Sadhana, or spiritual practice, reintroduces us to our essential nature, to Reality. This is its function. All authentic Tantrik sadhana begins with a taste of Reality, of flowing presence, openness, or infinite potential. These words are all pointing toward the same, unsayable thing. We taste the fruit, or result, of the practice at the beginning of our journey.

A little baby shows no special desire for cake or ice cream upon merely seeing these foods. However, it is often the case that, after allowing a young child to taste a dessert for the first time, the child will remember the taste and ever after clamor for more.

In the same way, the transmission of a mantra or other practice by a teacher who has realized its fruit will impart an experience or taste of this. A student with the capacity to open to the transmission and work with it will be able to recognize the destination and not go astray, chasing after imaginary effects or half-way results. Transmission of the fruit of the practice also awakens the desire to practice and realize. Without transmission, even if the student is full of zeal, the way may be more difficult and vulnerable to distraction and dead ends.

This tasting phase is repeated over and over again, perhaps through repeated transmission by the teacher, and definitely through consistent practice. We relax habitual tension and discover an understanding of the fruit of the practice. This fruit is not yet our everyday experience, but we can definitely recognize it.

Practice should not be a dry, heartless march through the desert. With the taste of our teacher’s transmission, we recognize the “juice” of the practice and can experience beauty and gratitude even in the most trying moments when our cherished ideas about ourselves and life are being painfully ripped away.

Once we are able to recognize, without doubt, the nature of the transmission, we enter into the stage of stabilization. This stage has been compared to stringing pearls. The tastes of Reality gained through practice become more frequent. We can stabilize this experience for longer periods of time without becoming distracted by our attachments, fears, and so on. We string the tastes together like pearls until they become one, unbroken strand. Finally, we can easily relax into the state of the practice while we are doing the practice.

Now we are ready for the integration phase. In fact, if we have fully entered into the stabilization phase, integration will begin to happen spontaneously. Although there are specific ways to integrate our practices into everyday life, our participation in the world-at-large, as we go about our everyday activities, naturally begins to express the fruit of the practice if we have been practicing with correct View.

In addition, there are many practices intended for use during the course of daily life. They are integrated from the start, although from the point of view of the practitioner, these practices often feel quite difficult or clumsy at first. We are in an everyday “groove,” and find it awkward and uncomfortable to alter our habits even a little.

If you are diligently practicing while seated on a meditation cushion, but find yourself unchanged otherwise, then you can be sure that you are practicing with wrong View, or incorrectly in some other way. It’s time to request more instruction, or to look for a qualified teacher if you have been going it alone.

Full integration is an aim of any spiritual practice we undertake. There is then no distinction between practice and life. We have realized what is called “seamless practice.” But finally, all practice ends, and we realize the communicative play of a seamless world.

In Matriseva,
Shambhavi

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