Avoid judging your practice as good or bad

““The highest spiritual practice is self observation with out judgment.” Swamee Kripalu”

Manas (मनस्) is the sanskrit word for "mind."

Ahamkara (अहंंकाऱ) is the sanskrit word for "ego", literally "I maker" we invent our ego.

Humans have a capacity for a higher intelligence that sees into the truth. We see things from a larger perspective, not from an ego centric or mind centric viewpoint. This higher intelligence goes by many names.

From the Kausitaki Upanishad, it is declared that "Praanaayaama awakens Prajnaa." Our higher faculties begin to awaken once the Praana is liberated, freed up and becomes abundant.

When this higher intelligence, that is available to all of us, starts to become a more frequent experience, the lower organ of the mind moves at incredibly fast speeds. You will begin to instantaneously see all sides of a situation with out judgment. A higher truth dawns. By seeing the root causes of situations, all blame and criticism is seen as ego centric and therefore limited and not the whole truth of the situation. We essentially are not in our personality when this experience happens.

Empathy arises, where we feel the life struggle and suffering of others without even trying. From empathy, the possibility of the noble state of compassion for all people, animals and the entire world can emerge.

Compassion cannot be manufactured. It is something that cannot be faked. Compassion is an end product of a longer process. That process that has to be traveled, otherwise it is counterfeit compassion.

At the end of practice, it is a good habit to reflect on the practice. Don't judge the practice as being a good or a bad practice. That is like poison. Avoid that language. Be grateful that the practice happened at all. Thank you thank you thank you, even if today was ragged and trying. Being grateful and dropping all judgment about the practice is an essential ingredient to long term success. At the end of a longer process, you will be able to have compassion for yourself.