The Inner Path

It is universally emphasized that this state or place or experience is only to be found by following an inner path , the true basis of all intuition ( inner learning ) or higher knowledge , rather than through ideas , doctrines , rituals or austerities .

From birth we are trained to use our senses , mind and intellect to come to know the world and do the things of the world we are born into . As little children , our senses are attracted by lights and colours and sounds , our minds are stimulated and instructed by those experienced in worldly living . Gradually our minds become more and more conditioned to the external experiences and we lose the thread of the spontaneous purity and unconditioned bliss from which we come .

And so it goes on , as worldly duties and obligations , the need for possessions , material welfare in general - shelter , food , clothing etc. , dominate our conscious awareness . Desires that begin as the simple fulfillment of basic needs grow and consume our energies and we lose our awareness in the daily round of working to try to satisfy our ever increasing sense of what we need for satisfaction ; we are trained to look for satisfaction beyond ourselves in objects , activities , relationships and ideas .

But we can only experience external phenomena - sensory , physical , or the endless mental play of philosophies and ideas . External experiences draw us further and further away from our natural tranquillity , and we are drawn into identification with mind , body , sense impressions and the world outside .

Just as we lose our consciousness of being if we are absorbed in a cinema screen , so we can become entranced by the world . But as the screen is blank without a projection , our experience would be nil without consciousness . If we wish to break the spell and turn our attention from the screen for a moment , with it's stream of coloured images , the play of light and sound , we can trace the beam of light back to the projector that throws the image , our consciousness .

We live our lives under the sway of the world and lose sight of the beauty of consciousness itself ; we lack what we would traditionally call a spiritual counter-weight in our lives . That spirituality is an experience of the source that moves creation , and it is an experience of lasting peace and fulfillment - the endless perfectness and wonder of our own consciousness .

So we need to go within to find a permanent basis of satisfaction , a still point within ourselves , deeper than our minds ( which are constantly active with thought ) can reach . To penetrate into the essence of our being , beyond the finite identity of mind and intellect and conditioned personality .

" Turn to thy heart , and thy heart will find its Saviour , it is God within itself " ( Ramdas ) Hindu

" A new heart I will give you ; a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give    you a heart of flesh " ( Ezekiel 36:26-27 ) Judaic

" My life depends on God's being present within me . So is He also in stone , a log of wood , only they do not know it " 
       ( Master Eckhart ) Christian

" The kingdom of God cometh not with observation 
   Neither shall they say , Lo here ! or , Lo there ! for behold , the kingdom of God is within you " ( Jesus ) Luke 17:20-21

" Everything is within you and nothing is without , he who searches without is yet in ignorance
   He who finds it within through a master-soul , ever lives in a state of bliss and beatitude
   The nectar falls down in a big shower , and the mind enjoys the sound current . 
   Night and day he lives in perfect satiety " ( Guru Arjun ) Sikh

" As in the sesamun seed there is oil , and the spark of fire is in the flint , in the same way does your beloved in your own body    reside , awaken Him if you can . As the pupil is in the eye , so is the Creator in the body . The fool knows not his secret and runs    about the world outside , searching for Him in vain . He who you have tried to find in the four corners of the earth - He is within ,    you fail to see Him because He lives behind the veil of illusion " ( Kabir ) Hindu/Moslem Tradition

" For this is the commandment which I command thee this day , it is not hidden from thee , neither is it far off 
   It is not in heaven , neither is it beyond the sea
   But the Word is very nigh unto thee , in thy mouth , and in thy heart , that thou mayest do it " ( Deuteronomy XXX : 11-14 )              Judaic

" If you can perceive Trueness for yourself inside your mind , then that Trueness is your ground for becoming a Buddha
   He who does not see Self-Nature and seeks the Buddha outside is an altogether ignorant man to have such thoughts " 
    ( Sutra of the Patriarch ) Buddhist

" I declare to you that in this body , although it will die one day , and is only six feet long , you can find the whole world , and the    origin of the world , and the path that leads to all goals " ( Buddha )

" But I certify to you brethren , that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man , for I neither received it of man neither    was I taught it , but by the revelation of Jesus Christ
   But when it pleased God , who separated me from my mother's womb , and called me by His grace , to reveal His Son in me , that I    might preach him among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood . ( Paul ) Galatians 1 : 11-12 , 15-16                   Christian

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