This is one of the most important principles for any healthy spiritual practice. The purpose of the
practice is to create a state of preparedness in the body and mind for a spiritual experience. This is
its sole purpose, nothing more. The trap is becoming attached to the practice and its rituals, and
missing the whole point. This is why people hate and kill in the name of God.
As Richard Freeman says in the Yoga Matrix, “The purpose of yoga is to bring you to the feet of God.”
Swami Satchidananda uses the metaphor of soap. We combine soap with the dirty clothes. We then
wash the dirt away, but the soap goes too. The dirt is the obstacles and fixations that keep us away
from God. The practice is the soap, which washes away the obstacles, but in the end, is itself
discarded.
If we remain vigilant throughout our practice in our recognition that the practice is merely a tool, the
likelihood of attachment is greatly reduced, and the likelihood of having a meaningful experience is
similarly increased.
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"He who does the task
Dictated by duty,
Caring nothing
For fruit of the action,
He is a yogi,
A true sannyasin."
Bhagavad Gita
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