It has been said in the scriptures,

Shravańáyápi bahubhiryo na labhyah
Shrńvanto’pi bahavo yaḿ na vidyuh;
Áshcaryo vaktá kushalo’sya labdhá
Áshcaryo jiṋátá kushalánushiśt́ah.

Among so many people in our human society, very few get the opportunity to acquire spiritual knowledge. And among these, a still smaller percentage get the chance to undergo practical training. Why? Because the science is rare, the aspirants are rarer, and the teachers are rarer still.

We want spiritual practice to be performed by one and all. And the minimum qualification for acquiring spiritual knowledge, spiritual bliss, is that one should have a human body. Simply having a human body is the requisite qualification. You may or may not have education, you may or may not have any social status, but what you must have is a human body.

Now, a person having a human body must also have the following three aspirations. One should be ready to enjoy spiritual bliss and acquire spiritual knowledge through pranipatena, pariprashnena and sevaya.

“Prańipátena”. “Pra” – “ni” – “pat” + “al”. That is, an aspirant should have a sincere desire to know Him, a sincere longing for Him. One must be ready to sacrifice one’s everything for that purpose. Then we will say that one is ready to do prańipátena. Prańipátena means complete surrender. Without this complete surrender nothing can be done. With all one’s propensities moving towards crude objects, how can one move towards the Supreme Entity? So one will have to withdraw all psychic propensities moving towards cruder objects, and guide them towards the Supreme Entity. This is prańipátena.

Pariprashnena. Pariprashnena means “question”. The root verb “quest” means “to look for”. The noun from quest is question. In Saḿskrta, in the like manner, the word “pariprashna” is derived from the prefix “pari” and the root verb “pracch”. What is pariprashnena? You know, sometimes just to quench the thirst of your inquisitiveness you ask a question; and sometimes just to befool the other person you ask a question. The answer is known to you, but just to befool the other party you make an inquiry. And sometimes you ask a question meaninglessly. All these are nothing but whimsical expressions, capricious expressions. They are not pariprashnena. Pariprashnena has only one meaning, only one import, and that is that you are to ask a question in order to get a certain reply, and that reply will be followed by you in the practical field. You ask the question knowing that you will act according to the reply. So all the questions of spiritual aspirants must be pariprashnena, and not ordinary questions.

Sevaya. Sevaya means “through service”. When you want to learn the spiritual science from Parama Puruśa (only Parama Puruśa knows the spiritual science, and He preaches spiritual knowledge through a physical body which we know as the Guru. So, actually, the science is known to Parama Puruśa and to nobody else), when you want to know something from Him, you will have to satisfy Him. When He is pleased He will give the reply, He will teach you. His is not a mercenary business. So you will have to satisfy Him, please Him. And the only way to satisfy Him is to satisfy His children. The entire living world is His progeny. He is the Progenitor. So to satisfy Him you will have to render selfless service to His children. This rendering selfless service to the entire created world is known as “sevá”.

You know, our transactions are of two kinds. You give something, and at the same time you take something – this is called a commercial transaction. You give some dollars and receive some article in exchange. This transaction is mutual. This transaction is a business. When the transaction is unilateral, that is, when you are giving something and don’t get anything in return, it is called “sevá”. In English, sevá is unilateral or one-sided.

There is another way of explaining it. Let there be a commercial transaction: you will give some money and take something in return. Now, if you want to take the most costly article from Him, you will have to pay Him the highest sum. Thus, if you want to get the most costly thing, that is, spiritual knowledge, you will have to give yourself, and not money.

Both of these may be treated as sevá. When your giving is unilateral, and when you are giving your everything to Him and receive spiritual knowledge, in both cases, it is sevá.

So in order to acquire spiritual knowledge and enjoy spiritual bliss, three actions are to be done by you. They are prańipátena, pariprashnena, and sevayá. This is the process of spiritual approach.