Whatever path a man starts with, he must at the end of it come to the
entrance of this path - the destruction of the illusion of the ego and giving up
identification with it.
ENTERING THE SHORT PATH
Begin and end with the goal itself
1
This notion that we must wait and wait while we
slowly progress out of enslavement into liberation, out of ignorance into
knowledge, out of the present limitations into a future union with the Divine,
is only true if we let it be so. But we need not. We can shift our
identification from the ego to the Overself in our habitual thinking, in our
daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world. We have
thought our way into this unsatisfactory state; we can unthink our way out of
it. By incessantly remembering what we really are, here and now at this very
moment, we set ourselves free. Why wait for what already is?
2
All other approaches to the goal depend on a
dualistic principle, which puts them on a lower plane. But the Short Path is
nondual: it begins and ends with the goal itself; its nature is direct and its
working is immediate.
3
Consciousness appearing as the person seeks itself.
This is its quest. But when it learns and comprehends that it is itself the
object of that quest, the person stops not only seeking outside himself but even
engaging in the quest itself. Henceforth he lets himself be moved by the
Overself's flow.
4
All these substitutes for the truth may appear to be
useful stepping-stones to it but in fact they keep him from it, for there is no
end to the number of steps he will be able to take since there is no end to the
number of ways the human mind can spin out its ideas and fancies. Unless he
begins with the end first, he will get lost on the way to it.
5
Are we to reject the plain statements of these
enlightened men - that is, statements of the Short Path that you are divine? Do
we know more and better about divine things than they do? Why can we not accept
the idea that they describe not a theory but a discovery?
6
This then is the ultimate truth - that in our inmost
nature we are anchored in God, inseparable from God, and that the discovery of
this heavenly nature is life's loftiest purpose. Even now, already, today, we
are as divine as we ever shall be. The long evolutionary ladder which by
prophets and teachers, gurus and guides we are bidden to climb toilsomely and
slowly and painfully need not be climbed at all if only we heed this truth
continually, if we refuse to let it go, if we make it ours in all parts of our
being - in thought, feeling, faith, and action.
7
For if we are divine and timeless beings now (and
who can gainsay it that has had a glimpse of that starry state memorably
vouchsafed to him?) then we have always been such. How can we evolve who are
already self-existent, perfect beings? Does it not seem more probable that
something alien has accreted around us, covering up the sublimer consciousness;
that Time's work is not to raise us but to free us; that our search is not for a
loftier state but for our pristine state, to recover our former grandeur?
What we need is not to grow but to know. Evolution cannot help us, but
self-knowledge can.
8
This is the concept which governs the Short Path:
that he is in the Stillness of central being all the time whether he knows it or
not, that he has never left and can never leave it. And this is so, even in a
life passed in failure and despair.(P)
9
The man on the Short Path moves forward directly to
fulfil his objective. Instead of working by slow degrees toward the control of
thoughts, he seeks to recollect the fact that the sacred Overself is present in
his mind at this very moment, that It lives within him right now, and not only
as a goal to be attained in some distant future. The more he understands this
fact and holds attention to it, the more he finds himself able to feel the great
calm which follows its realization, the more his thoughts automatically become
still in consequence.(P)
10
What it asserts is that the real truth already
exists in the pithy core of man's mind, that it can be seen by anyone who will
undo the illusions which cover it so thickly, the passions which obscure it so
agitatedly, and, above all, the egoism which fears it so greatly. This does not
imply the development of new things: it implies the removal of old ones. It is
concerned with the discovery of what we really are, not what we shall one day
become.
11
Pascal said in Le Mystère de Jesus: "Thou
wouldst not seek Me, if thou didst not possess Me. Be not therefore anxious."
12
We cannot attain reality, for we already are in
it; but we can attain consciousness of it. And such consciousness arises
naturally the moment we know appearance as being appearance. This knowledge may
be nothing more than a second's glimpse, before old habit powerfully reasserts
itself again, but it will be enough to tell us the truth.
13
Ibn ul Farid, the thirteenth-century adept in
practical and theoretical mysticism, lived in Cairo. He attained to permanent
union with his real self (the Beloved) by getting rid of the dualistic illusion
of two selves. "It is like a woman possessed by a spirit," he said. By casting
off his self-existence he had found the Beloved to be his real self. "Naught
save otherness marred this high estate of thine," the Beloved said to him, "and
if thou wilt efface thyself thy claim to have achieved it will be established
indeed!" (Among Sufis otherness is equivalent to thinking of one's self as
something other than God.)
14
How far is it true that the limitations of one's
capacity to understand truth are illusion, and that the constant suggestion to
oneself that one is divine in attributes and qualities produces the realization
of it?
15
It is the paradox of the Short Path that it begins
with the end, in order to arrive at the end!
16
The finest of all experiences is to perceive that
he need no longer pursue experiences because the pursuer and the Pursued are one
and the same Being. Inner experiences are all in time, doomed to pass away; but
he, the Consciousness behind them, behind the ego's consciousness, is out of
time, hence Immortal.
17
The divine presence is there, its power is
consequently there too. He may avail himself of it by Grace. Let him look
to it then. But where is he to see it? Jesus provides the clearest answer: "The
kingdom of heaven is within you." His hope of help can find its realization
coming from one direction only - from the deeper part of his own self.
18
Wang Yang-ming: "Our original nature is purely
good. It is not possible to add anything to this original state. The knowledge
of the superior man merely serves to clear away the obscuration, and thus to
show forth the shining virtue." And again, "The mind of man is heaven but
because of the obscurations caused by selfishness, that state is not manifested.
When all of them are cleared away, the original nature is restored."
19
What has never been lost can never be found. If a
quester fails to find the Overself, it is not because of faults or weaknesses in
the ego but because he is himself that which he seeks. There is nothing else to
be found than understanding of this fact. Instead of seeking Overself as
something above, beyond, or apart from himself, he should stop seeking
altogether and recognize i am as I AM!
20
The moment the questing attitude is taken, with
the Overself as its sought-for goal, in that moment the ego and the Overself are
put apart as two separate things and cannot be brought together again. But by
letting such thoughts go, and all thoughts subside, mind may enter the Stillness
and know itself again as Mind. Yet even this is useless if the understanding
that the seeker is really the sought is lacking.
21
If you will not accept the saving truth that you
are now as divine as you ever will be, and follow the ultimate path, then you
rank yourself with those men who, as Jesus said, "love darkness rather than
light," however much you may protest against such a classification.
22
Once we can grasp this psychic fact that tomorrow
exists today - as precognition has finally grasped it - we are ready to mount up
to the higher philosophic fact that the spiritual goal is already within our
reach, and only needs claiming.
23
Believe implicitly that the divinity is within
you, a knowing divinity, and - if you will harmonize yourself with it
intuitively - a guiding divinity. As a Far Eastern poet has put it: "Your rice
has been cooked from the very beginning."
24
So long as the aspirant takes the attitude that
he aspires to unite with the Overself, that he wants permanent
spiritual illumination, he is merely adding another desire to those which his
ego already possesses. He is still turning round inside the closed circle of the
little self. There is no way out except to forget himself, to turn away from the
ego and regard, fixedly and constantly, the Overself.
25
The idea that we have to wait for liberation from
the ego and enlightenment by the Overself, to evolve through much time and many
reincarnations, is correct only if we continue to remain mesmerized by it, but
false if we take our stand on reality rather than appearance: we are now as
divine as we ever shall be - but we must wake up from illusion and see this
truth.
26
Because it is impossible for the questing ego to
become the Overself, the quester must recognize that he is the
Overself and stop thinking in egoistic terms of progress along a path, or
attainment of a goal.
27
Of what use is unrealized divinity to anyone? If
he is unconscious of his higher self, is a man any better off? The link of being
linked with God potentially is not enough. It must also be personally
discovered, felt, known, and demonstrated in living activity.
28
Because what we seek is ours already, because the
Overself is always here and now, there is in reality no quest to follow, no path
to travel, and no goal to reach.
29
Job carried the answer to his own question, "Oh
that I knew where I might find Him," within himself all the time, but he did not
know it.
30
We suffer under the delusion that we must
struggle, centimetre by centimetre, all the long way to the kingdom of heaven.
We stare, astonished and sceptical, when a Sage - Indian, Chinese, Japanese -
tells us that we are already in it.
31
There is really nothing to be achieved here; only
something to be accepted - the fact of your own divinity.
32
Why go on hoping for a far-off day when peace and
truth will be attained? Why not drastically strip off all the illusions of
self-identification with ego and recognize that the true identity is already
fulfilled?
33
The divine is actually within us and has been
there all along - if we set out to gain knowledge of it. What then really
happens should we succeed in doing so? A recognition and a remembrance! Why then
all this fuss of studies and practices, exercises and meditations, flocking to
gurus and labouring at self-improvements? Is it not enough to be our own
teachers and to remember our own long-held wisdom?
34
On the Short Path he does away with the duality of
thought which sets up two ruling powers - good and evil, God and Adverse Force -
and recognizes GOD as the only real existence.
35
If the Long Path begins and ends with ego, the
Short Path begins with a 180 degree turnaround, opens up a vista of the infinite
Overself.
36
This identification with the Overself is the real
work set us, the real purpose for which human life in the world serves us. All
else is merely a comfortable way of escape, a means of keeping us busy so that
conscience need not be troubled by the central duty to which we are summoned.
37
Here he turns about-face, toward the sun, and
releases himself from the old thought-constructions based on the belief that he
is a sinner. Too much emphasis on that belief may have harmed him, and certainly
depressed him. Looking too often and too long at his defects may cause him to
become obsessed by them. A more positive and less restraining attitude is
available on the Short Path.
38
The Long Path methods and attitudes, ideas and
principles - admirable in their place and time - have to be got rid of;
otherwise the Short Path truths cannot be brought in. For the one is dualistic
and objective, whereas the other is nondualistic and nonobjective. The aspirant
has to turn around and take a totally opposite direction.
39
At this point he must turn round on all that he
has believed and done because of his beliefs and withdraw for a while from the
Long Path because it is occupied solely with the pairs of opposites. Otherwise
it will become his goal.
40
Without any preparation, training, or effort,
without even any intention to seek God, Simone Weil was swiftly plunged into the
mystical union. Unforeseen and improbable though this event must seem to Long
Path eyes, yet it is dramatic testimony that the Short Path is not claiming the
impossible in claiming less, and that Grace is a leading agent in bringing about
this union.
41
The changeover to the Short Path calls for a
tremendous leap from his present standpoint - whatever that may happen to be -
to the highest possible one.
42
Is it not a psychological absurdity to say that
what conscious effort cannot bring forth may be brought forth by unconscious
effort? No - the deeper mind must not be deprived of its own kind of
consciousness merely because we cannot bring its operation within the range of
imagination.
43
What he had formerly to accomplish by a series of
separate steps, he is now able to accomplish by a single step.
44
There is hope if only he is determined to
wake up and begin afresh, to supplant negatives with positives, and to give more
of himself to the Short Path.
45
If, in his earlier days when on the Long Path, he
practised daily checking his personal feelings where they were negative,
hostile, or condemnatory in the relationship with others, or when they
interrupted his inner calm in the relationship with himself, now on the Short
Path he abandoned this training. It was no more the really important thing, for
it had been just a preparation of the ego for that thing - which was to forget
and transcend the ego by transferring attention to the remembrance of his divine
being, his Overself.
46
The Long Path man's thoughts are too often with
his personal self, too seldom with his Overself. The blessed turning point will
be reached when he looks away from himself with persevering faith.
47
He must now throw himself up in the air and
perform a somersault. This is the transition from Long to Short Path. Working up
to it is slow, actually doing it is sudden.
48
The Long Path man who is worried about his sins
and content with his virtues gives place to the Short Path man who is
preoccupied with neither - because both are facets of the ego - but seeks to
understand, revere, and contemplate the Overself.
49
He comes up against the inevitable limitation of
his personal ego and, both in meditation exercise and in practical life, turns
away from it, opens his eyes, and recognizes the Presence of the Overself as his
never-absent guardian angel. With that act of seeing he also receives its Grace.
One after another the virtues drop into his hands as easily as ripened fruits.
50
This progress through a series of attitudes leads
in the end to something transcending them altogether - a shift of consciousness
from ego to Overself.
51
From the gloom and groaning of the Long Path at
its worst - the Dark Night of the Soul - to the radiance and joy of the Short
Path at its best, the change is startling, dramatic, and revolutionary.
52
It is at such a time that he needs to go straight
to the source of divine grace, to break his mental alliance with the ego and
begin a joyful reliance on the Overself.
53
While a man's mind is full of himself, he shuts
out the influx of the Overself. This remains just as true of meditation times as
of ordinary times. He must empty out all these earthly interests, all these
personal concerns, and even, in the end, all these egoistic spiritual
aspirations by transferring his attention to that which is beyond the ego. He
must think only of the Overself - of its nature and attributes, of its tokens
and signs of presence, of its reality and eternity.
54
He can repudiate the man that he was in the past:
the fool who committed grave errors of judgement; the sinner who fell into trap
after trap; the seeker who was preoccupied with his own advancement, his own
condition. He can liberate himself from all the old images of himself and assume
a new one, become a new man. For he can turn his back on all these ego-regarding
attitudes and transfer his thoughts, his self-identification, to the Overself.
55
It is not good to live in unwholesome memories of
what we ought not to have done but did do, and never put a period to them. Such
repeated self-flagellation keeps the ego immersed in its own little circle. It
is better to turn away from them and live in the sunshine of the Overself.
56
To bring about insight into the Overself requires
an inner revolution, a psychological burrowing beneath the entire
ego-consciousness to that secret place from where it arises.
57
All pruning of the ego is of little use, for as
one fault is removed a new one springs out of latency. Why? Because the ego
is. The Short Path is the only genuine approach to truth, the only one
offering real possibility of liberation. It is endorsed by Atmananda and
Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. Lifetimes have been spent by seekers who have
travelled the Long Path but arrived nowhere, or are not much nearer the goal,
whereas others have made swift advance from their first steps on the Short Path.
The assertion that the Long Path is a necessary complement to or preparation for
the Short one is correct only for those who are still under the thraldom of
illusion, who are asleep. Its followers merely travel in a circle: they never
get out of the illusion or awake from the sleep. That is why in the end it has
to be given up, abandoned, understood for the egoistic effort that it really is.
The entire length of the Long Path is an attempt at self-improvement and
self-purification planned, managed, operated, and supervised by the ego itself.
Is it conceivable that the ego will work for its own destruction? No! - it will
never do that however much it pretends to do so, however subtle the bluff with
which it deceives itself or others. Even when the ego rebels against itself, it
is merely playing a part. It has played many different parts in the past.
Appearing as a rebel is merely one more disguise in the whole series.
58
The Short Path calls for a definite change of
mind, a thinking of totally new thoughts, a fastening of attention upon the goal
instead of the way to it. It calls for a revolution, dethroning the ego from
being the centre of attention and replacing it by the Overself.
59
The basis of Short Path practices is that the mind
is like a transparent crystal which takes on the colour of what is brought into
propinquity with it. By turning the mind away from the ego, even from its
improvement, and towards the Overself, uplift results.
60
The Short Path offers the quickest way to the
blessings of spiritual joy, truth, and strength. For since these things are
present in the Overself, and since the Overself is present in all of us, each of
us may claim them as his own by the direct declaration of his true identity.
This simple act requires him to turn around, desert the dependence on personal
self, and look to the original Source whence flows his real life and being, his
true providence and happiness. Disregarding all contrary ideas that the world
outside thrusts upon him, disdaining the ego's emotions and desires concerning
them, he "prays without ceasing" to that Source. That is, he keeps himself
concentrated within upon it until he can feel its liberating qualities and
expand in its sunny glories.
61
On the Short Path he must give no backward glances
at the ego, must no longer abase himself by identifying himself with that
fraudulent self. He must cling to his new attitude with the ardour of a new
convert.
62
Let him try to look beyond his own defects to the
perfection which is in the Overself, the true image of himself in which God made
man.
63
The Short Path frees him from all gnawing regrets
about the past, with its sins of commission and of omission, its errors and
follies, its mistakes and deficiencies. Instead it puts his mind to work upon
their contraries - what is beautiful and worthy, what is truthful and serene,
what is pure and noble. This is the inner work to which a man is called, this
transition from long detours, painful struggles, and entrapment in
self-centeredness which all form the Long Path. Let them go, turn around, turn
to the Short Path and find peace - a peace which is not only felt but also
understood.
64
There comes a stage, whether in meditation or in
the ordinary daily experience of life, at which he has to cross over from doing,
trying, and managing things by his own self alone and when he can let go and
open himself to the higher force - when he can submit his ego to its ordinances,
its commands, or to its whispers.
65
In the end, he gets tired of taking the world,
others, and his own ego as the object of exclusive attention and turns with
relief to the Void.
66
Saint John of the Cross gave the following advice:
"Enter into your heart and labour in the presence of God who is always present
there to help you. Fix your loving attention upon Him without any desire to
feel or hear anything of God." Could a beginner be asked to apply such
words? A person in a well-advanced state is alone likely to respond to them. Or,
those who have been told about the Short Path and have studied its nature and
tried to fit it into their inner work - whether they be beginners or proficient
- can also put them into practice.
67
His secret is simple. He neutralizes his ego,
while at the same time he affirms the Overself.
68
He comes at last to the point where he must turn
against his own constant indictment, where he must defend himself against these
self-made and self-directed accusations.
69
The self-revilements of the Long Path must be
abandoned: his eyes must look up at that other and higher Self.
70
Not by the acquisition of virtues and the
abandonment of vices can you attain the deeper enlightenment, they assert, but
by the transference of consciousness itself to an altogether different plane.
71
He thinks only of the infinite goodness at his
core and ignores the human frailty of his surface.
72
He is asked to turn his back on what he gave so
much of his time and thought and feeling to for so long and to give them
henceforth to a totally transcendent level - the Short Path.
73
The new thinking that is needed when one enters
the Short Path is not merely different from the old but totally opposite to it.
74
On this Long Path, he stands with his back to the
Overself and tries to re-educate the ego. On the Short Path he turns around from
this position and faces the Overself.
75
The mind must move to a higher dimension and
breathe a more rarefied air.
76
The time will come when you will have to turn your
back upon the Long Path in order to give full attention, the full energy and the
full time, to the Short Path. For with this comes a new era when the whole
concern is not with the ego, not with its improvement or betterment, but with
the divine itself alone - not with the surface consciousness and all its little
changes but with the very depths, the diviner depths where reality abides. At
this point seek only the Higher Self, live only with positive thought, stay only
for as long as you can with the holy silence within, feel only that inner
stillness which belongs to the essence of consciousness. Henceforth you are not
to become this or that, not to gather the various virtues, but simply to be. For
this you do not have to strive, you do not have to think, you do not have to
work with any form of yoga, with any method of meditation.
77
There is a certain forthright logicality in the
Short Path attitude which is uncomfortably uncompromising. If each man must find
out the Overself's existence for, and by, himself, by his own intuition, it will
confuse him and lead him astray if he discusses his problems with others or
exchanges ideas and inner experiences with them. Secondly, if that existence
must be found deep within his own nature, it will be travelling in an exactly
opposite direction to travel to some land or place in search of a glamorous
guru.
78
If true light can come only from within a man,
every outer method of bringing it to him must be in reality a method which leads
him astray.
79
He sees the truth as with a jolt. There it is,
within his own being, lying deep down but still in his own self. There never was
any need to travel anywhere to find it; no need to visit anyone who was supposed
to have it already, and sit at his feet; not even to read any book, however
sacred or inspired. Nor could another person, place, or writing give it to him -
he would have to unveil it for himself in himself. The others could direct him
to look inwards, thus saving all the effort of looking elsewhere. But he himself
would have to give the needful attention to himself. The discovery must be his
own, made within the still centre of his being.
80
If he is to be true to his espousal of philosophy
he will keep himself outside partisan, officially titled, and other limiting
forms. And one of the best ways to approach this ideal is through the practice
of self-emptying.
81
There is an element of truth in the statement -
often made by Krishnamurti - that the best way to start on the Way to Truth is
to discard all that previous thinking, reading, and listening have yielded.
82
The teacher of the Short Path tells men - and
rightly - to beware of letting techniques, practices, or methods become new
manacles on their hands, new obstructions on their way to inner freedom.
83
The Short Path man ought not to depend on
authorities, scriptures, rules, regulations, organizations, gurus, or writings.
His past history may outwardly force such an association on him, but inwardly he
will seek to liberate himself from it. For his ultimate aim is to reach a point
where no interpreter, medium, or transmitter obtrudes between him and the
Overself.
84
Krishnamurti's free-thinking, idol-shattering
teaching is a good counterbalance and advanced complement to the ordinary yoga
teaching. It is not really a contradiction, since it is a Short Path form
completing yoga's Long Path. Krishnamurti's uncompromising rigidity is also a
corrective to the sectarian fanaticism and guru deification which mark the
seeking of many beginners. They receive a shock when first reading or hearing
him. He undermines and explodes the little attitudes they have been taught to
copy, the precious beliefs they have been told to hold. From his point of view,
the solemnities of religious ritual and the frivolities of theatrical revue are
both on the same plane.
85
Here, on this Short Path, he is to direct his
yearnings and seekings, his hopes and thoughts, solely to the Overself. Nothing
and nobody, not even a guru, is to come between them.
86
In Tibet, the name "Short Path" is given to the
path of complete self-reliance without any guidance from an outer master. It is
understood that only exceptionally advanced aspirants are capable of entering
such a path.
87
It is often advisable to be one's own guide,
studying worthy books, using prayer and reflection, and following the intuitive
guidance of one's Higher Self.
88
Whatever technique is adopted, in the end it cages
them in, keeps them its prisoner and prevents the free search which is necessary
to find truth.
89
At this stage the student ceases to be concerned
with those egoistic and dualistic ideas which form so much of the concern of
orthodox religious people. For their conception of God is no longer his, their
desire to perpetuate the present state of the person in some eternal post-mortem
heaven fades away naturally as the illusion of the person itself fades away. Yet
nobody need be alarmed at these changes of outlook. All that is true and worthy
in popular religion is not discarded but kept and conserved.
90
One thing about the Short Path which must be
firmly impressed on the student's mind is that its success depends on how much
love for its objective a man brings to it. If he has ever had a moment's Glimpse
of the Overself, and has fallen more deeply in love with it than with anything
else, he will be able to fulfil the basic requirement for all Short Path
techniques: but without such wholehearted attachment, he is sure to fail.
91
He must bring to this formidable task an
adventuresome quality which is willing to take a few risks, if only because
merely negative aims, hesitant "ifs," timid "buts," and the general lack of
courage to take an imperative plunge will invite what they seek to avoid.
92
What is the key to the Short Path? It is
threefold. First, stop searching for the Overself since it follows you wherever
you go. Second, believe in its Presence, with and within you. Third, keep on
trying to understand its truth until you can abandon further thoughts about it.
You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego's false idea and affirm
the real one.(P)
93
The Short Path teaching will only prove
immediately successful with those who are ready for it. It should qualify its
claims with this statement.
94
In its earlier stages, the Short Path is a
continued practice of becoming aware of those moments when he slips away into
forgetfulness of the Stillness.
95
The Short Path stimulates him to dynamically
energetic endeavours and encourages him to make lightning-like thrusts toward
Reality. This he cannot do without inexorably and resolutely crushing his ego or
taking advantage of a grave circumstance and unresistingly letting it crush the
ego for him.
96
From the Short Path high-altitude standpoint, no
variation in doctrine to meet the needs of weaker minds, no yielding of any kind
to the mass mind is to be tolerated. It is rigidly uncompromising, and therefore
isolated. It is final and closed and rejects all cheap, facile, suave diplomacy
for the sake of popularity.
97
The Short Path is, in essence, the ceaseless
practice of remembering to stay in the Stillness, for this is what he really is
in his innermost being and where he meets the World-Mind.(P)
98
The Short Path uses (a) thinking:
metaphysical study of the Nature of Reality; (b) practice: constant
remembrance of Reality during everyday life in the world; (c) meditation:
surrender to the thought of Reality in stillness. You will observe that in all
these three activities there is no reference to the personal ego. There
is no thinking of, remembering, or meditating upon oneself, as there is with the
Long Path.(P)
99
A part of the Short Path work is intellectual
study of the metaphysics of Truth. This is needful to expose the ego's own
illusoriness, as a preliminary to transcending it, and to discriminate its
ideas, however spiritual, from reality.(P)
100
In the first and second stages of the Short
Path, his aim is to set himself free from the egoism in which his consciousness
is confined.(P)
101
This is simply a way of practice for any sincere
seeker. It does not interfere with his religious creed or belief.
102
The Short Path is the real way! All else is mere
preparation of the equipment for it. For with it he is no longer to direct his
meditation upon the shortcomings and struggles of the personal self but up to
the Overself, its presence and strength. For the consciousness of the Real, the
True, the Beneficent and Peaceful comes by its Grace alone and by this practice
he attracts the visitation.
103
Although he refuses to identify himself with the
ego's outlook and actions, he refuses also to condemn them.
104
The Short Path calls for a discernment and
intelligence which are not needed in ordinary living, which are so subtle that
the truth of mentalism must first be applied to the world and allowed to
permeate the understanding, for a long time, before it can be applied to the
person himself.
105
The Short Path is no dryly intellectual affair
or coldly unfeeling one. It nurtures beautiful, exquisite moments and richly
uplifting moods. Both this path and its term are vital and dynamic aesthetic
experiences.
106
He cultivates a more joyous attitude, this man
on the Short Path, for remembrance of the Overself, which he practises
constantly, reminds him of the glory of the Overself.
107
It is better at this stage to forget his
failings and bring in the atmosphere which would make them inoperative.
108
It is not enough to learn to bear with others,
to excuse and accept their shortcomings. He must also learn to bear with
himself, to accept his own shortcomings.
109
To adopt the Short Path is to place oneself at a
point of view where all the efforts of the Long Path are seen as a sheer waste
of time and where its successes are regarded as equal in value to its failures,
since both are illusory experiences of an illusory entity.
110
In its advanced phases the Short Path is no
pathway at all. It has all the freedom of air and sea.
111
It is a kind of spiritual ju-jitsu, for it uses
the ego's own strength to overthrow the ego!
112
It is a Short Path attitude to avoid censorious
reproaches and condemnatory speech - these as a part of its larger rejection of
negatives and preference for positives.
113
Reject every negative thought with implacable
rigour - this is one of the important practical deductions of the Short Path.
114
Recognition is a prominent feature on the Short
Path. The Overself is always there but only those on the Short Path recognize
this truth and think accordingly. The world is always with us, but only those on
the Short Path recognize the miracle that it is. In moments of
exaltation, uplift, awe, or satisfaction - derived from music, art, poetry,
landscape, or otherwise - thousands of people have received a Glimpse; but only
those on the Short Path recognize it for what it really is.
115
To practise the Short Path is to be aware of the
miracle entailed in every moment of living.
116
The Short Path concentrates thought upon the
Real, deliberately forgetful of everything and everyone in the world of
illusion.
117
The attitudes of reverence, even awe, devotion,
worship, ought not to be eliminated just because he is practising the Short
Path. It is still a technique even if it does embody the assumption of
nonduality.
118
This Short Path is the path of paradox.
119
He cannot walk this Shorter Path without
rejecting the world as illusion and consequently without labelling the world's
evil and suffering as illusory. It is a hard test for him to pass, a narrow gate
which bars successful travel on this Path to him if he persists in clinging to
his old beliefs. Their sacrifice is required of him - yet not blindly as a
matter of faith alone but justly as a matter of reason as well.
120
The practice of refusing to accept appearances
of evil or illusion and penetrating to realities of beneficence and truth draws
out and discovers the purifying and healing capabilities which can remedy those
appearances.
121
A boundless faith in the Overself's power to
assist him must be the possession of a Short Path votary - that is, faith in
both the existence and the efficacy of its Grace.
122
The Short Path precludes impatience and forbids
anxiety.
123
The attitude of pursuing an objective, of
searching for a truth, however admirable in the early stages, becomes an
obstruction in this the latest stage.
124
When he is established to some extent on the
Short Path he may not only expect the expected, as most people do, but also
expect the unexpected.
125
The Short Path accepts no other power than the
divine power, no other reality than the divine reality. It recognizes no second
entity and ascribes no force whatever in its own life to such an entity.
126
Eliminate religious comforts, imaginations, and
illusions from inner life. They are escapes for our weakness, lower levels
masquerading to remain outside God while pretending to be inside God. Suspend
all thinking.
127
On the Short Path he fixes his mind on divine
attributes, such as the all-pervading, ever-present, beginningless and endless
nature of the One Life-Power, until he is lifted out of his little ego entirely.
128
Take the goal in view from the new beginning.
This will help prevent going astray, making detours, losing discrimination.
129
If he firmly plants his feet on the Short Path,
if he never lets himself forget his real being is in the Overself, then he must
refuse to accept a single one of those thoughts which so often trouble the
traveller on the Long Path - thoughts of anxiety, frustration, or concern about
his progress. He stays well above them.
130
The Short Path tells us that the goal need not
be approached grimly.
131
He does not have to think meanly of himself all
the time, does not have to worry anxiously about his unworthy character. Rather
should he learn to get more relaxed, more remindful of the existence of his
diviner being.
132
On the Short Path, instead of attacking the
lower self, he lifts himself up to the presence of the higher. The evil in him
may then melt away of its own accord.
133
The Short Path shows him that it is better to
take the highest model, to look for his strength rather than his weakness.
134
It is the unique contribution of the Short Path
that it takes advantage of the Overself's ever-present offer of Grace.
135
When body and feeling are cleansed by
disciplinary regimes, when the intellect is inspired by meditational exercises,
one is ready for the Short Path.
136
Your reaction to events and persons depends on
your recognition of Overself. If you see only little ego, and fail to see the
Overself, there will be a negative reaction. Both are within you.
137
Not by harshly and negatively condemning others
who act wrongly - which is needful at the proper time, with the proper person -
does the Short Path votary correct them but by constructively, kindly suggesting
the better way.
138
Just as the ancient pagan Mysteries required
some amount of preparation and some form of purification before candidates were
admitted, so the Short Path ordinarily requires some Long Path work as a
prerequisite. But not always and not now.
139
The Short Path techniques are available for use
not only at fixed periods and special sessions for meditation but also
throughout the day as a constant habit, a regular way of living.
140
The Short Path can only be travelled if faith in
the Overself is fundamental and complete, and if trust in the effectiveness of
its power is strong and unwavering.
141
Expect the unexpectable!
142
It is the art of being artless, spiritual
without doing it consciously. It is achievement of effortless mental quiet. It
is ordinary living, plus an extraordinary continuous awareness.
143
This is the wonder of the Short Path - that it
teaches us to refuse at once every thought which seeks to identify us with the
feeble and unworthy self. This is the gladness of the Short Path - that it urges
us to accept and hold only those thoughts which identify us directly with the
strong and divine Overself, or which reflect its goodness and wisdom.
144
With the Short Path, one emerges into an
atmosphere that is totally different in nature and quality from the Long Path's.
It is like seeing the sun break through the clouds.
145
The Direct Path's influence should show itself
in bringing a brighter outlook to a man and a more cheerful tone to his
character. It is true that philosophy is quite aware of the Buddhistic picture
of life, of the sorrows and sicknesses which drag him down at times. That is why
it makes equanimity a leading item of the inner work upon himself, why it
becomes so necessary. But it is also true that moments, moods, and glimpses are
also possible when there is uplift, and he can confirm for himself that the
human link with the higher power is a very real thing.
146
It is while working with the Short Path that the
man discovers he may apply its principles to his worldly existence, his earthly
fortunes too. He learns that the ultimate source of his physical welfare is not
the ego but the Overself. If he looks only to the little ego for his supply, he
must accept all its narrow limitations, its dependence on personal effort alone.
But if he looks farther and recognizes his true source of welfare is with the
Overself, with its miracle-working Grace, he knows that all things are possible
to it. Hope, optimism, and high expectation make his life richer, more abundant.
147
If we turn towards our truer selves, then light
will descend and dissolve the evils in our being.
148
It is not essential to enter the trance state in
order to experience sufficient depth of meditation, although many do seek it in
the popular belief of its necessity. The advanced Short Path treader develops
the capacity without the necessity. That is to say, he can enjoy the benefits of
a stilled mind in an instant whenever outer circumstances permit him to relax
but without having to fall into a condition oblivious of outside scenes, sounds,
and shapes.
149
The consequence of this self-training on the
Short Path is that in all questions, problems, situations, and practices his
first thought will be to take the matter to the Overself, identifying with
Overself, and later, when he returns to the second thought, the matter will be
looked at under this diviner light.
150
When he shifts the centre of his interest from
the ego to the Stillness his life begins to manage itself. Happenings pertaining
to it come about without his doing anything at all.
151
Put in another way, it may be said that the
Short Path develops inspiration and evokes intuition.
152
The Short Path will bear fruit in several
virtues, which will come of their own accord and without his trying to gain
them. In this way it will help him calm his passions and discipline his ego,
even though his thoughts and meditations make no reference to them.
153
The discovery - that he need not torment himself
with attempts to improve, reform, correct, and purify himself - may come into
his mind with joyously explosive effect. He need not fear to freely recognize
and boldly use the power of the Source. There is no other with which he can come
into contact which can so utterly transform him and transcend his circumstances.
It is the human parallel to atomic energy.
154
His life will become more cheerful and he
himself more human when he takes to the Short Path.
155
Even without making special efforts to deal with
undesirable traits, some will tend to fall away through being denied attention.
This is one consequence of following the Short Path.
156
Because he travels along the Short Path with a
happy heart, his attitude towards other persons tends to be a loving one, or
kindly, or at least emanating goodwill.
157
Such is the value of Short Path exercises, and
more especially of those which give constant mindfulness and the
Witness-attitude, that earnest practice of them may bring realization in as
little time as one week to seven years.
158
When Jesus said, "...and all these things shall
be added unto you," he did not primarily mean material things such as money and
houses, although these were included. He meant that the moral virtues and the
moral excellences for which so many seekers after perfection strive in vain
would spontaneously add themselves to him as an after-effect of being "born
again."
159
Since the Overself is the source of all virtues,
the man who unites with it will easily and naturally be virtuous in the truest
sense: all the bad in his character will be eliminated.
160
The Short Path brings joy, hope, enthusiasm and
confidence, lyricism and optimism.
161
The virtues he attempted to acquire on the Long
Path, and too often attempted in vain, come to him of themselves by the magical
grace of the Short Path.
162
Entry on the Short Path bestows a feeling of
glorious freedom.
163
Only the Short Path can turn aspiration into
attainment, for only it proffers Grace.
164
The Short Path makes miracles possible because
it leads through the gate of the timeless, futureless, pastless Now.
165
You will know truth and experience reality in
those moments when you have freed yourself from the ego's conditioning
processes, from its limiting past memories and imprisoning emotions. In such
moments you will be abruptly enlightened and your whole attitude toward life
will be different in consequence.
166
Just as welcome as bright sunlight pouring in
through a cell-window is the hope proffered by the Short Path.
167
One advantage of the Short Path is that whoever
takes to it thoroughly gets rid of guilt complexes, of sorrowing over his past,
his errors, his sins.
168
In this way he does little to free himself from
a weakness, a desire, or a passion. It goes, falls away of its own accord, if he
looks to the Higher Self rather than to the management of his own ego for
salvation. It is in this spontaneous way, too, that the attitude of detachment
begins to appear in his character and little by little - but sometimes swiftly -
becomes established. But a warning is needed here. Whatever purifications or
strengthenings, whatever other attempts and trainings at self-betterment he has
begun need not be dropped, provided they are kept in their place and not allowed
to obscure the view of the primary goal or gradually sidetrack direction from
its superior level.
169
This is a paradox of the Short Path, that on the
one hand he practises this exercise of playing the game of being enlightened,
and on the other of freely confessing his faults, limitations, and weaknesses
but just as freely accepting them. Thus a curious peace of mind settles in him
and becomes naturalized. But it is not a spurious peace. It rejects worry or
anxiety and negates fear.
170
It takes his mind off himself and his
difficulties and lifts him to the level where he can perceive that the Overself
can take adequate care of him and them too. It is all-sufficient for all his
needs, for clearing away old spiritual perplexities, or for providing new
physical surroundings.
171
The effects of this Short Path work are
sometimes miraculous and always life-giving.
172
He has entered a new and happier phase of his
life. The problems of the past have disappeared. The door to inner light is
always ready to open at his mere push.
173
The Short Path gives its followers gaiety of
outlook and an assurance of victory.
174
If he keeps in right relation with his Overself,
he will inevitably keep in right relation with everything and everyone else.
175
The question of the difficulty of dislodging the
ego does not arise on the Short Path.
176
The Short Path makes it possible for the most
ordinary man - unprepared, untrained though he be - to find spiritual
fulfilment.
177
The Short Path frees us from the anxieties and
guilts which make living more of a burden than it need be.
178
Only when it becomes natural and therefore easy,
continuous and therefore well-established, does meditation become completely
fruitful. But this is possible only on the Short Path.
179
Without expecting miracles from human nature, it
is not unreasonable to assert that the realization of its larger possibilities
is more likely to happen on the Short Path and has a better chance to be
achieved.
180
The Short Path provides him with the chance of
making a fresh start, of gaining new inspiration, more joy.
181
What he feels on the Short Path is confidence
and peace.
182
Those mesmeric announcements of inner grandeur
awaiting human beings - breathtaking in the way they sweep aside those
negativities and pessimisms which beset us - belong to the Short Path.
183
Out of this altered metaphysical consciousness
there emerges an altered ethical conscience. Along with the movement to a new
intellectual centre there is a parallel movement to a new heart. This is miracle
enough to attract all those who want a shorter easier way, or those who want to
avoid the long-drawn labours of self-sculpture.