Theosophical Study Paper No 04

Author(s): Theosophical Society in Australia
Publisher: Theosophical Society in Australia

Page 10

The word 'Path', however, gives a wrong picture, as if one were going somewhere outside oneself; but it is meant to indicate an inner change and nothing else. Before that change can take place consciously, there must have been not only some discrimination but also a little detachment, a certain self-restraint, implied in the six points of conduct spoken about in Vedānta, parallels for which exist in other traditions. Further, there must be the urge to change - the feeling that there must be a right-about turn in life. The most difficult stage of one's life is this turning point. Previously, while one moved outwards to gain experience and obtain stimulation, there was no problem. The man who wants worldly things goes after them. After entering the Path proper, there is no problem either. One who has definitely 'entered the stream' knows in what direction he is going. The time between, where perhaps most seekers are, when they are neither quite worldly nor definitely unfolding their spiritual nature, is a stage of doubt and struggle. People claim to want enlightenment, yet cling to the pleasures and attachments of the world. Light on the Path states that 'though the ordinary man asks perpetually, his voice is not heard'. It also says 'Those that ask’shall have.' The difficulty is that 'the voice of the mind is only heard on that plane on which the mind acts.' Those who want the enlightenment of liberation must not ask only with the mind - that is, conceptually-they must learn to ask at a deeper level, without wanting wisdom together with the pleasures and objects of the world. There must be a radical change of direction. When the direction becomes absolutely clear, the Path proper begins. The first of the initiations is called in Buddhism srotāpatti or 'entering the stream', and this describes clearly what it is. When passing things cease to have meaning except as a kind of a 'sport' (lila) of the Infinite Reality, when a sense of the immortal truth has dawned and there is a definite sense of direction, that is srotāpatti. Dr Besant says the term parivrājaka, 'one who wanders', refers to the same stage. As the concept degenerated, people put on the Sannyāsī dress and wandered about with a begging bowl. A parivrājaka is aniketa, which means he has no home in the worldly sense. The worldly home is a place of shelter from the rest of the world, from where each one fights his battles against the world with allies in the form of husband, wife,
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