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Editor:  sakha

Name:	Sakha
Email:	Send to sakha
Home Page:	http://www.invertendo.com

Society: Religion and Spirituality: Yoga: Practices: Meditation  (29)

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"Sakha" is a sanskrit word that means "friend" or "companion." It was the first handle after about 25 tries that my original ISP accepted. (I was going through the glossary of my book, Sahaj Marg Companion, selecting likely words and was down to "S" by the time I finally was able to get online!) Later, it became a sort of nickname, since my master seemed to like the accidental humor of how "Sakha" related to the title of my first book.

So Sakha is just an online handle, not a special spiritual or monastic name, like the kind sannyasi take when they renounce the world or that some gurus give to their students upon initiation. Perhaps as a persona, he is very much like the guy named Clark Powell, but also not like him at all. Either way, I hope that Sakha will be a friend.

Though I am committed to a practice and to my gurudev, whom we call Chariji, I am unlimited and unrestricted in my appreciation for all true teachers and paths, since all come from one Source. Those who frequent invertendo.com will note both qualities, deep commitment to a single way, and respect for all ways.

If one hopes to find water in a dry place, is it not foolish to impatiently scratch the surface with hundreds shallow wells? Wiser and calmer souls will focus their energy into digging a single well, and go deep. Thus they can tap the entire reservoir. Just so, commitment to your path, to your ishtadeva or ishta-guru (chosen form of the formless) is a pre-requisite for those would would arrive at the ultimate destination. The Way is not for browsers, shoppers, and flirters. This may be all right while we are simply seekers, still searching the terrains of spirituality, testing, or "dating," so to speak. But sooner or later, the time will come to commit to dive deeply. Yet some people always resist. They seem to be continually drawn to novelty, restlessly trying out one path or teacher, and when (as it must) something unpleasant or disagreeabe occurs, they have their reason to move on to another teacher. In my view, those who are stuck at this level, who are "addicted to attraction," can hope to find nothing more than a series of temporary satisfactions, not deep and abiding peace. Sadly, they avoid the realities that only a sustained commitment can reveal.

Likewise, Nature does not know a tree whose limbs do not understand they belong to a single source - hence, appreciation and respect for all true paths and teachers. The breadth and depth of such appreciation by one who is a committed disciple is different from the that of an impatient and indiscriminate seeker. It is common that in the early stages of the journey along our chosen path that one may feel he or she has found the best path, the greatest guru, or the only way. This is all right for beginners, but the mature disciple is far beyond the need for this sort of thinking. Please respect the fact that you may not have the complete information about the mysteries of the Universe or the mind of God.

At invertendo.com, the etiquette is not to denigrate another's way. My masters say that tolerance is the beginning, not the end, of spirituality: where religion ends, spirtuality begins; where spirituality ends, bliss begins; where bliss ends, reality begins.