The ONE Path

A lot of the bhajans and spiritual material are full of praises of their own path. Often even at the cost of other (genuine) paths. Praising their own path, developing an ego about it, thinking it is the best is an inherent aspect of most spiritual communities. And I have realised it is inevitable (will write on that later).

I personally found this sometimes-jingoistic behaviour of devotees interesting and curious. And I see it around me very often, cause I frequent such places and people.

However, after so many years of staying away from the Isha ashram and now visiting and participating in stuff there, I must say, I also feel the beat of this pride.

There is something about being in our own ashram space versus another ashram.

Partly it is a logistical reason,

for example, when I want to do my hatha yoga practices, many ashrams may not have dedicated space for this. Ramanasramam is a purely meditation path, they won’t cater to hatha yoga practices. And even if some ashram had such a space, won’t they expect people to do their own practices?

Partly it is nomenclature,

for example, in Isha I will find people who will consider the breath and awareness of it as one of the most basic and essential practice. In other places, they will agree to the value of breath awareness but they may not be practicing it. For them the fundamental practice may be remembrance of God or questioning ‘Who am I’ in the mind. In Vipassana places, they talk about mindfulness – the same awareness is mentioned in yoga also but the words are different.  So either through nomenclature or through a difference in perspective, different paths have a different thing going.

After so many years, for the first time when I was at the Isha ashram and chatting with a monk, he commented, “whatever happens, the breath is still happening.” This really synced for me. And this kind of sync doesn’t happen often.

Partly it is a boost,

The above two aspects and probably other salient aspects come together to create a boost for our sadhana and practices. The sync with the people and space around us creates a resonance. It can be very helpful.

For a change, when I am chatting with other people I don’t have to delve into the fundamental premise of what they are saying to co-relate it with my understanding of things.

Having said this however, I am still figuring out my sync with Isha. Because after all these years I am not exactly talking that same language nor do I relate with the people at all times.

Yesterday, Sadhguru had come down for a sathsang in Mumbai. He probably came down because the Rally for Rivers Yavatmal activities was getting kicked off or something, but anyway we had a sathsang. I attended curiously, for last many years I wasn’t attending these things. Sadhguru conducted an amazing meditation, gave looong answers to many audience Qs and at the end of it he closed it with a chant.

That same chant has so many memories and associations for me. It is not a random chant. It is a chant that has carried me through on many occasions. It is a chant that I have lost myself in often.

So, again I felt this same feeling. A feeling of being back in the same path and fold of the Guru. 🙂

We understand and say that different paths lead to the same one truth. Yes, it is great especially for nurturing harmony in a cosmopolitan environment. But there is nothing like being entrenched in that ONE path that is our own.