Sri Atmaswarupananda

A Simple But Powerful Spiritual Practice

It is common thinking throughout the world to make a division between the spiritual life and the secular life. But if all is one, if God alone is, then perhaps the purpose of our spiritual life is to recognize that there is no such thing as secular life, that all life is spiritual. 

We may not be able to find time during the day for longer periods of spiritual practice, but usually we can find times when we can just sit—in the kitchen, in the office, no matter where—for a few moments, and close our eyes and relax. That practice alone will help to steady our consciousness. 

If we add to it repetition of God’s name, our mind will become focused, our consciousness will be raised. And as we are repeating God’s name we can recognise that something is aware of that repetition. We don’t create a witness, because that’s just another thought, but whatever is in our mind, we recognize that something is knowing it.

That something can never be grasped, but it is never absent whether we are sitting quietly, whether we are active, whether we are dreaming or whether we are in deep sleep. The remembrance of that ungraspable witness raises our consciousness and puts us in another dimension. And all this can be done in a few moments.

The spiritual life is not, at its core, something dramatic. Except in very rare circumstances, it is a step by step journey that continues for years. Some time ago one of our senior devotees passed away. She was a housewife who for years and years had followed regular spiritual practices. She didn’t seem to be anything special, but when she was having her health crisis—even though she could have expected to have many more years to live—she was totally resigned to whether she lived or not. Swamiji (Swami Chidananda) marvelled. He said it is a result of her many years of consistent spiritual practice.

So we shouldn’t underestimate the inner spiritual power of something like simply—for a few moments as frequently as we can—sitting quietly, repeating God’s name and being aware that there is an unknowable witness who is always silently knowing everything.