Tapasya: Sankalpa

From Sri Shambhavananda’s book Spiritual Pracitce

Student: What is a sankalpa?

Babaji: A sankalpa has to do with making a commitment to yourself to do some serious work to release the tensions and issues that are buried deep in the unconscious (samskaras) in order to grow spiritually. When you commit to performing a sankalpa and you do it with fo- cus and a real sense of engaging in it, doors will open for you. These doors don’t respond well to whining, but if you sit and do a practice on a regular basis for a specific period of time you will open up to areas in yourself that you couldn’t previously open. You are doing yourself a favor. It is a very positive thing to do. If you do a sankalpa correctly you should feel different afterwards. You can’t always make a list of its benefits but you should experience an energetic change.

This training will last almost 66 days, the length science has shown required to make a change into a reality. As yogis, we know it might take a little longer than that, and the change might not be the one we intend. Nonetheless, science and yoga agree that it takes effort over time to accomplish anything valuable, and that’s the definition of a sankalpa. What is your sankalpa for this training? Take your time, get quiet inside, and feel for your next level of practice. Reach a little beyond your capacity, stretch yourself to attain something you feel will truly change you. But also be skillful— you should feel confident that you have the effort and the time to accomplish this goal.

Write your sankalpa in the comments section below, and take a sentence or two to reflect on the Tapasya it will take for you to get there.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us. Your commitment expands the capacity of not only this program, but the other students in it— Namaste! I bow to you with respect!