How to Work Towards Self-realization while Staying Detached

Sometimes I am glad that I had no actual plans of working towards a Kundalini awakening when it happened. No expectations. Once one reads the stories of seeing lights, hearing sounds, visions of gods and angels, powers of levitation, etc., one starts to compare one's own process to those accounts, leading one to conclude one's process is a failure, even when one is having a genuine awakening.

The energy takes its own course and you (as in the ego that believes itself the true owner and driver of the body) and your feelings and expectations are the least of the Kundalini energy's concerns. It is waiting to transform the body that has been leased to the ego until the true owner arrives. Once the energy rises, it effects changes in the body as per the original DNA blueprint created at the moment of conception, at the same time, it provides insight to the ego on a need-to-know basis.

The best way to approach anything is to have no expectation of an outcome. This applies to everything in life. Before I put a label on myself, lets say, Photographer, for example, there was no expectation of taking good photos. I did it for the joy of doing it. The label acts as a limiting factor. And once I affix a label, I force myself to take "good" photos that conform to standards set by others, not the ones I love, repeating what I did in the past, trying to live up to it. And it ruins the whole experience, resulting in bad photos.

Flight

This, essentially, is what detachment is all about. One must care about the outcome and have some kind of clear idea of what one is working towards, but one must not worry, fret or get frustrated over not reaching that outcome, as and when expected. Care about it, but don't worry about it. 

Discard all labels and apply to yourself or to the process. Be fresh each day, excited to explore something new, unfettered by the weight of expectation.

Playing golf has helped me assimilate the process, because golf, the most spiritual of all sports, teaches you humility, control over your mind. The less one thinks of the outcome, the better one performs the task at hand, be it a 250 yard drive or a 3 foot putt.

JJ mentions the phrase, "non-action through action." One of the best ways to achieve this is to work like ambitious people, the type-A workaholics that strive for power, money and glory, but unlike them, apply the methodical, persistent approach towards spiritual practice and also unlike them, don't hoard what is gained and inflate your (spiritual) ego, but completely surrender the outcome of your actions, both good and bad, to the higher, Primal spirit.

Erector Set

I have cultivated the habit of taking a moment, several times a day, where I hit a 'reset' button. It involves taking a 'snapshot' of the day upto that point and sincerely surrendering everything, all my actions, thoughts, all the days events to the higher power, holding nothing back. I usually follow this by a few moments of deep breathing, exhaling out everything that I want to discard. Once that is done, one is cleansed and can move towards the next moment refreshed, unconstrained by the past.

Another thing that helps is living in day-tight compartments where contents from the previous day are flushed away using the method described above, bringing the mind back to the day at hand, and at the end of that day, taking a mental inventory of what happened THAT day, surrendering it all over again, moving into the next day with the same enthusiasm.

I can sum this up in four points. The practice involves:

1. Staying in this moment, this hour, this day.
2. Working towards the goal with a true sense of excitement, but without expectation of outcome.
3. Accepting ALL that is, accepting oneself completely and every situation that presents itself.
4. Surrendering all events of that day to the universe, and moving towards the next day.