12/03/2025
No matter how much skill, intellect, or compassion a healer or teacher possesses, true transformation ultimately depends on the willfulness of the person seeking guidance. Healing is not a passive process, it requires active commitment and inner desire from the individual. A teacher or healer can offer tools, wisdom, and support, but if the seeker lacks the determination to pursue their own path, the work remains relevant only to the healer.
As the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Swami Muktibodhananda, reminds us:
“Experience has taught us that in order to practice yama and niyama, discipline and self-control, a certain quality of mind is needed. Often we observe that when we try to practise self-control and discipline, we create more mental problems in our mind and personality. If we were to take the statistics of patients in mental hospitals, we would find that most of them are religious, because self-discipline and self-control split the personality. Therefore, before you try to practise self-discipline and self-control, you must also prepare yourself.
If harmony is not created in the personality, then self-control and self-discipline will create more conflict rather than peace of mind. Therefore, the principle of antithesis should not be taught to everybody. It has always been expounded as a philosophical or religious principle, but from the spiritual standpoint it has mercilessly failed to assist man when confronted with the dilemma of his own evolution.”
This insight underscores that discipline cannot simply be imposed, it must be cultivated gradually. Psychology supports this too: sudden, rigid self-control without mental readiness can lead to stress or breakdown, while incremental, mindful practice fosters resilience and growth. I have always said that you have to practice discipline to become disciplined. Being self-disciplined and having self-control takes a lot of energy and repetition, daily habitual rituals that build consistently. Without that inner preparation, even noble principles can fail to assist us in the deeper work of evolution.
