Shraddha - Part 10 of 15

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That is why when the Acharya decided to to keep ‘shraddhA’ – the basic prerequisite for any spiritual venture – also as a component of SAdhanA at the higher stage of entering sannyAsa, he decided to keep it before ‘samadhAna’.

Because ‘samAdhAna’ is the stage when the mind is settled enough to receive the sannyAsa rigour. So naturally it comes after the first four, namely, shama, dama, uparati and titikshhA.

The SAdhanA components though sequenced thus do not turn out to be that sequential. I already told you how they have all to be practised simultaneously. By continued practice of the SAdhanA, one rises on the spiritual ladder but one also slips.

Very often it happens that the fall through a slip is more than the rise. You rise by two steps, but you also fall by four steps! So further practice of SAdhanA makes you rise by two steps but you now fall only by three or two steps!

Practise further. Practise, practise, practise.

This persistent and consistent practice gives even more than the expected success, if it is coupled with the intensity of the SAdhanA, the strength of the will to do it, and the power of the Lord’s Grace. One may even jump like a frog from a lower step of the spiritual ladder to a step several steps higher!. And for all this it is the shraddhA that gets things done. And that is why shraddhA is kept before ‘samAdhAna’.

The Acharya himself has given a deep meaning for ‘samAdhAna’. But we shall come to it later. Before that we shall see how he has defined ‘shraddhA’. And still before that, just as we saw how it comes before ‘samAdhAna’ we shall also see how it comes after ‘titikshhA’.

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