General belief in Buddhism is that to achieve total freedom from all forms of suffering, one has to follow the right path. Listening, contemplation and practice play a very important role to accomplish temporal relief from all forms of emotions and ultimately to attain total realization.
However, without following the proper steps and by simply jumping into any practices will be short lived.
A great yogi and scholar Gompopa said, “If you practice dharma the wrong way, then it may not be able to lighten the burden of our pain". It is like a medicine becoming a poison and we may end up with more emotions. In the 21st century, the technology has brought us immense benefits and at the same time also more dangers.
For instance, there are many practices which are not necessarily beneficial for every practitioner, such as a Mahamudra, Dzogchen and many others. All these practices require proper guidance and also one has to keep strict commitments. When we are not really ready and by simply reading from the books and practicing will harm us greatly. Moreover, what we wish is to achieve goals in a short time but unfortunately we may end up first in the mental hospital rather than attain realization .Therefore, my humble suggestion is that we should build up a strong foundation, be under the guidance of qualified teachers and by following the right path, then it will guarantee us total liberation .
Written in hotel, while waiting for American Visa in Delhi 24/5/2012