14 Obstacles in Spiritual Progress

2 years ago By Yogi Anoop

9 Obstacles in Spiritual Practitioner Life

Disease, Procrastination, Laziness, Lack of Detachment, Delusional Thinking, Unattainable Goals & Instability are obstacles in the practice of spirituality. These are the symptoms:

Explanation: Through this quote, the sage explained to his disciples about nine types of obstacles that can hinder their spiritual practice.

1. Disease: When the body, senses, or mind is affected by any kind of illness, the practice of the disciple is affected. Therefore, this is an obstacle.
2. Inertia: Due to laziness, one may avoid practicing spirituality, and this is called inertia.
3. Doubt: If doubts arise in the minds of practitioners regarding the correctness of their practice, then the practice becomes difficult.
4. Carelessness: Practicing spirituality with carelessness cannot be beneficial.
5. Laziness: Due to the predominance of the tamasic quality, the body feels heavy, and this makes it difficult to focus on the practice.
6. Restlessness: Due to the habit of enjoying the world, the mind becomes restless, and detachment is lost. This is the biggest obstacle in spiritual practice.
7. Delusional thinking: Misunderstanding what is right and wrong is called delusional thinking.
8. Unattainable goals: When a practitioner does not get the desired result according to his or her wish, enthusiasm decreases. This is called unattainable goals.
9. Instability: If the mind cannot stay focused on a topic for a long time, enthusiasm decreases. This is called instability.

These nine obstacles can hinder a practitioner's progress on the path of spirituality.

5 Obstacles Yogic Life

Pain, dyspnea, and five types of obstacles (as described with the nine obstacles listed previously) are companions to each other.

Explanations:

1. Pain: Pain can be of three types: spiritual, physical, and divine. Pain related to the mind, senses, and body is called spiritual pain. The suffering caused by other humans and other creatures is called physical pain. The events caused by fate are kept under the category of divine.
2. Dyspnea: The agitation that arises in the mind due to unfulfilled desires is called dyspnea.
3. Angamejayatva: Trembling of the body parts.
4. Shvasa: The entry of external air into the body without intention is called Shvasa.
5. Prashvasa: The exit of internal air outside the body without intention is called Prashvasa.

There are a total of 5 obstacles in practice. Maharishi explains the methods of overcoming them in the next sutra

How To Eliminate These Obstacles

To eliminate obstacles, one should develop concentration. And to develop concentration, the practitioner should practice with a single holy support. With concentration, many small obstacles are resolved, since concentration increases the power of the mind. As the power of the mind increases, desire power also increases, which means that the obstacles are resolved.

Only by removing obstacles can practical and spiritual life be better. In the practice of any element, such as concentration on breathing, concentration on a single holy support, many mental illnesses are resolved, and the body becomes healthy along with it.

Along with this, one should also make efforts for detachment from the world. The meaning of detachment is complete understanding of any object. After complete understanding, human attraction to that object ends.

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