There is no Google Map in the mountains. When we undertake a journey in the world of the unknown, there is hardly any visible guidance available. We mostly work on our intuitions. When we take the road less travelled, we often do not find a paved road. Sometimes we do not find any road at all, and we have to make our own path.
Similarly, when we embark on the journey into the world of spirituality, we move away from the known. The first question that comes to our mind is: "How do we know whether we are going in the right direction?" One of the easiest things to do is to hire a guide. We do so while trekking in the mountains. The guide tells us where to go. But the problem with the guide is that his own experience is again limited. The moment we take a guide, we are not entering the domain of the unknown; we are entering only the domain of the known. Just the Google Map has been replaced with the guide. There is no real exploration, so we will not be able to go beyond what that guide has already explored. Moreover, we have not developed the mindset or capacity to explore independently, and therefore, we will be heavily dependent on that guide for all our future journeys. Similarly, when we have a guru to help us in our spiritual journey, no doubt we progress faster, but our exploration is limited to his experiences. Quite often, when we choose a Guru, we are unable to see these limitations, and by the time we realise these limitations, it is already too late. Especially in the present-day world, most Gurus either have a hidden agenda or are too attached to the expansion of their organisations. With the locus on the growth of organisations, the individual disciples and their growth often take a back seat.
But if not the guru, what guidance is available to us on the path less travelled? Probably "awareness" is the sole guide. Suppose we are driving a car when someone suddenly steps in front of it. What do we do? Do we look at the rule book? Not at all. We give 100% attention in the moment and try to save that person as best we can. Awareness is the sole guide. When we have 100% awareness in the present moment, we know what to do in the domain of the unknown. When we are fully aware of ourselves, we will be aware of every thought and every instinct.
When we undertake the journey on the spiritual path, we essentially become fully aware of our own being. It's not a target to achieve or a destination to reach. When we give an example of the destination, we just mean travelling from the pole where we are "living with ignorance" to the pole where we "live with awareness". It's a change in mindset, rather than an achievement. When we live with awareness, we can clearly see which of our actions are driven by "ego" and which by "love". The more attention we give to our inner world, the more clearly we see the ego's play in its different forms. We clearly want to hold on to certain experiences as a "trophy" in our spiritual journey. We are not comfortable with someone challenging their validity. We can see our inner conflicts. The ego seeks desired outcomes yet believes in destiny because it wants the "trophy" of being indifferent. It's the most difficult thing to have a choiceless observation. It's easy to see others but difficult to see "self" because the "ego" paints a very rosy picture of itself. Unless we have the same urgency as when someone suddenly comes in front of the high-speed car we are driving, we will not be able to pay 100% attention, and the ego will keep making a fool of us. Spiritual pursuit is not a time-pass, a tool, or a trophy; it's a way of life. Once somebody undertakes this journey, there is no coming back. It's not cherry picking.
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