningful & Good life. Conclusion: This test is a real opportunity for you to not just evaluate your spiritual prowess, but, also to make incredible progress on the spiritual path. Often we end up just reading about things, this test is a chance to really act and do something very unique and beneficial. So take up my challenge and go for it. I want to wish you the very best on this 9 day adventure of yours. Feel free to post your experiences with this test in the comments section below, I think that would help and inspire others trying this difficult test as well.

The True Meaning of Laziness Art of Meditation: Personal Development and Spiritual Growth: Do you think you are a lazy person? Do you think you are not a lazy person? I think a better question is, do you know what the true meaning of laziness is? I mean, until we know what the true meaning of l aziness is, we can¶t really decide if we are or are not lazy people. So to reveal the true meaning of laziness let me tell you a story. Zen Master Blumise was growing very old. He had been the head abbot of No Wind Monastery for a very long time and was ready to anoint a successor. Master Blumise decreed that the monk who he felt was least lazy, would take over as head abbot of No Wind Monastery. Everyone knew that the real competition was only between Chin and Tara. They both had immense character, were flush with noble qualities and were favorite students of Master Blumise. The competition was on. Chin pondered hard as to how he would demonstrate his non-lazy character to Master Blumise and finally came up with a huge list of items that needed to be done around the monastery grounds. This he thought would be appripo. There was much work to be done and, in accordance with the Zen teachings of physical labor, he would show Master Blumise just how devoted to work he could be. Moreover, Chin knew that some of this work was very physical in nature and that Tara, being a lady of sli ght stature and build, would not be able to do it even if she decided to. Feeling confident in his plan, he set out to execute it. Chin began rebuilding the temple roof which had begun to decay. Also, high up on the roof he knew he would be very visible to everyone in the grounds, especially Master Blumise. As he toiled in the hot sun, he noticed Tara far away sitting by the river under a shaded tree. He smiled and mentally awarded himself a point. Early the next morning, Chin sprang out of bed and headed to the monastery kitchen, which he had decided to repaint. Along the way he noticed Tara, awake, but still in bed. "That¶s 2 points for me," he thought as his smile grew wider. And so it went. Chin pounding away making the monastery the 8th wonder of the world and Tara strolling along the river, hanging out in bed, drinking tea with her friends and watching the clouds roll by. A week passed and then there was great excitement around the monastery. Master Blumise had made his decision and all had been asked to convene in the newly built Great Meditation Hall. "My most beloved students," Master Blumise began, "First, I would like to say that we are renaming the Great Meditation Hall to Chin Meditation Hall, to show our collective appreciation to young Master Chin for rebuilding it so finely and also, for all the terrific work he has done around the monastery grounds." After the sound of one hand clapping settled down, Master Blumise continued, "Master Tara will take over as the head abbot as I am retiring and heading to Disney Land." All were pleased and applauded once more, except of course a confused Chin. Later that day, Chin visited Master Blumise and inquired about why he had selected Tara as the least lazy student. "Dearest Chin," said Master Blumise with a soft, compassionate smile, "It was a no-brainer. In the past week she has not let a single thought, emotion or action of hers go unnoticed. She is equal to Shakyamuni Buddha himself in her awareness. I bow to her greatness." Chin understood clearly and bowed as well in admiration and respect. So there you have it. A lazy person is one who is not aware of their thoughts, emotions and actions - that¶s it. One who is aware of their thoughts as they occur, the feelings that pass through them and the actions they take, are the ones who are not lazy. So,

one can be very active and still be very lazy, or one can be not active at all, but be very diligent. It is simply about being mindful and finely tuned in to the present moment. Now I think you are better prepared to answer the question. I also like very much to bow to the greatness of others and I hope you wi ll extend me this opportunity in the near future.

The Secret on How to Become an Early Riser Meditation and Kundalini Yoga Guide: Personal Development One of my grandfather¶s favorite quotes was, "The heights of great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upwards in the night." Well at least toiling upwards in the early morning would be a good start for some of us :-). So how is this to be done? How is one to wake up early and thus make full use of that most beautiful time of the day? The answer does not lie in taping an alarm clock to your head, or in using electric shocks, or in hiring a drill sergeant as a personal trainer - the answer is simpler than that - the answer is to figure out what you are most passionate about in life. Those great men above, I am certain, had one thing in common. They all had a burning passion for something in life. That is the key. The secret to not only becoming an early riser, but also for living a fulfilling life. That passion, that love, will give you the energy to spring out of bed at the break of dawn so you can give yourself to that which you love most. Here

is a simple experiment that you can do to validate the above argument. Think about what you really enjoy doing and plan to do that early in the morning. Here are a few simple examples of such an experiment. If you really love a particular TV show and have a DVR (or VCR), tape that show instead of watching it when you normally do. Now wait for a day when you don¶t have to rush off to work and plan to watch that show on that day early in the morning. See what happens. You may be surprised at the energy available to you to get out of bed that morning. When there is something that needs to be done, observe carefully within yourself and you will notice that the energy is there at that time for you to do it. Try to never delay or procrastinate the necessary response to a requirement of life in a given moment (this is actually a very interesting topic in and of itself but I will leave that for another article). Here are a few more examples. If you are an avid gamer, lets say playing World of Warcraft. Well, stop right before you level up or before you get your reward for a completed quest and see how quickly you get out of bed the next day and run to the computer. Or leave the book you are reading at an interesting juncture and observe your ability to wake up the next day early to continue. I think the point has been made. Getting up and out of bed early has to do with your enthusiasm for starting the next day.

One problem that comes up of course is that many people do not know what their true passion is and so are not living an inspired life. The article Stop the Madness of Self-Discipline goes into this more but here I will paste one portion of that post which presents the following questions to ask yourself to help you figure out what you love to do. Here are those 6 questions«. 1.

2. 3. 4.

5.

6.

What is it that you like to do for its own sake, without any concern for reward or compliment? Do you like the joy of building things? Do you like to just create music? Do you like to teach? Do you like the challenge of watching your thoughts in action? If you won the lottery, I mean the really, really big one how would you like to spend the rest of your life? If you were informed you are about to die shortly, what would you regret most as not having spent your time doing? No matter where on Earth you are. In a rich, first world country, in the bush lands of Australia or high up in a Himalayan village what do you see yourself doing regardless of location? What activity do you always find yourself coming back to throughout your life? What activity can you just not see yourself doing without?

Hopefully

these questions will start to reveal to you your real interests in life. Once that happens, and you start to live according to your passions, trying to wake up early will be a non-issue. There is another problem that sometimes comes up with regard to becoming an early riser and that has to do with health and energy. Having good physical, emotional and mental health will go a long way in helping you, not only sleep better, but also in providing the necessary energy to kick-start the day bright and early. If you find yourself lacking energy and feeling depleted there is no better cure for that than exercise and Yoga. Here is a nice beginner Kundalini Yoga Kriya (set) that covers many aspects of your being and will help build your energy and health. The kriya is actually called Morning Wakeup Series and ironically should be done in the morning when you wake up. This Kundalini Kriya, in a short time with regular practice, will help you overcome any energy issues that were hampering you from getting up early. One last item that I think is worth touching upon while I am on this topic is the motivation for those who practice meditation, kundalini, chakra yoga, pranayama or other spiritual work to wake up early. Here is a list of reasons why it is advantageous to practice sadhana in the early morning if possible« 1.

Early morning is called brahmamuhurta in Sanskrit. It literally means "The Divine Time." This is the time of the da y when the spiritual energy on our lovely planet is at its highest.

2. 3. 4. 5.

The air at this time is fresh and contains the greatest amount of  prana (cosmic life force). The mind is also fresh and unburdened with the worries of everyday life. This will help in the practice of concentration and meditation. This is the time of day when you are least likely to be distracted by the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The stomach is empty, which is necessary before practicing many of  the Yoga asanas and pranayamas.

Other articles that also touch upon this topic are Silent Mind Meditation Program: Practical Hints and Tips: Chapter 18 and How to Meditate by Yourself (Zazen Practice). It is said that one of the things that we human beings waste our lives doing is sleeping (too much). So let that not be the case for you. Search inwards, experiment, figure out what you love to do in life and then muster up the courage to go after it. There is a story of a Yogi high up in the Himalayan mountains and what he does early every morning is get up, stand and applaud. He is applauding creation for the wonder of a new dawn, for the beauty of the sunrise and for the opportunity each new day provides. Let us join him bright and early tomorrow morning.

Things You Should Do Everyday for a Happy, Meaningful & Good Life Combined Art of Living: Personal Development and Spiritual Growth 10

(For ease of reference, this is a combined post of parts 1 & 2 which were written and published a few months ago). Our good buddy Lazy Yogi Ponchie had just read a great blog on Meditation ;-), where the author had revealed the secrets of how to live a h appy, meaningful and good life and the highly inspired Yogi Ponchie immediately went about implementing the recommendations ² in his own special way of course. The article, he read, explained that the secret to a happy and fulfilling life was to live life one day at a time. Not only that, the author had provided his thoughts on what 10 activities one should include in one¶s life on a daily basis in order to accomplish this. Here was how Ponchie spent some of his day, which he felt met the requirements laid out in the post. 5:00

am: Ponchie checked the time and smiled 5:00am Woo Hoo! The recommendation was to wake up early, but since waking up early was impossible for our lazy yoga friend, he had decided instead to stay up all night. Thus, he would be awake during the early morning hours and be able to take advantage of this most spiritual time of day. 6:00 am: Ponchi e headed to the Gym to get his daily recommended sweat. the next hour in the sauna.

He

spent

7:00 am: Ponchi e listened to a meditation tape in his car on the way back home from the gym, thus meeting the most i mportant criteria for doing his daily meditation practice. 8:00 am: Ponchie watched Sunrise Earth on Discovery by sitting very close to the television« spending time with nature« done. 9:00 am: Ponchie called his dad and asked him to pay his credit card bills and help fix the leaky faucet in the kitchen. He told his dad that this had to be done today itself, since he was eager to meet the requirement of "completing your daily affairs" as had been suggested« that was easy. So here we are, with Pochie at the half way mark of meeting the daily activities that the article laid out. Let¶s summarize this article that has so profoundly inspired Mr. Ponchie. Essentially, the secret to a Happy, Meaningful and Good Life, the article said, was to li ve one day a time. This did not mean not to plan, it meant not to obsess with the outcome. Put money away in the retirement fund, enroll in an MBA program, start a daily fitness routine, launch a n ew blog, sure do all these things, but don¶t focus on the results. Instead, just go about the business of life by living each day as well as you can. In addition, the article continued, try to incorporate the following 10 activities into each day, as they would go a long way in expanding your spiritual and personal growth and ensuring that you really maximize your human potential. In part 1, I will list 5 of  the 10 daily suggestions that were made and here they are« 1.

Wake up Early: This gets the day off to a great start. The early morning hours are full of spiritual energy and prana (life force) and are an i deal time for your daily sadhana (meditation, yoga or other spiritual practice). 2.

Sweat Everyday: If possible try to break a sweat everyday, and a sauna does not count. This means to get some form of exercise and keep the body in tip top shape. The body is not you, but is the vehicle through which you live and worship, so treat it like a temple and take care of it. 3.

Daily Meditation: This is the most important criteria. If you have come to the Mastery of Meditation website, something is stirring within. This invitation by the Divine should not be taken lightly. Not all receive the invite, or at least not all are aware of the beckoning, so if you are being roused from the dream by the gentle hand of your Divine Nature do everything you can Wake Up! 4.

Spend Time is Nature: The spiritual path can be described in 1 word ± CONNECT. That one word describes all the Vedas, Gita, Upanishads, Bible, Koran, Tantras, etc. One of the best ways to connect is to be with Nature intimately. Hopefully the author will write an article on thi s topic of Connection as well as is i t a very interesting and powerful concept :-). 5.

Complete Your Daily Affairs: Don¶t procrastinate, don¶t delay, don¶t put off what needs to done. The old proverbs are very wise. "A stitch in time saves nine" and "Don¶t put off till tomorrow what can be done today". Life, the moment, provides challenges to you and when you meet them, life opens up. If they linger, they are like blockages, they prevent your life from moving forward. Your inner voice will constantly remind you what needs to be completed. Heed this suggestion and you will be surpri sed at the rewards. In part 2 of this series I will go into the last 5 suggestions for what should be done everyday in order to live a happy, meaningful and good life, and we will also see how the rest of Lazy Ponchie¶s, I m ean Yogi Ponchie¶s, day went.

Part II In part 1 of this series we followed lazy and crazy Yogi Ponchie through the first half of  his day as he looked to complete the "10 must do everyday activities for a happy, meaningful and good life" that he had just read about. In part 2 of this series we will explore the final 5 daily recommendations and see how Yogi Ponchie manages them in his own unique way. In fact, I will just outline how Ponchie spends the rest of his day and see if you, the reader, can guess what requirement he is trying to meet by his activities. We left Ponchie at 9:00 am when he was convincing his dad to pay off his bills and h elp with with household chores. Once he managed to pull that off, here is how he spent the rest of his time« 10:00 am - 10:00 pm: A very tiered Ponchie, from having stayed up all night, locked his puppy in the bathroom and hit the sack. 10:00 pm: Ponchie spent 2 minutes reflecting on how well he had slept. 11:00 pm: He called up his dad and asked his father to be grateful for being allowed to pay his credit card bills and for being asked to fix his leaky faucet. 12:00am:

He

chugged down 2 bottles of wine.

1:00 am: He struggled hard to stay awake again, so he could once be awake for the early magical part of the day. There you have it. The last 5 activities Yogi Ponchie indulged in, i n order to complete the last 5 "must do everyday activities for a happy and successful life." Any guesses? Here are the suggestions from the author and how Ponchie thought he was meeting them. 6.

Spend Some Time Alone: Each day we should try to make some space for spending time alone. Not only that, we should spend this time not in entertainment. In other words sitting alone watching TV, or surfing the internet, or locking your puppy up in the bathroom and going to sleep does not count. One should try to just be alone without excessive stimulation and of course be Awake. When one is alone in this way, not escaping into some entertainment, it will give one visibility into the self i n action. This is essential if one is to be a Li ght Onto Oneself. 7.

Do Your Daily Accounting at the End of the Day: This is a wonderful meditation to adopt into one¶s lifestyle. It does not require much effort to do and the rewards gained from this simple technique are enormous. At the end of the day spend some time and reflect back on the day chronologically, from the time you woke up to the present time. Look back and see how you acted, what you said, how you said it, what you felt, what you thought etc. Especially reflect on situations that posed a challenge or were emotional in nature. Were you overly reactive, did you respond too quickly, did you really listen, were you honest and forthright? So much self-knowledge can be gained by this simple accounting method. I cannot over emphasize the value of this meditation, so do your daily accounting. It will help balance your life, prevent incomplete emotions from spilling over into the subconscious mind and give you tremendous insight. Yogi Ponchie actually did this correctly, but since he had slept all day, there was not much for him to reflect on.

8.

Do at Least One Good Deed: Everyday do something good for someone else. Do something thoughtful, kind, generous. Greed, aggression, competitiveness, arrogance, ambition are so widespread, take a moment and contribute to the energy of  thoughtfulness, generosity, compassion, humility and giving. Do it without focusing on the reward. My grandfather would daily, randomly and secretly give some money away to the poor who he would encounter on the street. Just because it was a nice thing to do. Our Yogi friend thought giving his dad a chance to do a good deed counted as doing a good deed ² nope that is no good. 9.

Get Some Entertainment: You need to relax and enjoy yourself daily as well. You will find that when you don¶t endless pursue the pleasure principle all day, the time when you do indulge, is so much more fun and enjoyable. You will really be able to laugh and be happy. You will be full of joy and humor. Try to not go overboard during this time and chug down bottles of wine like our buddy, but do spend some time just in healthy entertainment everyday as well. It is important for your mind, body and spirit. 10.

Do Something Difficult: Everyday you should take on the challenge of doing something which is outside your comfort zone. It is easy to live in a cocoon, with a do not disturb sign on the door, but then chances are you are not growing and are instead falling into a pattern of reactive living. So have courage and take on the challenge of  doing those things which you know deep inside you need to do, but have been able to cleverly avoid. It does not have to be running the New York Marathon, it could be as simple as making a difficult phone call, to turning off the TV, to volunteering to change the stinky diaper. Ponchie struggled to stay up all night as his difficult daily deed, but perhaps the challenge he should have undertaken, was to go to sleep on time and wake up early in stead. So there you have it. The 10 activities you should do daily to have a happy, meaningful and good life. So take one day at a time the best you can and include in it these 10 pearls of wisdom. All another can do from the outside is guide and inspire you, the actual work you have to do yourself. So its time to walk the walk« Test to Determine Your Spiritual Growth Art of Meditation: Personal Development & Spiritual Growth Are you a Saint? A Zen Master? How about just a good human being? How do you know? What are the qualifications? Are there any tests you can take to find out your spiri tual growth? Yes there are. There are lots of ways to test your spiritual progress and life is constantly doing just that ² giving you tests to help you evaluate yourself in order to make spiritual progress. There are also many ways to assess your spiritual level proactively and in this article I will provide one such il luminating test. Human beings are complex and so is life. I am glad it is so. The test I propose in this document is to evaluate some aspects of your being and is by no means a comprehensive examination. Perhaps I will come up with a more complete system down the road, but for now let¶s try this one test to get us started. This test will help you determine if you have the right perspective, the right spiritual attitude towards life or if you have been snared by society and entrapped by the ugly web of attachment. From my experience this one test, although simple, is quite revealing. It is incisive and cuts deep into your psyche to reveal th e conditions under which you are currently operating. Using it, I can not only keep a sharp eye on if I am slipping into the jaws of  ambition, but can also determine the state others are in, with regard to their "spiritual evolution". By no means am I suggesting that you start to use this test (or others I might propose) to start judging the world or yourself harshly. The test is simply to be used as an indicator, to give you insight and help you with your spiritual work. So here is how the test works.

Test To Determine Your Spiritual Growth & Mental State Step 1: Take a few moments and determine what you are very passionate about. This can be your career, but, does not necessarily have to be so. It should be something, though, that you are actively engaged in doing and something that you feel deeply about. Here are some examples: Yoga Teacher, Professional Blogger, Health Care Professional, Technology Professional, Businessman, Politician, etc« Step 2: In this field that you care very deeply about, think about someone who is enormously successful. Successful in all ways if possible. Someone who has made a huge amount of money in that field, become famous and is powerful. Now one more criteria is important about this person. If possible, have it be someone who you don¶t like, or don¶t agree with. The more you disli ke their ways and methods the better, but the test will also work pretty well even if you don¶t dislike the person or their systems. Step 3: Watch your reaction to wh en you hear complimentary information about this person, or just hear about the success this person is having in their life. Be brutally honest, or you will just be cheating yourself. Does it create any negative wave within you? Any tinge of jealousy? Any feeling of irritation? Any feeling of frustration? Any feeling of hurt? Does it cause any ripple, any disturbance, in your psyche? The greater the disturbance the more the test indicates its time to get busy with your spiritual practice. Here is a more detailed analysis of the test results. A negative reaction or disturbance can indicate the following with regard to your spiritual state« 1.

Too Much Ambition: You are probably focused too much on getting results and are overly ambitious. These attachments to the results can cause jealousy and ill-will towards those who have already achieved what you so badly seek. Another way to look at this is you may not be doing what your really love to do in life? This is the only way to be free of the clutches of society and gain oriented living. Doing what you love to do, will free you from everything. If this test produced negative waves, it could mean that you are only doing things to see what you will get out of them, instead of doing things for their own sake. 2.

Non-Dual Perception of Reality: The test could also indicate that you are living excessively in an ego-centric way. You are seeing the world as full of separate people and focusing on the various personalities, instead of seeing the world in a non-dual light with all of creation being One and having nothing but divine nature. As Yogi Bhajan points out, "If you don¶t see God in all, you don¶t see God at all." Are you seeing the Divine Nature of he who is getting under your skin? Are you seeing the Oneness of  Reality? 3.

Chasing the Wrong Things in Life: If you have never thought about i t, let me point out an interesting fact about enlightenment. In society there is so much competition because resources/rewards are limited. There are only so many top 10 Blogs, there is only 1 winner in the tournaments, there are only limited political seats, there is only 1 CEO, only so much oil, land, etc etc. This breeds competition and conflict. But Enlightenment is not limited. Just because I am enlightened, does not mean you can¶t be also. We can all be enlightened (and are), so this is one of those things you can chase wi thout worrying about having to wrestle it away from anyone else. There is no need to compete, it is an infinite, inexhaustible resource. So this test implies that you are not exclusively chasing enlightenment. You are getting distracted and running around all over the place chasing useless stupid things. Time to buckle down and get back to the business of going after that which is the highest purpose of  man. Time to fulfill your destiny.

Take this test from time to time, or be aware when life brings it your way. It is an insightful instrument to gauge your goodness and spiritual understanding.