Overcoming Doubt and Fear of Failure in the Yogic Sadhana Through the Shift from the Ego-Standpoint to the Divine Standpoint

We seem to be always second guessing ourselves. Are we doing the sadhana in the right way? Is there another method or technique i should be employing? Why am I not seeing the results I expect and desire? Am I even cut out for doing sadhana? Maybe this was all just a big mistake and I should get on with my life, my career, my family and my enjoyment….

This second guessing is based in the ego-consciousness and it puts this ego personality at the center of everything. There is a fundamental belief, perhaps not actually voiced or even consiously thought, that the sun of the Divine revolves around the earth of our ego-sense.

If we, however, shift the standpiont, the questions take on very little actual meaning. When we begin to recognise that the Divine is systematically manifesting the universal creation, and that those who are called to the yogic path are called under the impulsion of the Divine, it becomes clear that all the second guessing is unnecessary. Each individual is confronted with the unique challenges to which his current development and make up are suited, and which he is given the opportunity to work on to bring about the changes that need to occur for the next stage of the evolution of consciousness to manifest and transform life on the earth.

Once we recognise this basic truth of our existence, we can begin to accept that constancy in our focus and dedication is the essential factor that we can contribute and that makes the intended result able to manifest in our lives. The ‘law of attraction’ implies that what we focus on with consistency and intensity will be called forth to us, over time, and through whatever obstacles and difficulties stand in the way.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Whether by tapasya or surrender does not matter, the one thing is to be firm in setting one’s face to the goal. Once one has set one’s feet on the way, how can one draw back from it to something inferior? If one keeps firm. falls do not matter, one rises up again and goes forward. If one is firm towards the goal, there can be on the way to the Divine no eventual failure. And if there is something within you that drives as surely there is, falterings or falls or failure of faith make no eventual difference. One has to go on till the struggle is over and there is the straight and open and thornless way before us.”

“You have only to remain quiet and firm in your following of the path and your will to go to the end. If you do that circumstances will in the end be obliged to shape themselves to your will, because it will be the Divine Will in you.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pg. 138