Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on February 23, 2014.
In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda offers a general framework for overcoming obstacles in spiritual practice, emphasizing that every noble undertaking is accompanied by challenges. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita and the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna that the goal of human life is to experience God, he explains spiritual practice as the steady effort to refine the mind so it can apprehend divinity and thereby transcend suffering. Using his familiar analogy of H2O as ice, water, and vapor, he describes how the mind must be transformed into a purer, freer state—capable of reaching beyond ordinary limitation and gaining a glimpse of what is eternal.
Swami Bhaskarananda distinguishes obstacles arising from one’s own body and mind (adhyatmika) from those caused by others (adhibhautika), and stresses the need for a reasonably healthy body, moderation, and clear thinking. He warns against habits that weaken or confuse the mind, urges the disciplined use of one’s intelligence, and speaks at length about the difficulty of finding a competent spiritual teacher in a world where false teachers abound. He offers practical criteria for recognizing genuine teachers—unselfishness, humility, truthfulness, freedom from greed, and integrity between teaching and conduct—and advises prayer and discernment. Even when one is misled, he notes, sincere striving can still yield progress, and disillusionment can become a safeguard that strengthens future judgment.
