THREE CONDITIONS FOR SADHANA

For the soul who wants to do sadhana, the first and the foremost condition is the burning desires to change the direction of life. Nothing is possible if there is no such desire. If there is desire then the second thing is to deny the tendencies and inclinations of the prakruti at the very instant it springs up. The third thing that is needed for the soul is to offer everything at the lotus feet of Shree Bhagawan with love, devotion and knowledge. In the beginning these three conditions are very important for the soul that desires to become sadhak.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sopan
Edition 3; page 257.

WHO IS A SADHAK?

If you do not want to come out of the whirlpool of problems of the world there is no awareness of the situation. It also means that you still enjoy the ways of the world and continue to live the life as is. You will definitely protest if you get entangled in these problems and you do not like it. That kind of a soul cannot help but be aware in this situation. One who becomes aware, protests and denies these negative propensity of thoughts, wishes, desires, natural tendencies, feelings, likes and dislikes, habit of thinking only in certain ways and that also continuously and at the instant it arises, is a sadhak. This is the definite parameter of the soul that does sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sopan
Edition 3; page 256 - 257.

SELF NARRATION AND APPARENT FAULTS OF OTHERS

Swajan :  Then how do we tackle the issue of apparent faults of others and subsequent development of uneasiness, unhappiness and perplexity in us?

Pujya Shree Mota :  If you have the feelings for your swajan and you get upset at finding the faults with him, you should stay quiet and not say anything at that time. It is not an appropriate time when you are fuming within. You should self narrate everything that you want to say to your swajan when there is peaceful moment. You should do this with great humility, softness, tenderness and love in your heart. You should feel relieved after self narrating in this fashion.

Swajan : What do you mean when you say to do this self narration with humility and softness?

Pujya Shree Mota : When there is no quietness from within, it is our tendency to believe that we are always right in a given situation. We need to abandon this tendency of self righteousness with clear understanding. It is possible to do this only when there is peace within. Only when we reduce the ego in this fashion, it is possible to experience bhava of humility in your heart. Softness of the heart means developing awareness of not experiencing harsh feelings, jealousy and vindictiveness toward the other person. When this bhava develops faults of others even if enters us will not get established. With this bhava in your heart you should self  narrate by accepting the faults as yours and not others in a positive way. Observe and empty out whatever springs up with the same bhava. This narration does not need to be in front of the swajan but needs to be done in privacy to yourself. With this practice the habit of seeing faults of others will get weaker and weaker. It is important to understand that it is our weakness to see faults of others repeatedly. By doing this we will understand this fact.

Think about this talk with a quiet mind and experiment on your own.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukh no marg
Edition 7; pages 21 - 22.

My two cents -- Self narration ( આત્મ નિવેદન ) needs to be done with great humility and love (bhava of heart).

SLEEP DURING SADHANA.

The reason for falling a sleep during sadhana is our inability to use will power (ઇચ્છાશક્તિ). Just as the edges of the knife gets sharper with its use, will power gets stronger with its use. We can definitely prevent sleep during sadhana if we use our will power in sadhana and also in our daily lives with the intent and spirit to develop our bhavna.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan pagathi

Edition 6; page 126.

My two cents -- Pujya Shree Mota has used the word sadhana and not dhyan and that may be significant.