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Summary of Question:	Spiritual Progress-How To Measure?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Friday, 9/12/2003 3:41 AM MDT

Dear Sikhnet Sewadaars - it's quite easy to know if you're doing well in your studies (eg by exam results etc) or if you're doing well at work (by pay rises etc) - but how do you measure if you are progressing spiritually, ie that you are improving as a person, a Sikh, and as a soul ??

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REPLY
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Sat Siri Akaal. In the end, you don't know, really. You might feel better. You might remember how you were XXX years or months before you began practicing and realize that you have changed your circle of friends to people who believe spirituality is more important than sex and alcohol. Or you might look back and realize that something that would have REALLY angered you didn't because your practice gives you neutral mind. It is like that. You look back and see how you have changed for the good. But the road is long for evolution does not stop and the Gursikh keeps his/her practice no matter how developed he or she is or thinks s/he is.

THAT SAID, we don't really know. See what Guru says here:
BILAAVAL, FIFTH MEHL:
Keep me under Your Protection, God; shower me with Your Mercy. I do not
know how to serve You; I am just a low-life fool. || 1 || I take pride in You, O
my Darling Beloved. I am a sinner, continuously making mistakes; You are the
Forgiving Lord. || 1 || Pause || I make mistakes each and every day. You
are the Great Giver; I am worthless. I associate with Maya, your hand-maiden,
and I renounce You, God; such are my actions. || 2 || You bless me with
everything, showering me with Mercy; And I am such an ungrateful wretch! I
am attached to Your gifts, but I do not even think of You, O my Lord and
Master. || 3 || There is none other than You, O Lord, Destroyer of fear. Says
Nanak, I have come to Your Sanctuary, O Merciful Guru; I am so foolish;
please, save me! || 4 || 4 || 34 || (Page: 809)

So you see, Nanak understands that one never knows how far the path to liberation can be for one. WIth humility and deep embarrassment at his errors, Guru is supplicating Waheguru to not forget him, to keep him always. Guru Sahib here tells us that spiritual ego will lose us our Beloved. That in humility and in recognition of our lifetimes of errors, we pray for forgiveness and ask to be protected by the One Creator. This humility only grows deeper with one's honest spritual practice, because the more one sees with a spiritual eye, the more that person knows just how great God really is.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK