Paths

This is a summary from a renowned guru that I admire deeply. I have paraphrased his lecture – The question is from the Zen tradition, he is  however a Hindu.

A pupil asked: “Is it best for me master to walk the straight path, or would it be better for me to choose the crooked path, on which my spirit leads me?”

The master replied:” He who takes the straight path North, sees the North; He who takes the straight path South sees the South; He who takes the straight path East sees the East; He who takes the straight path West, sees the West. He who walks the crooked path sees all the directions.”

The straight path is referring to “dogma”-which goes in a certain direction, -be that east, west, north or south. The crooked path takes us and shows us the entire scenery around- “a sight seeing tour”. However it eventually gets back to the same point-so are we on tour or do we want to get somewhere? There is no such path as “crooked”, maybe a bend, but one needs to be “straight”. There are no different paths, as there is only an inward path-going any direction is wrong-even going up or down is wrong. Spiritual path or process is “not going anywhere”-but looking inward , which is “dimension - less”. This cannot be approach from a straight or crooked path-but only by being straight with “self”. One need not worry about the path, which is only created for being adventurous, for there is never a path. All of life exists inside, the rest what is projected or is outside is illusionary. All that has happened to us in life is within. We need not go anywhere, just be here in the “now”-and all will happen because there is no where to go. There is no way to experience anything outside of self, everything that happens inside-never outside.

A path is always going somewhere-when you do not need to go anywhere that is when you are actually on the true path, it is neither straight nor crooked, neither long or short, it is definitely not north or south; it is inward. Inward is not a direction-it is a “dimension”. The mind has difficulty in understanding this, as it considers a path as going somewhere, hard to understand a path not going anywhere. Mind thinks it needs to go somewhere,-however “no-where to go” does not mean stagnation. Somewhere is a “little” of something-whereas “no where” is a limitless other dimension, measureless, endless. No where is “nothing”-. Intention is to go no where. The journey is from limited to unlimited-which is nowhere. The mind is very innovative-always thinks up a reason opposing “no where”-everyday finds new reasons why it cannot be done. One day mind is convinced that all is possible, the next day comes up with different reasons why it is not possible-logically. The mind tries its utmost to keep one within its limitations.

Logical mind, the intellect understands that we exist within certain limitations, and we know we need to go beyond these limitations. However as we cross one limitation, an other seems to arise immediately-so one needs to realize that this is not the vehicle to take us beyond. One needs to transcend the intellect. If one wants to step inward, it does not mean one needs to kill the outward, because the outward is an illusion. Everything is happening within-so one needs to close the eyes and the mind will quiet down, it will lie low, and true intelligence  begins to function which is equivalent to “source of creation”.

One is naturally a blissful being, once you are touched by “the source of creation”, once one stops playing the games then one is not different from the creator. This creates a blissful state, which is very normal state to be in-nothing that you aspire to, long for, nor do you create it. Only when you are blissful by your own nature, the only way is  to drop willingly into the abyss of nothingness-then you are truly ready to go no where. When you are not blissful you want to go somewhere-north , south, east, west or crookedness as  you are not willing to drop into the abyss of nothingness .

When you say “I am seeking the boundless”-one talks about falling into nothingness. It is not a threat, but a bottomless pit which is not dangerous at all, only pit with a bottom is dangerous. In a bottomless pit you will be eternally suspended, unharmed, untouched by anything-.So, only if you fall into a bottomless pit will you be blissful, for there is no danger of being hurt, you will only be hurt if it has a bottom!  All of life is happening inside of you, this is not a trap-but a door to the boundless.