The Sunlit Path in the Yogic Endeavour

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When we see deeply religious or
spiritual people, we expect to

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see people who are serious,
reserved, and who carry an air

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of distance from the things of
the world.

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This expectation has been so
deeply embedded in the human

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psyche that we almost
unconsciously take up this

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attitude when we tread the
spiritual path.

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Consider the austerity and
silence of monasteries and

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cloisters, or even the churches,
temples, mosques or synagogues

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that abound throughout the
world.

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It almost feels like heresy to
relax, enjoy a laugh, or just to

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be generally cheerful.
The austere monk is the image

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that many hold for what true
spirituality looks like.

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The path of austerity, struggle,
suffering for one spiritual

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practice, becoming a martyr for
God is the way we think about

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spiritual practice.
This increases the perceived gap

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between the spiritual or
religious life and the external

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life in the world.
It also tends to lead to a

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severe strict view of things and
can lead to judgmental practices

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that want to limit, constrict,
punish and stamp out anything

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that varies from this model.
There was a famous film in the

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1960s which centered around the
story of a novice in a cloister

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in Austria who did not quite fit
in.

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She was boisterous, smiling,
laughing, singing, and otherwise

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finding full expression of the
joy of living and the

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developmental needs of her vital
being.

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The nuns discussed in song the
trouble she was, but the Mother

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Superior supported her with the
statement that she makes me

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laugh.
The happiness she brought to the

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environment she lived in was
recognized as something valuable

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and worth while.
Eventually the nuns found a

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solution to the problem by
sending her out to become a

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caretaker for a number of
children of a widower who was

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raising the children in a quasi
military style.

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She succeeded in bringing out
the natural joyfulness of the

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children and eventually won over
their father, and they were

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married and faced the troubles
of the Third Reich in Austria

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together with joy in their
hearts and a song on their lips.

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The film The Sound of Music was
based on a real underlying story

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and captivated hearts everywhere
for its musical delights.

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But the deeper message is one
that bears consideration,

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perhaps the austere, strict
judgmental view of many

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traditional religious or
spiritual traditions.

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Or let us not leave out the
materialist versions based on

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economic models or political
systems and ideologies.

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Is not the only way, or even the
best possible way.

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The Law of Attraction holds that
whatever we focus upon, we bring

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toward us.
If we focus on difficulties and

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struggles, that is what we get.
If we shift our focus to the

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divine, to the beauty, the
harmony, the oneness of the

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creation, the uniqueness and the
bliss, that is the secret air

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that we all breathe in.
In the Brahmanandavali of the

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Titiria Upanishad, the Rishi
states as translated by Sri

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Aurobindo, Quote.
When he hath gotten him this

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delight, then it is that this
creature becomes a thing of

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bliss.
For who could labour to draw in

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the breath, or who could have
the strength to breathe it out,

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if there were not that bliss in
the heaven of his heart, the

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ether within his being, It is He
that is the fountain of bliss.

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End Quote.
In Savitri, a legend and a

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symbol, Srioro Vendo calls forth
this power of bliss.

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Quote O radiant fountain of the
world's delight, world free and

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unattainable above, O bliss,
whoever dwelleth deep, hid

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within, while men seek the
outside and never find.

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End Quote.
If the seeker focuses his

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attention on the oneness, on the
higher ranges of consciousness,

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on the bliss that lives in the
secret heart, rather than on all

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the petty concerns and struggles
of the external being, he can

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tread a different path, which
Shrioro Bindo and the Mother

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call the sunlit path.
Shrioro Bindo notes Quote.

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There is nothing spiritually
wrong in being glad and

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cheerful.
On the contrary, it is the right

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thing.
As for struggles and aspiration,

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struggles are really not
indispensable to progress, and

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there are many people who get so
habituated to the struggling

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attitude that they have all the
time struggles and very little

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else.
That is not desirable.

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There is a sunlit path as well
as a gloomy 1, and it is the

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better of the two.
End Quote reference Shrioro

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Bindo and the Mother Looking
from Within, Chapter 5,

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Attitudes on the Path, page 140.