Whenever someone begged Maharshi for some special upadesa, he used to ask him what he was already practising. If the questioner said that he had done no sadhana, Sri Bhagavan will often ask him which of the gods or goddesses he liked best. The devotee was bound to mention Rama or Krishna or Devi or some other deity. Sri Bhagavan would then ask him to think of that god or goddess constantly. He never discouraged anyone or decried the beliefs and practices of others. He never demanded that devotees change from one sadhana to another.
An important corollary of this is that it is the intensity of one’s practice and the one-pointedness with which one follows it that secures results, irrespective of the method chosen. Chanting of stotras, japa, dhyana and self-enquiry are generally held to be ascending stages of sadhana. Sri Bhagavan confirmed this, but he also made clear that this did not mean that all stages were necessarily to be gone through by everyone. There have been notable exceptions, for example, the four great Tamil saints, Appar, Jnanasambandhar, Sundaramurti and Manikkavachagar, who sang the praises of Lord Siva. They achieved akandakara vritti [unbroken experience] merely by constantly remembering the name of God. With these saints where was the need for self-enquiry? Its result was already there.
Sri Bhagavan also stressed the importance of developing good tendencies, likening the practice to sowing a ripe seed. A ripe seed thrown carelessly on rocky soil will sprout and grow, even after a thousand years. It will never go waste. Likewise, good tendencies.
Ultimately whatever path one takes, one needs the grace of the Lord.
Source: The Power of the Presence Part Two by David Godman
