Question to Radhanath Swami: I am growing in everything I have taken up in life, but my spiritual practice seems to be stagnant. How can I advance?
Radhanath Swami Answers: To advance spiritually you have to discipline yourself. It’s like a doctor who goes through years and years of discipline in order to get his or her degree . So if you want to be successful in any field of activity, you must be disciplined and the same applies to spirituality.
The general trend is, people don’t mind disciplining themselves in every other avenue of life, but when it comes to religion they assume everything is alright. We discipline our jobs, we discipline our family life, but we don’t have time to discipline spirituality. For spirituality we always complain of not having time! All the problems in this world exist because of spiritual indiscipline. If we do not know how to control our senses, if we do not know how to control our mind, if we do not know how to say ‘no’ to the things that we want to do and are bad for us, and if we do not know how to say ‘yes’ to the things we do not want to do but are good for us, then our motivation in our practical life simply becomes selfishness and greed. Only when one learns to control ones desires, ones mind and ones senses can one grow spiritually. Developing control will cause mind and senses to become peaceful. And in that peaceful state the love of the soul can manifest.
If one is very serious about making spiritual advancement one must discipline ones time and by doing so one will become effective and efficient in every walk of life.
