In our daily life we often realise the need to consult someone when we feel we are not equipped or capable of solving a certain problem or situation.

For example,

• When we are sick, we seek a good physician or a specialist in the medical field to help us heal and we follow his/her advice.
• When our car breaks down, we seek the help of an auto mechanic and we follow his advice on how to take care of the car.
• When a court case is looming large ahead of us, we seek the advice of a lawyer and follow it meticulously.

These are a few examples of where we seek the advice of others. We accept that we are not experts in certain fields and are willing to pay large amounts of money to an expert in that particular field to assist us.

Yet when it comes to Spirituality and our spiritual growth, which is the main reason why we are born (apart from having to undergo destiny), we more often than not think that we know what is spiritually best for us. Not actively listening or taking any advice on what spiritual practice to do is a major obstacle in spiritual practice and can be detrimental to our spiritual progress.

So why do we resist taking guidance on our spiritual practice?

Some of the reasons include:

• We feel that Spirituality is deeply personal and others will not be able to guide us.
• We do not know for sure who we should listen to.
• We simply think that only we know what is best for us.

In order to overcome these obstacles in developing our listening skills the following points can be kept in mind.

• Just like any other field where we require an expert, in our spiritual journey too we need guidance else we can waste a lifetime walking down a wrong spiritual path. As a result we can stagnate or even deteriorate in our spiritual practice.
• If we are unsure of whom to listen to, following the 6 basic principles of spiritual practice can facilitate our growth until we get a guide in our lives.
• Spirituality is deeply personal and each of us have to find our own individual way to realise God. However we still need an understanding of spiritual principles and frameworks in guiding our decision making choices in spiritual practice. To learn this we need to listen to others who have already walked a spiritual path that knowingly or unknowingly conforms to the six basic principles of spiritual practice.
• If our desire to progress spiritually is strong, genuine and unbiased, this itself will attract the appropriate person in our life who will be able to help us progress spiritually irrespective of where we are in the world. This is according to the old adage that ‘one should not look for a teacher; the teacher will appear when the student is ready’.