Definition
Vyashti sadhana: Spiritual
practice of an individual seeker done for his own spiritual progress is referred
to as individual spiritual practice, or vyashti sadhana.
Samashti sadhana: Spiritual practice done by an individual seeker for the
spiritual upliftment of society is called collective spiritual practice, or samashti
sadhana. It involves spreading Spirituality to the masses and being actively
involved in their spiritual growth.
Importance
According to the present era, that is, in the kaliyug, the importance of individual
(vyashti) spiritual practice is 30%, whereas that of collective (samashti) spiritual
practice is 70%. Therefore, for one’s own spiritual progress, it is important
to motivate as many people as possible to practice Spirituality. This is service
unto The Absolute Truth in its purest sense. To be able to do this, one needs
to increase one’s own spiritual
level.
One of the biggest obstacles in individual spiritual practice is the pollution
of raja-tama particles. These components are so subtle that they penetrate through
any barrier. Collective spiritual practice helps raise the purity (sattvikta)
of the environment around us, thus reducing the effect of raja-tama and thereby
facilitating individual spiritual practice. Since collective spiritual practice
involves spreading Spirituality to other individuals, it also gives seekers ample
opportunities to reduce their ego, which is the aim of practicing Spirituality.
The following table gives the comparative importance of individual and collective
spiritual practice according to the four classes (varna).
Class (varna) |
Importance of individual (vyashti) Spiritual practice |
Importance of collective (samashti) Spiritual practice |
1. Brahmin |
40 % |
60 % |
2. Kshatriya |
70 % |
30 % |
3. Vaishya |
95 % |
5 % |
4. Shudra |
99 % |
1 % |
|
