Today I was cleaning a lot of window blinds on my home using very slow and inefficient method of dish rag and soapy water, cleaning the lamellae individually and from both sides, and I remembered something that might be useful.

In 1993, when I was a complete beginner in yoga, I thought that my odds aren’t good – I don’t have a guru, I don’t have a sadhana, I don’t have a technique of yoga other than autogenous training, and my environment is the exact opposite of what is recommended in the scriptures as a necessary prerequisite for success. Considering how, according to authorities, most practitioners fail, and by that they mean practitioners of an effective yogic technique taught by an authentic guru, by all standards and expectations I was fucked.

I thought about that for a moment when I was cleaning my father’s car, and I had a very weak vacuum cleaner powered by car battery, and the carpets were filled with sand particles. However, I very slowly and meticulously passed through the carpets with the vacuum cleaner, and in five minutes they were perfect. And then it dawned to me that consistent, diligent practice of anything that has effectiveness greater than zero will result in perfection, and it will in fact take a much shorter time than one would expect – insignificantly longer, in fact, than if one started with the most effective technique. If one does nothing and merely despairs about odds, probabilities and inadequacies, he will remain firmly entrenched at square one. Basically, in the overall equation of yoga, desire for God and willingness to work consistently with whatever means you have at hand play a huge role. Figuring out techniques and theory is on the result-side of the equation; those are the fruits of labour, so to speak; the result of consistent application of spiritual focus on God, or, as the Christians would say, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It took me four years from that point where I washed the car thinking my odds aren’t great, and the point where I had all the techniques, experienced Self-realization, and had undergone initiation into Vajra. Now, 30 years later, those four years seem like nothing, especially considering how people I know manage to waste decades sitting on the fence, thinking whether some technique, teaching or guru is good or bad, and whether they should do anything at all, because it’s hard and who knows what will come out of it.

Well, I can guarantee you one thing – if you don’t do anything, you won’t achieve anything, and no technique, religion, philosophy, guru or God will help you. If you have enough desire for God, you will start doing something, and even if you were to die at that point because the Americans or Russians nuke you or an asteroid strikes or the Sun explodes, the momentum of that desire for God will carry you further and influence your future outcomes after death. If you don’t do anything, the momentum of inertia, cowardice and ineptitude will also influence your outcomes after death. Pick your poison. If you truly want God, God will give you everything you need to reach Him. If you want to screw around, you will eventually run out of time.