Why You Shouldn’t Mix Two Spiritual Practices ?

Spiritual practice is a consolidated system of activities, performance, and actions to embark upon inner growth through various spiritual experiences and thereby cultivating spiritual development in a person.


There are various kinds of Spiritual practices each unique in its own right with their own system and a  school of thought and therefore providing a distinctive essence of its own discipline.  So it’s safe to say that each Spiritual practice is School or discipline in itself.


Any individual looking to achieve this inner growth, peace, prosperity, or enlightenment will be drawn towards spiritual practice to find meaning and the deeper essence of life.


But curious minds never cease,  its not a bad thing to be curious in fact it’s a sign of intelligence but adopting multiple disciplines or delving into multiple disciplines at the same time due to curiosity does have its own shortcomings.


Let me explain this with an example, imagine you want to reach from point A to B you have a boat and if you get in that boat you can easily reach point B because it’s a straightforward route. Now imagine if you have two boats and you want both boats to help you reach point B at the same time so you put one feet in first boat and one feet in another boat. What will happen? You will probably drown.


This point B is enlightenment where a spiritual aspirant is trying to reach. The boat is the school or disciple of spiritual practice that will help you cover the path. There may be different kinds of boats but all reach at the same point. You just have to choose one and stick to it. Similarly, there are various disciplines of spirituality each beautiful and amazing in their own right but you have to choose one in order for smooth travel to the path of enlightenment.


So why you shouldn’t mix two spiritual practices?

~You will not reap the benefits it is not recommended to mix two spiritual practices with each other because there’s a risk you will make one or both of them ineffective.


~Lack of one-pointedness


To achieve any greatness or success in any work/practice one-pointedness and focus are very important. If we put our power of will to one thing and immerse ourselves completely in it we are more likely to succeed rather than dividing our focus and thereby reducing our probability of success.


~Not maintaining the integrity of the teachings


Each practice has its own techniques and principles in order to maintain the integrity of the teachings and principles you have to completely surrender yourself to the teachings. If you want to do more than one spiritual practice, then it is important to keep the integrity of each of them intact and do them in succession – one after the other and not together.


~Lack of sincerity


In true spiritual practice, everything comes down to how sincere you are about working on yourself. As long as you are able to practice, and do so with a sure footing and commitment, you are being sincere to the teachings. However, if you are following two disciplines at the same time it’s tough to be completely sincere to one as your time and energy is divided constantly.


~Unable to assimilate the teachings


Imagine you go to a restaurant to eat Chinese food and you see butter chicken on the menu and you want to eat that as well. So you order both and mix them and eat  . What will happen? You won’t be able to enjoy the distinct flavour of the food you ordered and maybe end up with runs. Similarly, when you mix two spiritual practices together you aren’t able to assimilate and imbibe the teachings properly and miss out on the true essence of it.


~Lack of Mastery


In order to master something, you have to invest your time and energy in one direction and learn and grow in the process. This requires time, patience, and consistency. If you adopt and practice one spiritual discipline at one time you are more likely to master the techniques.


~Physical and mental health issues


One of the side effects of mixing two spiritual practices together is the mental and physical health issues that can be caused by it. Every discipline has teachings which are very powerful and carries a high amount of energy in their techniques and meditations. Being a student you’re still at a  developing stage and your energy body is still developing and not strong enough to handle higher energies, mixing two disciplines and practicing their techniques together can cause a surge in energy which your energy body might not be able to handle and therefore lead to congestion in your chakras and thereby lead to Physical and mental health issues.


To conclude if you see yourself as a practitioner of one discipline you need to be authentic to its teachings and strive to develop your character with those teachings. By simply doing something you don’t find whole and complete is being inauthentic to yourself because if you do something without truly immersing yourself in it the energies won’t be powerful enough.


Any practice is not genuine practice unless someone strives to develop his or her character as they are taught by that one specific school of spirituality and does so in earnest.


There’s nothing wrong in exploring and learning about different schools of spirituality but it should be done so in succession and not together so you can reap maximum benefits of it and become a better channel.


If you’re a YPV practitioner you would know that YPV in itself has a lot of integrated techniques which are extremely effective and powerful coupled with practical teachings which taps to the inner world of wisdom. Just by attending YPV sessions, you experience deep purifications at all levels, and you are imparted with priceless teachings that lift up your mind, body, and soul. The YPV meditations and exercises are designed for all and teachings to have been simplified so they can be incorporated in our daily life.


Learn more about YPV and expand your horizons by enrolling in the courses that open up a world of learning and inner growth for you. 

-Priyanka Bagolia from Canada

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