Many peo­ple wrote in the com­ments to the arti­cle, How I Con­tacted Sid­dhar Thiru­moolar, as well as in emails that they were look­ing for expe­ri­ences sim­i­lar to what I described in that arti­cle. One of the reader’s had a seri­ous dis­com­fort, after prac­tic­ing the mantra on that page with­out guid­ance. Read the “update” on that arti­cle for fur­ther details. I am post­ing this here as a sep­a­rate arti­cle for the ben­e­fit of those that may not know I posted an update to that article.

When it comes to spir­i­tual tech­niques one size does not fit all. Not all tech­niques are for every­body. If you really want, try a tech­nique for short peri­ods of time (like, 5 min­utes per day) for about three days. If the tech­nique is not pleas­ant and give you joy, but causes dis­tress, then the tech­nique is not for you.

Please also note that if you are chant­ing mantra or doing a tech­nique with an inten­tion of hav­ing a par­tic­u­lar spir­i­tual expe­ri­ence, then that desire may be com­ing from ego which could cause phys­i­cal and men­tal dis­tress. You need to approach any tech­nique with humil­ity and sur­ren­der to the divine and let the divine give you what­ever expe­ri­ence you need to grow.

Bhak­thi or Sur­ren­der to the Divine is impor­tant. May be your first prac­tice should be just that — Sur­ren­der to your favorite form of the divine. If you need to do a spe­cific tech­nique, you will be guided to it and you will not feel the con­flicts cre­ated by ego at that point. This was the case with me.

Lis­ten to your inner long­ing (this is not the ego’s desire to have an expe­ri­ence and feel good). Just because some­one else is doing it or some­one had some expe­ri­ence and you want to repro­duce that expe­ri­ence, is the wrong approach. Hav­ing spir­i­tual expe­ri­ences is not the goal. Expe­ri­ences occur on their own accord depend­ing on what each per­son needs to learn and gain wis­dom. You can derive inspi­ra­tion from oth­ers expe­ri­ences, but not try to repli­cate them.

Develop Self-love and Self-acceptance. When you develop these two, things will appear to you as needed for your evo­lu­tion and you will not face any issues with your prac­tice. With Self-love and Self-acceptance, you will also gain the wis­dom of love and accep­tance for others.

Be gen­tle with your­self. Treat your body/mind tem­ple as you would treat a tem­ple you visit — with love and devo­tion. If you are feel­ing uncom­fort­able and sick, then body is telling you to just stop. No guilt needed. Just stop.