Pupil: Master, you have been asking me to do sadana[1]. I have not been able to measure my own spiritual advancement. How would I be motivated to continue my sadana if I cannot measure my own spiritual progress? Can you enforce self-realization on me?

Master: Child, come with me. What do you see there?

Pupil: I see two eggs. Eggs of hen.

Master: Get close and describe those to me.

Pupil: Obvious. Both are white; somewhat circular; smooth surface; immobile….

Master: That’s all? 

Pupil: That’s all I could see from here.

(after two days)

Master: Now tell me the difference.

Pupil: Just the same two eggs as I saw before

Master: Let us wait for just a few minutes

(one of the two eggs hatch and a sprightly little chick emerges)

Master: Now describe what you observe

Pupil: One of the two is still an egg. The other one has just become a lively little chick.

Master: Would the other one remain an egg forever?

Pupil: Not necessarily. It might hatch after a few more days.

Master: Does the chick look anything like the egg from which it came?

Pupil: No

Master: But two days ago, you told that both eggs looked identical

Pupil: Yes. From the outside.

Master: Yet one hatched and the other is yet to

Pupil: True

Master: The states inside the eggs while they were still eggs are very different than after hatching. Chicken is an egg transformed from within.

Pupil: True

Master: The egg might hatch even better if it is protected and incubated. Would breaking the shell from outside produce a chick?

Pupil: No. On the contrary, it could destroy or severely mutilate the life-force within.

Master: So, you see! The role of a teacher is to not force transformation. It is to encourage transformation from within.

Pupil: I see your point.

Master: Sadana is like the state of the eggs. We just don’t know how cooked (advanced) the inside is! Self-realization is a transformation. It doesn’t look anything like the raw material (egg) from which it came. The egg wouldn’t know what it would become and need not know. It would just have to keep progressing from within and one day it would break open the shell. That is transformation. By the way, the unhatched egg is that of a duck. So, its transformation, while sure, would yet be different!

Pupil: What is sadana?

Master: All of us have been given a certain amount of universal currency called as “Time” in this life. Trade the currency for value. Don’t squander that currency. Ensure that the time given to you is returned, back to the source, with more value. Offering value to and respecting your time is sadana.

[1] Spiritual practices for self-advancement