Identifying and Addressing Obstacles Through Inner Development for Spiritual Progress

0:00 It is a somewhat natural tendency in human nature to blame others or circumstances or fate when obstacles arise. We tend to bemoan how unfair life can be. We see conspiracies and power structures that are preventing us from accomplishing what it is that we believe we are meant to accomplish. Few people look at what happens in their lives and in their inner struggles as a window to their own condition. The idea that the obstacle is within us, not something external, does not easily find favour in anyone's mind. This standpoint also occurs for many who take up the spiritual path, particularly in early stages. We then hear people say that if only they had more time they would meditate or study more, or if they did not have to work at some job to earn money, they would be free to follow their spiritual pursuits.

1:02 Or or or ad infinitum. There is always a mixture of forces at work, a concatenation of events that crystallize around us at all times. These forces are larger and more powerful than our individuality as a separate ego consciousness and speak to general trends, directions and developments that we will experience one way or the other. The issue then, is not that these forces impinge upon us, but lies in the way that we respond to them. For the spiritual seeker, every circumstance is an opportunity for reinforcing the aspiration, the dedication, the consecration, the faith. Every challenge acts as something of a mirror that exposes us to the inward psychological reality that we are meant to work on.

2:03 To create a new psychological standpoint to align with the evolutionary intention in the divine manifestation. To carry out what Trioro Bindo has termed yoga to be applied psychology. This psychology is for the inner work, the exploration of inner space, the change of human nature from within, one element, one movement, one reaction at a time. What Triorobindo calls the adventure of consciousness and joy in his epic poem Savitri. A legend and a symbol, Triorbindo notes quote.

2:47 These obstacles are usual in the first stages of the Sadhna. They are due to the natured being not yet sufficiently receptive. You should find out where the obstacle is in the mind or the vital, and try to widen the consciousness there. Call in more purity and peace, and in that purity and peace offer that part of your being sincerely and wholly to the Divine power. End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindo, Faces of Yoga, Chapter 3 in difficulty, page 39.