Even to know of the existence of a genuine spiritual practice requires a Spiritual Teacher. It is only because of the Teaching of our Spiritual Master, Avatar Adi Da Samraj, that we are able to write about this. Had we never been Graced to encounter the complete Teaching of One who is seeing "the whole Elephant" all the time, we most likely would have spent our lives (in typically American, do-it-yourself fashion) picking up this teaching here, and that method there, and trying to piece together some kind of complete picture and practice out of that; and, most likely, we would have ended up with a "Frankenstein monster" without knowing it.

Even once the genuine spiritual practice is begun, there are many potential pitfalls and sidetracks. There are so many ways to misinterpret what we are experiencing, and to get stuck at some point, and not grow further. Or, worse, like blind men who, not knowing any better, walk over the edge of a cliff, we might end up exploring avenues that not only are not constructive but have a negative impact, traumatizing the body-mind (e.g., because one has idealistically embraced disciplines too quickly, disallowing the necessary period of adaptation; or because one has opened oneself to all kinds of psychic realms and forces for which one was not properly prepared; etc.), and patterning it to henceforth react against any attempts to find "God" or come into contact with "Spiritual reality".