Q. What is the purpose of a€?spiritual practicea€?? A. Everything is Consciousness, but when it is unmoving we call it spirit, and when it moves (vibrates) we call it energy. Spiritual practices are methods which develop the individuala€™s consciousness and its potential states. That is, spiritual practice awakens, develops, and attunes the inmost consciousness of the individual. The basic intention of spiritual practice is to transmute the consciousness from humanity to divinity, passing through the infinite variety of evolutionary states that lie between those two poles. Since the process is direct and pragmatic, it does not manifest as externalized a€?powersa€? or displays. I do not mean by this that the aspirant does not experience changea€“but the changes are mostly internal and usually apparent only to the practitioner. Q. How is yoga just the stopping of thoughts in the mind? Is that all there is to it? A. No. It is much more sophisticated than that. It is also pretty technical, but there is no avoiding that. a€?Yoga is the suppression of the modifications of the chitta,a€? is the beginning statement of the Yoga Sutras as well as being Patanjalia€™s definition of yoga. Meditation establishes our consciousness in the true self and renders the chitta (mental energy, mind substance) free from outer-caused modifications or vrittis (waves). We should look at this further. a€?To the purusha the chitta is the sole object in the form of its modifications. And chitta with its modifications [vrittis] inhibited [suppressed] would no longer be an object,a€? according to Shankara. The spirit, whose nature is consciousness alone, experiences the modifications of the mind (chitta) and mistakenly identifies with them. Though it seems to see many things, the only thing it ever really does see is the chitta as it dances before it in the form of ever-changing waves (vrittis). It is this objective consciousness that is the root of bondagea€“actually is the state of bondage. For Vyasa comments on Sutra 4:22: a€?Though unmoving and unchanging, the purusha-experiencer has as it were entered into the changing object [of the chitta and its many forms or objects] and conformed itself to its functiona€? by false identification with it. Shankara, considering the same sutra, says: a€?A wave in the mind, by merely arising, becomes an object for the purusha,a€¦[although] its true nature is pure awareness.a€? Therefore, over-simple as it may seem, it is the removal of such objective consciousness that is liberation. And meditation is the direct means to remove such a binding consciousness. Q. The following is a reply to an inquirer who described an experience in consciousness and asked what was its nature and if it was enlightenment: A. Along the way many doors swing open, giving us unexpected insights. But we just keep moving on. On occasion we enter into profound states of consciousness, some of which begin to fade away since they are a€?messagesa€? to seek and become established in them, and others are plateaus from which we do not regress. Whichever they are, in the words of Sri Ramakrishna: a€?Go forward.a€? Infinity lies ahead. Swami Nirmalananda Giri is the abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, a traditional Hindu monastery in the small desert town of Borrego Springs in southern California. He has written extensively on spiritual subjects, especially about yoga and meditation and about the inner, practical side of the world's religions. More of his writings may be found at the Ashram's website, www.atmajyoti.org.