This spiritual practice is not easy. Going the most direct way up a steep mountain is not easy. How could it be that easy? We are returning Home to who we truly are. I have come far enough to know that there is nowhere else I want to be. With each painful and then liberating dissolution of attachment, I become more thankful:
Thankful for all the “farmers” that show me what obscures my Love.
Thankful for all the lilas (dances) that show me how to be appropriate and make me learn.
Thankful for all my vibrations, which give me something to do—still.
Thankful for all my students who want God and do not resist Love.
Thankful for the shakti that keeps kicking me to God.
Thankful for Baba, who continues to guide me on this path, which is not so easy as advertised.
Thankful for those among my Gurubai (Guru brothers and sisters) who continue to practice and love Baba; you know who you are.
Thankful for everyone who continues to support me as my attachments to body, mind and Rohini dissolve.
Thankful for my vehicles, which are holding up to the pressure of sadhana (spiritual practice).
Thankful for the obstacles placed in my path to teach me one way or another.
Thankful for the Grace that illumines the lessons, so I can learn from them.
Why did anyone ever call this an easy path? Marketing. This path is anything but easy. This path is not easy for the small self. This path is not easy for the body. This path is not easy for anything that resists the Truth.
For whom is it easy, then? For the Truth. For God. How? The Guru’s Grace illumines the path so that we know where to go. That is what makes it easier for us. Before Grace, we are stumbling in the dark, imagining we are somewhere we are not. After the awakening, there is then a light guiding us. If we are willing to only go on the path that is illumined, then it is an easy path. If we still want to live and act according to the character of the small self, then we have a problem. The path won’t be easy at all.
When we are willing to do it God’s way and it is easy, what does this easiness look like? Ease means no resistance, no obstruction. That means when we have surrendered and let go of every thing that gets in the way of resting in the Heart, all is easy. As long as we give up any attachment to who we are not, all is easy. The easy path is easy only because the path is clear and we choose to walk it. If we are still committed to having a “normal” life, whatever that is, then the path is difficult.
So are we to change our clothes and act weird in order to walk on the path? No. We may end up not changing any of our outward life. People around us may not even know we are walking the path. What we surrender is the misguided notion that our outward life in and of itself is the answer. It is not. Our shell can change many times. Each of us has a unique expression given specifically to aid us in learning and moving toward God. All we have to do is let go of the belief that our lifestyle, qualities, personality, talents, obstacles, etc. are in fact who we are.
Even free of attachment, we still get to use all these vehicles. So what is the problem? We do not have to throw them away. We just have to no longer identify with them.
To awaken to this, we have to know somewhere who we really are, which is where Grace comes in. When we have known and experienced who we really are, it is easier to acknowledge and let go of something we are not.
This is when we become truly grateful for the Guru’s Grace. This is when we say thank you for making it easier than it normally would be. The Guru does not take away your destiny. He does not take away your life. He does not make you into a zombie. The Guru shines the light on the Truth. We get to then experience the Truth and grow clear in our direction. We will still live out our past actions, either in meditation or actually on the physical plane. But we will be thankful for the Guru guiding us to who we really are—Love. Though we will wear our normal clothes and speak normally and even work normally, we will experience Love. Then the spiritual path is easy, and we are thankful.
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