In the early hours of February 19, NASA’s rover Perseverance landed on Mars—Earth’s neighboring planet. Drawing from this remarkable achievement in humanity’s exploration of outer space, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj expounded on the keys to success in our exploration of inner space. He said that first, as with any endeavor, we need to know what our goal is. Our goal on the spiritual path is to realize our true selves as souls and then achieve the merger of our soul in God.
Second, we need to leverage the knowledge that is already available to us. In the spiritual arena, this knowledge resides in the teachings of the saints and spiritual Masters who have come throughout all ages to share how they experienced God. They all sat in silence and withdrew their attention from the chatter of the world to focus on God within. This technique, which we call meditation, has been proven to lead the seeker back to God, and we too should use it to reach our goal.
Third, we need to have a deep-seated desire and ruling passion to reach our spiritual goal. Fourth, we must learn to concentrate and focus on what is needed to achieve the goal. Fifth, we need to be persistent and keep going, unabated, in the face of failure and disappointment. We should work at our technique in meditation, sitting day after day, until we perfect it. It is our birthright to know God, said the spiritual Master, and each one of us can experience God if we are focused in the right direction.
