Friday, April 6, 2018

The Journey Home (Revised)

As they approach me, so I receive them.
All Paths, Arjuna, lead to Me.
(Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita)

Sadhguru told a story of four yogis who were walking to a yoga retreat up in the mountains. What combined them was their passion for spirituality and humanity, but otherwise they had little in common. The disciple of Lord Krishna believed in the power of  righteous work to unravel the karma of the past. The Christian believed in the power of love, and nothing but. The Zen monk felt like he was the only true scientist in the group of religious fanatics, always on the lookout for ‘life as is’. The Buddhist thought that all of them were just wasting their time. He only believed in the power of meditation and stillness of mind.


The four yogis were walking in the forest when it started raining. They started running looking for shelter. Soon they found an ancient temple which had a roof but no walls surrounding it. So they went in it, but when the storm became more and more furious they edged closer together to stay warm. The wind was howling and the water was coming in from all sides. To get protection they all hugged each other and managed to sit together in just one tiny spot. Suddenly they felt something enormous happening. A huge energy rose and a fifth presence was there. God Herself had descended on them. The three yogis asked, "We all have pursued You for so long and nothing happened; why now? God replied, "At last the four of you got together. I have planned your union for a very long time."


The Way of the Blue Lord is to follow our Soul mission and work off our nature in a purposeful way. I had my spiritual Awakening on life’s battlefield and I realized soon that these nerve-wrecking obstacles were all part of the Awakening process . Take a good look around, everyone goes through this pressure cooker called life; why should we be any different? It is so easy to fool ourselves that we are a cut above others when it comes to spirituality but when we truly look at what lies beneath the surface, we have our work to do just like everyone. I thank my stressful career for having shown me how much drive and competitiveness was hidden beneath the Zen veneer. Had I not arm-wrestled with the best of the best, I would never have known. For me the path of karma is simply Oprah Winfrey’s straight-forward, ‘do what you have to do until you are free to do what you love to do’ motto. I would conjecture that many of us have to travel the path of karma for a while before we can truly break free. Let’s not be shy getting getting our hands hands a bit dirty!


The Way of the Christ is to be love; the mission to heal the ones who are starved for love, and at least to understand the cry for love of those who otherwise want to have nothing to do with us. Isn’t it a pretty straight-forward realization that Oneness implies love as its connecting principle? Sooner or later every spiritual traveler becomes a light-worker of sorts. We realize that by serving each other we become free. I demonstrated that even in a competitive business environment we can bring out the best in people, fostering an environment of cooperation and taking good care of each other. Just try this working hypothesis in your sphere of influence. If it works out, perfect for you and all parties involved. If it doesn’t, is this really the place you want to spend your creative years in?


The path of meditation, mindfulness and yoga is something everyone experiences along the Way. Some pursue this path consciously and propel their spiritual ascendency with the help of these technique. Some, like myself, enjoy the benefits of meditation, stillness of mind, and rising energy vibrations more indirectly. I have never spent much time on these techniques, yet I have experienced these spiritual upgrades as a by-product of walking the Way. Discover for yourself that with every spiritual break-through new energy centers open up automatically. Realize that in the holy Now the mind naturally comes to a standstill, independent whether you meditate regularly or not. The ego is wowed into silence at that blessed moment; along the Way, the ego simply shuts up.


The Way—as Lao-Tzu called this Force in the Tao Te Ching—is the idiosyncratic GOD connection available to everyone who has the spiritual eye to see. It is the intuition to follow for everyone who has access to the inner Voice. Some, like myself, experience synchronicity and see natural connections in life’s confusing occurrences; some see Nature Spirits and communicate with animals; some open up to the Holy Spirit in all human interactions. In the end, we spiritual Meisters see GOD permeating everything and everyone. The life artist sees Oneness wherever she looks. Sometimes life keeps us busy like everyone, but often we are privileged to rest at the center of the circle, watching the world spin; the blessed Zen state Lao-Tzu described in the Tao Te Ching.


Sadhguru’s uplifting message is that wholeness is ours to gain no matter what our individual starting point in the spiritual journey may have been. I myself have been blessed to travel all four pathways in my ten years of spiritual Awakening, and I am sure that you will touch on several, if not all of these pathways, in your journey as well. One blessed day all these paths converge into One. Wholeness begets holiness eventually, so what if we are not quite there yet! We can have fun along our pathway, and we can enjoy the company of our many friends who come from slightly different vantage points. Until the blessed day when we shall sit at that campfire huddled together in Sadhguru’s story, let’s have fun and discover meaning with our quest.

May your Path be blessed! 🙏

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