To attain Gunatit-Bhav happily and with ease, japyagna, mahatmya-yukta seva and spiritual friendship are the fundamental keys – Pappa
Our sadhana is primarily concerned with attaining a spiritual status whereby our body and mind are constantly in a state known as Gunatit-bhav. To attain this goal easily and smoothly, we will need to practice japyagna to stop the mind from conceiving negative thoughts; if the mind is occupied with japyagna, it will be unable to entertain any negative thoughts or thoughts of amahima – negative, pessimistic, disapproving or thoughts of criticism. The mind can only entertain negative thoughts if it is not otherwise pre-occupied. If however, the mind is pre-occupied with japyagna, it will form a natural habit of reminiscing the divine memories of the Lord (smruti), and will become nishkam – free of desires. The mind will become engaged in mahatmya-yukta séva, considering all sambandh-walas as those who are controlled and inspired by the Lord, and will endeavour to serve them to please the Lord. All thoughts regarding the service of the sambandh-walas should be filtered by the mind, allowing only those associated with devotional worship to proceed. Thus we should engage in mahatmya-yukta séva so that the mind, indriyas and antahkaran become purified and nishkam (desire-less). Even if we perform séva, but fail to accept those we are serving as controlled and inspired by the Lord, we should not discontinue the séva but resort to surid-prarthna (perform prayers for the sambandh-walas on the basis of spiritual friendship). We should believe that the fault or weakness we witness in them, is indeed our own, and we should pray for its purification as intensely as we would for our own faults and weaknesses. Thus our nirdosh-buddhi will be firmly established and we will recognise the ways in which the Lord works to purify the souls. We will experience peace, bliss and harmony and will progress in our sadhana with ease and comfort.