DISCOURSES Volume II - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

186 DISCOURSESSadhana merges intoits goalrepresent different gradations towardsspiritual perfection. Sadhana is perfect tothe extent to which it expresses the spiritualideal, i. e., the degree to which it resembles the perfect life. Thusthe greater the disparity that exists between the Sadhana and theideal at which it aims, the less perfect it is; the less disparity thatexists between Sadhana and the ideal at which it aims, the moreperfect it is. When Sadhana is Perfect or complete it merges intothe goal—a spiritually perfect life—so that the division of meansand end is swallowed up in an inviolable integrity of indivisiblebeing.The relation between spiritual Sadhana and the end soughtthrough it may be contrasted with the relation which existsbetween them in the material field. In the material field the endSadhana as partialparticipation in itsgoalusually falls more or less entirely outside theSadhana through which it is secured, andthere is a clear disparity of nature betweenSadhana and the end achieved through it.Thus pulling the trigger of a gun may become a means of killing aman, but killing a man is essentially different in kind from thepulling of the trigger. In the spiritual field, however, the Sadhanaand the end sought through it cannot be completely external toeach other, and there is no clear disparity of nature between them.In the spiritual field it is not possible to maintain an unbridgeablegulf between Sadhana and the end sought through it. This givesrise to the fundamental paradox that, in the spiritual field, thepractising of a Sadhana in itself amounts to a partial participationin the goal. Thus it becomes intelligible why many of the spiritualSadhanas have to be taken seriously as if they were, in themselves,the goal.