THE DIRECT PATH

The text below refers to one of the chapters of the book In Days of Great Peace, written by Mouni Sadhu (1), on yoga practices, postures and exercises; experience the author obtained during his coexistence with one of the greatest Indian sages, Sri Ramana Maharshi.

“The great Indian sage, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - unlike most yogis and many present-day saints – does not recommend yoga practices as the condition for the greater and long-lasting spiritual realization, which he calls “Self-realization.”

He discards from this objective, all uncomfortable postures, breathing exercises, control of the “breath of life” currents in the human body as well as in nature itself. He doesn't even mention them in his speeches. (2)

Thus, The Direct Path to spiritual attainment, as Maharshi shows, does not require from the body any anti-natural postures, often so difficult to perform by most people; none of the efforts of yoga exercises, some even dangerous, unless they are practised under the direct supervision of a competent master and without the artificial mental practices of concentration. All these practices lead nowhere unless accompanied by the elements of spiritual enlightenment.

I see clearly that these practices belong to a closed and mystical circle. For years, some of my closest occultists friends have practised various types of “unconventional yoga”, but without any result worthy of our efforts. Of course, some of these exercises were good for our physical health, especially to calm the nerves, cultivating a beautiful voice ... and so on.

But these advantages only stayed with us unless we continued regularly with the exercises. A pause for a few weeks eventually deprived us of all the beneficent efforts we had gained, resulting in a waste of time. No true and permanent peace of mind can be obtained, though we have made intense use of it and repeated the best prayers.

Sri Ramana Maharshi states that control of the mind, attained in any way, will only be temporary, for the mind will invariably return to its spontaneous activities. “What is not natural”, he says, “cannot be permanent, and what is not permanent is not worth pursuing.” Only the exercise of self-knowledge is that it definitively allows control of the mind.

Who in their right mind can disagree with Maharshi? Who does not see that there is no possibility or hope of accomplishment with improperly practised methods? Simply because for these people there is no time for the only proper working tool, self-knowledge.

Life is too short to be wasted when we are working intensely toward realization. Moreover, for most initiated, both East and West, complicated occult practices invariably require a different rearrangement in everyday life, often very difficult to organize.

These hundreds of exercises, postures, prayers, invocations and meditations are all incompatible with the normal life's resources and possibilities of a normal person. Few initiated possess sufficient wealth to enable them to retire completely from the external activities of this visible world.

But the Direct Path, in the manner of the Maharshi is possible and suitable for those who are mature enough to follow it, regardless of whether man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, cultured or illiterate.

This path can be followed secretly so that the outside world will never know that the person is engaged in a deep and intense search. This means that there is a minimization of the external obstacles allowed by the karma of other existences of man.

No matter how many books you read about it. The multiplicity of theories with their countless information, the many sects and religions, with the invariable hostilities between them - no matter how cleverly these disagreeable qualities come disguised but always showing among them, the lack of unity.

But the Direct Path, immediately gives us a clear vision of our ultimate and unique goal. The process of acquiring virtues is reversed. We do not need to look for them, for they present themselves to us as we progress along the path.

It is only the Direct Path that reveals to us, from the first step, where we are going and why. Our renunciation of this unreal world, though not generally known to those around us, acquires a natural and reasonable character, not an imagination or a vague dream.

Sri Ramana Maharshi supports the theory that recognizes only one real thing, the Atman, the Self or spirit. The Master of the Direct Path, Sri Ramana Maharshi, sitting now on his sofa before me, is the greatest destroyer of illusions.

When we realize that there is an infallible path to the ultimate goal, the joy of this knowledge is prodigious. This is the water that quenches human thirst. Those who seek will find. But this quest must be for the highest and not only for more or less exalted illusions.

The supreme virtue of discernment, of the convenient evaluation of other theories, plays a predominant role in such pursuit. For when the Direct Path becomes visible, all other path disappears as if they had never been sought. There is no need for any kind of “rejection” on the part of the disciple. It simply seems to forget what is best to forget and remember only what must be remembered.

In the depths of our heart lies a source, so often said by Sri Ramana Maharshi. This source can be compared to the centre of a circle, from which we can see in all directions, and, from which no other position can give us a greater advantage. Now, therefore, I am aware that the path of the Maharshi is also called the Path of Inner Silence.

“Man, go directly to the source of all truth in your spiritual centre of silence, your heart; because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line”, a mystical truth is hidden behind the basics or starting principles and is generally accepted as truth.

Accept this truth and the Direct Path puts itself immediately below your feet. No need to look for it elsewhere. “With a simple step you start a journey of a thousand miles”, but if this first step is not given, the traveller will remain at its starting point. Without the knowledge of “Who Am I?”, we remain spiritually stagnant.

The Direct Path can be compared to a mighty river, flowing calmly and majestically into the Infinite Ocean of Nirvana, Brahman, God, the Source, the Creator, the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the ultimate and unique goal of every Being. Yoga, religions, sects, philosophical systems, occult and spiritual societies, can all be considered as tributaries of a great river, and then follow their common course to the ocean.

Those who know the Direct Path will not waste time following other paths. All efforts will be concentrated on the idea of: “How to get into the great current that flows directly into the ocean”.”

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1)- Mouni Sadhu (1897-1971), pseudonym of Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski, was born and lived in Poland until the outbreak of World War II, forcing him to immigrate to Australia (Melbourne), where he wrote most of his books. But before that journey, Mouni Sadhu lived between 1946 and 1948 in Brazil, where he published his first book, “Quem Eu Sou” (Who Am I?) in Portuguese. Besides, an interesting reading experience on the life of the great Indian sage, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, is revealed in one of Mouni Sadhu's books, in particular, “In Days of Great Peace”, whose translation into Portuguese had great repercussions so that the editor asked the Brazilian philosopher Huberto Rohden to write the foreword to the new edition. According to Rohden: “This is undoubtedly one of the most precious books written by a man who had deep experiences of spiritual reality at the feet of a great seer of our days; Mouni Sadhu does not try to present to readers something he had thought about Ramana Maharshi, not even try to interpret in his way the doctrine of the Master - no, he simply reflects, like a faithful mirror, what he felt, lived, suffered and tasted during those moments of anonymous and indescribable happiness, in deep silence, in the total emptying of the ego, when he was sitting inside in the darkness of the ashram at Arunachala, not thinking at all or even desiring but simply allowing the invisible spiritual integrity of Master Maharshi to flow from his cosmic source and pour spontaneously into the receptive channels of the disciple. Mouni Sadhu, in these eternal moments, ceased to be ego-minded, ego-lived, self-acted ... becoming Cosmo-minded, Cosmo-lived and Cosmo-acted.”

2)- According to Paramahansa Yogananda, it is a spark of intelligent finer-than-atomic energy that constitute life, collectively referred to in Hindu scriptural treatises as prana, which he has translated as “lifetrons”. In essence, condensed thoughts of God, the substance of the astral world and life principle of the physical cosmos.