The Atma Jyoti Blog

When a person is lost in a vast open expanse of land he may wander aimlessly, but usually he manages to go in one direction. Those lost in a forest, however, suffer a much different fate. For a reason that has never been discovered, those lose in the woods keep going around in a circle, coming back over and over to the same place. Interestingly enough, maps showing the forty-year wandering of the Hebrews in the desert after escaping from Egypt show that they, too, went around in a circle.

What more perfect symbol could there be for those of us who are bound to the cycle of birth and death–no matter how far we roam in one life we invariably find ourselves right back on the earth plane in the next birth. This is also the experience of those in false religion (or in misapplication of true religion): however much they experience and think they are developing and progressing, eventually they find themselves right back in the same spot they started from. Meditators and esotericists find the same things happens to them, though in many instances they find themselves worse off than before they began.

Because of this Jesus and the Masters of all religions have stated that liberation from the snares of illusion is incredibly hard to attain–not so much because it takes great effort, but because human beings do not know the ways of the right effort that is needed. Consider Buddha. For years he perfected himself in the practice of strenuous yogas that produced astonishing psychic and physical experiences. Each teacher declared him to be a perfect yogi, a liberated soul. Yet, not being deluded (as they and their other disciples were), he knew that he had attained nothing.

The example of Buddha is extremely important for us, as he had no external teaching or teacher to guide him. Only his intuition led him onward to the goal. Moreover, he had no special initiation or empowerment. That which was innate in him–and in every human being–was seen to be sufficient for the ultimate attainment.

This is so important for us because the hawkers in the religious medicine-show have badgered us into believing that we need them and their “product”–that without them we are hopelessly lost and doomed to wander in confusion; when in reality it is our following of them and their system that confuses us and dooms us to wander.

This was the message that Jesus brought back from India after living for several years in Buddhist monasteries. (See The Christ of India) That is why He told us: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Within us! And He does not say it shall be within us once we are processed by religious rites, but that it is within us even now.

This is not to say that certain procedures cannot make the search easier and shorten the time needed for attainment–that is the purpose of the Christian Sacraments and many of the rites of other religions–but not a one of them is absolutely necessary for gaining liberation from the bonds of birth and death and the bonds of ignorance that enchain our minds.

It is our nature to become enlightened; that is why enlightenment is inevitable for every single human being without exception. No matter how long it takes, “one day all His sons shall reach the feet of the Father, however far they stray.” This is a portion of an esoteric Christian creed.

Understand the fundamentals of effective spiritual practice. Read Foundations of Yoga.

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