Condition, Position, Approach and Yatra

“Condition” is different from “experience” and “approach,” which applies to the stage in the journey of the soul or yatra.

Position and Condition

Q: Chari, when one reads one’s spiritual condition, …how is that related to what you were saying earlier about the points?

A: You see, there are two things actually. There is the position and there is the condition. You know, I am, maybe in this house; my condition may be very good. I may be in a smaller house; I may still be in very good condition. It has nothing to do with my position.

The position relates to my evolution, the condition relates to what I am, like a tomato is ripe. The ripeness is its condition. If you put it on a shelf, it is higher; if you bring it down, it is lower down.

So one is the evolution of the soul to the higher approaches of spiritual being and the other is its condition. The condition may always be good. We should try to preserve it. He moves us. We preserve our condition.

Movement from One Position to Another

Now what happens at each point, you know, when we reach it? First we have this immense exhilaration of being in a new place. So we meditate more and we are more enthusiastic. Then the place begins to pall on us a bit, get a little boring. Then we say, “Oh, what on earth am I doing this meditation for?”

Then comes this moment when the Master should give it a push, I told you, you know, to break the circularity and make it a bit tangential so that it is thrown out of that orbit. Then comes again the motion which produces the exhilaration.

So you find in your condition always three conditions: boredom, fresh activity, exhilaration.

— P. Rajagopalachari, Heart to Heart, Volume 1, p. 342

Conditions at Different Points

(…) But when the work is being done, you should feel the qualities associated with that point. For instance, in the second point you feel absolute peace, quiet. Samadhi condition generally comes in that point, second point, and people talk so much about Samadhi.

And then in the third point, if there is transmission, you must feel warm, sometimes even perspiring, even though you are sitting here. Fourth is water, so you can feel cold. So, like that it goes in the heart region. After that, of course, there are not so many qualities but there can be colours, sometimes, and visions.

— P. Rajagopalachari, Heart to Heart, Volume 2, p. 232

Sahaj Marg Knows No Static Condition

So, the need for not fixing ourselves at one position, or in one condition, or in one state of being, and saying, “Today I have reached my destination in Sahaj Marg.” Such a statement would be impossible. Even by the Master of Masters. Sahaj Marg knows no static condition.

— P. Rajagopalachari, What Is Sahaj Marg?, p. 14

Master then added something very important for the clarification of our abhyasis. He said, “Even in our abhyas we must remember this. The condition, that is the spiritual condition, must keep changing if there is progress.

“Often we find that an abhyasi has a good experience at a particular level, which he likes to be repeated at subsequent sittings. But I always tell them that if they have the same experience again and again, then they should run to the preceptor, because such repetition of experience shows stagnation, and requires correction.

“So change is necessary because without it no progress is possible.”

— P. Rajagopalachari, My Master, p. 59