The Direct Path and the Indirect Path

The Direct Path and the Indirect Path-what Sat Yoga Ashram and Pachamama Eco-Community have taught me. This is my 5th time visiting Costa Rica, this country has many tourist attractions, none of them has impressed me, however, there are two very interesting places in the jungle: Sat Yoga Ashram and Pachamama Ecovillage. After a month experience in Sat Yoga Ashram, I arrived Pachamama, I was disappointed for the uncleanliness and the management style which neglects many details, but immediately I learned why the people in two communities are so different. Because Pachamama offers services on indirect path, and Sat Yoga Ashram teaches the direct path. Before introducing paths, let’s first talk about the destination. There are many spiritual paths, the destination is only one: liberation(the ultimate freedom of soul). It is not the freedom to do what the ego wants, but to be free from all the ego’s desires. Your bondages are due to your karma, accumulated by your actions, you can dissolve all your karma within a second without taking any path, if you can dissolve your ego and believe you are not the doer for all you have done, they were God’s actions, not yours, because you do not exist as the individual soul. So, to be ultimately free, is all about the dissolution of ego. When you practise Karma Yoga, or Bhakti Yoga, or Self-enquiry to dissolve ego, this is the direct path, Sat Yoga Ashram teaches some techniques and tools all about ego, with intensive focus on silent meditation. If you are seeking truth of the ultimate reality and who you really are, and believe it is you that have made the life decisions and done many things, then you haven’t really seen your ego-if you say you understand ego, what you understand is the concept of ego, but you still believe you are who you are not. Ego is a belief, it’s the first thought arises in your mind, this thought is “I”. I saw those who walk on the direct path, most are renounced young men and women, I didn’t see any tattoo or body decorations, nose rings or special hairstyle, those are not prohibited, it is just because these people believe they are not the body, the body only needs basic maintenance with food and water and simple clothes to function, any more service for the body brings attachments that make the body part of “I”. In Pachamama I saw very different people, the first night a guy showed me his room, dirty clothes are everywhere, on the chair, in the corner, unwashed dishes piled up, he said he was so happy staying there. These are the hippies. In other places I have never seen so many beautiful and so big-area tattoos on people’s bodies, how creative! I was amazed. I talked with a few people and found even they have passed weeks long transformational process that combines many advanced techniques for healing, they still don’t know what the ego is, and don’t know how to meditate in silence, because nobody had been taught how to meditate. They are here to heal the “I” who is an illusion. A few days later, I felt very comfortable, I can express myself in whichever way I want without any stress, nobody would care, nobody would correct me. I can stretch my legs and yawn in silent sitting, just like many of them do. I became a hippie and enjoyed very much. And I realized I had some anxiety while staying in the ashram. I don’t like Osho, but Osho was right, in one thing, he said the mainstream religions have too much suppression. I realized my shadow, which is the opposite version of me that desires love but can’t have my enough attention, because I reject him, I don’t see my shadow is part of me. I picked a card from Earth Magic by Steven Farmer, it says: Whatever you suppress or deny and attempt to keep out of conscious awareness will show up somewhere and somehow. These are your shadow aspects. At one time, you put them out of your consciousness for good reason, yet they remain contained by guilt and shame. Sometimes these submerged aspects of yourself are projected onto others so that they mirror those denied or suppressed parts of you, and you may even harshly judge these characteristics when they are exhibited. Now it’s the time to allow these elements to surface and embrace them. These may make up some sort of self-expression, a secret dream you wish to accomplish, or even uglier aspects that are difficult to acknowledge or accept. Whatever you have submerged deep inside of you, this is your opportunity to pay attention to those things and welcome them to the family called “you”. Wow, I can’t agree more. I have to take care of the my suppressed needs, they are there. So I need to walk simultaneously on the indirect path. Good news is, the direct path and the indirect path are the same path.