Is the path of spiritual development easy? How to renounce the world and embark on the spiritual path? The number of friends is noticeably decreasing

Hello,

But have you ever wondered what the spiritual path of a person is? How to choose it? How do you understand that the chosen spiritual path is yours?

Such a delicate topic. Maybe not even for wide discussion. However, let's try to approach it carefully. With some basic recommendations that everyone should remember.

The most important and simple thing. We need to seek the spiritual path with our hearts. There is one creator, there is one highest source and there are different roads to him. You just need to find yours.

If, for example, you have chosen Christianity as a spiritual practice for yourself, then you must establish yourself in it and follow this path. But at the same time there is one interesting point.

The spiritual path of man is the path of a pure heart

Pride is very cunning. Pride and selfishness manifest themselves as evaluation, disregard for others, and a sense of superiority. Often people, when they embark on the spiritual path, begin to look down on other people. Who, for example, practice the same spiritual path differently. From a certain position of superiority, disdain. And this is extremely dangerous.

Because the spiritual path is the path pure hearts.

The path of a respectful, loving, humble heart. Can you imagine, for example, Jesus Christ and Muhammad fighting each other? Blame each other? This is impossible. And this happens among their followers...

Therefore, sometimes it is very important, no matter what spiritual tradition you belong to, to try other traditions.

Why is it important?

Of course, this does not mean that you will change your choice of heart. In general, think about how the choice of heart can be changed. This is weird. If your heart has already chosen, if it has already responded to a certain spiritual path, how can it be confused? That's it, it's already established. But it makes sense to try other practices so that your awareness that there is a single creator expands. And there are different ways to get there.

That is, you can simply feel this mood from within. Practice, explore, feel God through other practices.

So we will remove these manifestations of selfishness and... Let's remove the patterns of evaluation and superiority.

And then - return to your tradition again and become very serious there. But - without any feeling of disdain for everyone else.

How do you perceive this?

P.S. This article opens a new series of materials about the spiritual path of man, false and true spirituality, and the difference between real humility and dull patience. We will continue in a few days.

P.P.S. If you're new here, you can subscribe now by clicking here . If you know someone who might benefit from this article, please send them a link to this page (social buttons just below).

Based on the training by Oleg Gadetsky “Freedom and self-realization. Transformation of negative beliefs"

Text of the program “Freedom from the dictatorship of the beast inside you.” Part 8.

01:38:53 - 02:00:56

What is the difference between Personality development and mental development. Where does the spiritual path begin?
A diary is a basic tool for working on yourself. How to write down thoughts correctly. How to act as a Personality during attacks of consciousness. The spiritual must be Lived, not practiced.

The danger of illusions on the spiritual path

Zhanna: I have a question from people who keep diaries. Everything is fine, that is, the person has even started a diary and is starting to write down his thoughts. He says: “Well, it doesn’t help, it’s like it’s still pressing, it’s still pinching.” And here is such a moment, this is something that seems to come from observations, and the person himself also seemed to share.

That is, at some point he asked such a question that it seems that I’m already tracking it, and I’m already seeing this mechanism that works for some reason. And it got to the point that he actually made this diary in order to tell others how consciousness affects him ( Igor Mikhailovich: That's right), how it manipulates him. And tell me the mechanism.

Igor Mikhailovich: And a simple question. Did the person make a choice and did he feel that he was not an animal? No. Who made the choice? He felt that it was real. He had a moment of such realization. But who turned on at this time? Animal. And this inner beast, he just started this game, and he leads it. And he wants to appear, not to be ( Zhanna: Mask of a saint), to appear holy. Yes, but don't be one.

And everything comes into play. Will anything work out? It won’t work, because for a person as a Personality, it is precisely the second part of him that is mortal, and that is what introduced him into the game and into deception. Why? Because man does not really strive for God. He doesn't seek to understand who he is, that's the thing.

Zhanna: I started playing.

Igor Mikhailovich: That is, he lives in an illusion. He likes this illusion. “Why should I bother, why, if everyone lives like this, and I do like this?” - well, here’s a simple attitude emanating from consciousness.

How to write down thoughts in a diary

Tatiana: Igor Mikhailovich, could you somehow clarify this question: “How to write down your thoughts correctly, and can they be analyzed? What..."

Igor Mikhailovich: No, the analysis includes just... There is a simple mechanism here. When the thought comes to a person to do something negative, bright, but the person already realizes, when he controls his thoughts, he realizes that this is not his. He understands that they are coming to him, he did not order the thought.

For example, how about you take it and be offended by her? Well, for example, she didn’t look at you like that. This is such a common banal phrase, right? You understand that it is pressing on you, so you write it down. What time is it today (there is a date, date), I marked every day there. At 10:45 a thought came to me. That's all.

And this thought will go away as soon as you write it down. If you analyze it here, why such a thought came to you, you turn on the work of consciousness and run into a lie. Immediately this chihuahua begins to deceive you and play with you like a doll.

Tatiana: There's something wrong with you.

Igor Mikhailovich: Certainly.

Zhanna: And it also sounds like a direct command.

Igor Mikhailovich: Or maybe something is wrong with it, yes.

Why do thoughts come that you didn't order?

Igor Mikhailovich: And you clearly write down thoughts that you didn’t order. They don't come to you. You are busy, for example, with some kind of computational processes, adding and calculating something, and then the thought comes to you that someone is wrong about you.

Sorry, what is your mind occupied with? It calculates some square root of something unknown. And then the thought comes to you that someone has done wrong to you. Why do you need it now? Why does your consciousness, instead of doing this math, start to manipulate you and lead you on to something?

Is this freedom of thought? No. This is exactly what needs to be recorded. Understand? Because such and such a thought came. Why did she come at this particular moment? Because instead of forcing and keeping your consciousness on a tight leash, forcing it to work, you let go of this leash, do you understand?

And at this moment, when you let it go, you were distracted by something and paid more attention to, say, not on internal spiritual processes, but on the material. And a certain degree of freedom appeared in your consciousness, and it immediately began to pelt you with chaos.

This is a simple example, this is how, let’s say, an antivirus is installed on a computer. As soon as it weakens, they immediately begin to fill it with rubbish, right? Well, that's actually how it is.

Spirituality should be Lived, not practiced.

Zhanna: Yes. There is also such an erroneous understanding that when a person begins to engage in spiritual things, he begins to blame his troubles, in general, for everything that is bad that happens to him, precisely because he begins to engage in spiritual things.

Igor Mikhailovich: Well, I will say this: if a person begins to engage in spiritual things, then he correctly blames himself. The spiritual need to live, but you can do sports or something else. But if he is engaged in the spiritual, he is engaged - this consciousness is engaged. The occupation section already predicts a temporary hobby. You can’t get carried away with Life temporarily.

Of course, consciousness will play if such an attitude is in progress. But a person is not lying when he writes about this. He says: “So I took up spiritual development.” Even from this phrase, without knowing the person, without listening to anything, consciousness began to play with him.

Why? Because the person had a spiritual surge. He experienced this need for freedom and love, and he felt that it was possible. He felt that he... He was not an animal. He felt that he was more, that there really was a part of the Spiritual World in him, and he could become this component of the Boundless World.

And at the same time, consciousness reacted. It immediately loaded him with emotions, loaded him with everything in the world, gave him practices, most often coming from consciousness. That is, he did not take a clean instrument. Even if it’s a clean instrument, what difference does it make? It gave him a tool, it gave him everything, and then immediately blamed him for everything. He immediately distracted and said: “ Well, you got involved in spiritual things and look: you lost there, there, there, that’s what losses it brought you. What did you get?»

Sorry, but what can you get from spiritual freedom in the material world? Simple question.

Where does the spiritual path begin?

Zhanna: What were you waiting for?

Igor Mikhailovich: What is this, Aladdin's lamp? But if you begin to Live, then with each step you gain more and more Life, more Love, more happiness, more understanding. More understanding of the illusion of this material world, dictatorship through your consciousness from the dictatorship of whom? Satan, right? Who do we call Satan? In religions there and everywhere.

And you will understand that you are dual, that you have a part of both God and a part of Satan. . There is a living part, and there is a mortal part. And hope from the consciousness that one day your body will form again, right? Well, the movie “ATLANTIS” talks well about this. These are all fairy tales. Never. What is destroyed is destroyed.

I say: the first thing a truly spiritual path begins with is thought control. Don't accept the bad and good things will be given to you. Don't accept bad advice, don't accept irritation, don't accept hatred - everything that oppresses you . Don't accept a bad mood. Everything comes from selfishness. They say “depression”. What is depression? The highest form of selfishness, we have already discussed this more than once.

Tatiana: Inaction.

Igor Mikhailovich: Inaction, of course. And self-love. Why do you lie there, moan, whine that you feel bad? Well, I like it. It means you enjoy it, since you live it. Well, what's wrong?

Tatiana: Yes, it reminds me when you said...

Just start loving people, their Angelic components

Igor Mikhailovich: Stop caring about your Chihuahua and start loving people, their Angelic components. It is impossible to love an animal. You can play, respect, but... But you are not a beast if you understand that you are Alive.

Zhanna: Yes. It’s like this case: “How can I get this inspiration back? So I wake up..."

Igor Mikhailovich: If this question comes from consciousness, then no way.

Zhanna: Yes.

Igor Mikhailovich: Again, do you need inspiration or the emotion that followed? That's all.

Zhanna: Well, yes, that's all.

How to Find Life on the Spiritual Path

Fragment of the program “Freedom from the dictatorship of the beast inside you” with the participation of I. M. Danilov.

Tatiana: This is also a common situation: after catharsis or some problems in life, a person asks the question, “How can I get back to my senses?” and is looking for a specific solution for a specific situation.

Zhanna:"Answer me please…"

Igor Mikhailovich: Certainly. And searches with consciousness, right?

Tatiana: Yes, at least...

Igor Mikhailovich: How can I get this? Sorry, you can get new socks or a cap, you can do that.

Tatiana: A new answer, yes, a new way.

Igor Mikhailovich: Yes, but how can one gain Life? No way, work. You just need to live.

Zhanna: Consciousness simply does not satisfy the answer that already exists. That is, this is kind of the question...

Igor Mikhailovich: I want something new.

Tatiana: Yes.

Zhanna: I want something new, I want it just for me. Maybe it doesn't concern me. This is the theme that “but I’m different from that person, we’re different from him.”

Igor Mikhailovich: Of course, different, yes.

Zhanna: This situation is good for him, but in my case, it’s probably something else.

Igor Mikhailovich: But in mine specifically, because my life is the most difficult.

Zhanna: Yes, this is where I have the biggest difficulties.

Igor Mikhailovich: Yes, it depresses me so much, but I’m like that... I’m so spiritually strong that I’m already afraid of harming people. You know, well...

Zhanna: So I probably won't do anything.

Igor Mikhailovich: Of course I will remain a dog. Well, if you want to live like a dog, then live, who won’t let you? Nobody is against it.

Personality development: choose Love and you will be happy

Tatiana: There is no need to look for any new solutions, new ways, when in all situations the path to returning to feelings is always the same.

Igor Mikhailovich: Choice.

Tatiana: Choice of Love.

Igor Mikhailovich: Just a choice. And we're back to what again? To a banal choice. Choice and Love. Choose Love and you will be happy . And if you are unhappy, then, excuse me, you are a dog. Isn't that right?

Tatiana: Yes.

Igor Mikhailovich: Well, it’s different, well, whatever one may say, if you are in grief, in misfortune, in self-criticism, if you are tormented, tormented by thoughts, then you like it. So, you are part of the animal world, you finance it. Live like this, may it be good for you if you like it, if you criticize everyone, if you are the only one in this world.

Well, you like to be this way - well, it's your choice. Well, why, let’s say, worry about this person or try to make something out of him? What for? No, it's...

The Path to Real Freedom

Zhanna: What is real freedom?

Igor Mikhailovich: Real freedom? That's life. This is Love. This is the Love of God. This is truly freedom. This is freedom from the dictatorship of a chihuahua or an elephant, well, depending on who you are. This is already Life, because a person feels Life.

Zhanna: How can a person understand this?

Igor Mikhailovich: How to understand? Come to this. Really start Living.

Zhanna: That is, if he is still rushing about: “Am I happy or unhappy?”...

Igor Mikhailovich: This is consciousness.

Zhanna: If you have questions...

Igor Mikhailovich: If these questions are asked: “Am I happy or unhappy?”, then he is unhappy. Well, there can be no questions from the Personality. A person either lives or does not live. Yes? Either she is in slavery, or she is in freedom.

Yes, you have to fight for freedom, yes, you have to go the hard way. Refusing the bad is already confrontation, this is already standing up for the Angel. When you choose the good, when you choose Love, feeling, when you choose Life or you just choose the positive... It all starts with the positive.

Consciousness says: “ Everything is bad", and you say, "I don't want to have that thought. I want to see the good, you know. Well, I want everything to be fine."

It says: " Well, how can you see good if you look: everywhere is bad" “Okay, I’ll turn around and look at the good.” But consciousness says: “ Well, it's bad there too" “Well, it’s bad for you, but it’s good for me here. The sky is blue to me."

Zhanna: How can I..?

Igor Mikhailovich: Sorry, what color is this anyway? Well, this is the color of the tablecloth. Well, what's wrong with that, he's funny. Well, is it the same?

Zhanna: Yes.

Igor Mikhailovich: What's wrong with that? Life itself, the very process of life, even life in the body, in matter, it also brings great joy. It brings joy in the sense that you understand that it is temporary, you know? Already great, already great. And there is more in what is next, and you can find it. Yes, you have already found it if you realized it. This is already a lot.

And consciousness will hammer away all the time, throughout. Well, this is consciousness. This is the mediator between the dead world and the Living world, between, I mean, between the Angel and the beast. Well, how could it be different?

Sensory perception

Tatiana: How to communicate with people who are doing poorly?

Igor Mikhailovich: Yes, let’s put it this way, there are no people for whom everything is bad. It's bad for their little animals. And you communicate with the Angel. If life forces you to work there, in life, to communicate with the animal, well, communicate, but you understand who you are talking to. This is a system, this is a beast. Well, he is now commanding a plucked chicken. Well, what will you do? Well, I feel sorry for the chicken, yes. If you can help - help, no - then it’s better to keep quiet, it’s her choice.

Tatiana: Igor Mikhailovich, and when a dialogue occurs at this moment, while two consciousnesses are communicating, the Personality and the Personality on a sensory level, how does one awaken?..

Igor Mikhailovich: Wait. Dialogue, when two consciousnesses communicate, Personality and Personality...

Tatiana: Well, consciousnesses communicate separately.

Igor Mikhailovich: Right now, at this moment, while we were sorting out your question, who was communicating with us? Consciousness and consciousness, right? And why? Because we were trying to paraphrase or understand your sentences. Fine.

Tatiana: One side.

Igor Mikhailovich: They hear, understand, analyze. But there is another perception - sensory. It says something else. And just this internal dialogue, for some reason it did not concern our conversation today at all. But that's not the question. It does not interfere. Isn't that right?

So. How to tell this to people who don’t know this? Why do they need this? Here’s a simple question: “Why tell a child going to first grade what a neutrino is made of,” right, for example? Many people still don’t really know what a neutrino really is.

And we will tell what it is to a child going to first grade who, excuse me, doesn’t know the alphabet well. Well, why? If he needs it, he will find it, learn it, study it.

Tatiana: Or maybe his Personality will simply respond faster?

Igor Mikhailovich: Not a Personality. This will interest consciousness as magic. Understand? There won't be anything interesting. And magic, it attracts: some kind of superheroes, superpowers.

Yes, there are no superpowers and superheroism, these are all fairy tales. What comes out as a side effect is unacceptable for this three-dimensionality, but it is absolutely acceptable there, in life. It does not interfere.

Personality development and mental development - what's the difference?

Zhanna: About Personality Development. We kind of touched on these issues. But what a person thinks that he is developing a Personality and doing there: studying languages, studying something there, doing...

Igor Mikhailovich: This is right. I'll say this: it's wonderful ( Zhanna: Yes), if a person thinks that he is developing as a Personality. The concept of Personality is distorted in the general understanding. Here is the Angelic component, that is, a person is a Personality, the animal component is his mortal consciousness. This is a clear, simple understanding: black and white. There is no other, third, gray one.

But in the ordinary human understanding, when everything happens under the dictation of consciousness, then the Personality is perceived precisely as consciousness - that with which... this is the superficial “I” with which a person supposedly perceives himself, right? And by developing myself as a Personality (this is meant by developing myself as a Chihuahua), I can grow into, well, let’s say, some larger animal, a Pekingese, for example, you know? He's a couple of kilograms heavier. Well, this is “learning languages”.

The fact that consciousness learns languages ​​is wonderful, as it should be. But everything should happen a little differently. If for work you need to learn Chinese, English, French, it doesn’t matter if there is another language, then you can do it very easily.

You, as a Personality, give an order, and it carries out. When he starts whining and not doing anything, you stop feeding him, that is, you reduce the supply of attention. And it begins with great pleasure, just like a hungry cat begins to eat onions, yes, in the same way it begins to learn Chinese.

Everything is very simple. Why? Because it is necessary for work. If necessary, let him teach. It should not walk in freedom, your consciousness, it should do what is necessary.

Well, some may say: “What about the creative processes?” Wonderful, wonderful, simply wonderful. The same goes for any creativity. If it weren’t for these techniques, we wouldn’t know about Bartini and Tesla. I can list for a very, very long time. These are people who had primary skills.

By the way, these two (we once talked about them), they were trained in almost the same institution in the same techniques in childhood. If they had not learned this... But, unfortunately, they chose the material, not the spiritual. But if they had not known this, they would not have become what they became.

And in fact, they moved, in general, evolution very quickly, in revolutionary ways, let’s say ( Zhanna: Yes). But it would be better if they became spiritually strong.

Zhanna: Spiritually developed.

Igor Mikhailovich: Certainly.

Zhanna: It is much more valuable, especially since it is eternal.

Igor Mikhailovich: ...than technically.

Zhanna: The same acquisition of Life.

Igor Mikhailovich: Well, this is a wonderful example just to answer those who say: “But what about creativity?” This is how creativity is done. Consciousness works within the framework that it needs. But it should not dictate to you as a Personality what you should experience and what you should do, and what you should perceive and not perceive, who to be offended by, who to look askance at, and the like.

How to act as a Personality during attacks of consciousness

Zhanna: Here is a question about action and inaction. That is, when consciousness attacks the Personality, and the Personality at that moment, well, sort of... Well, the person does not understand that he is a Personality and begins to be inactive, in terms of accepting this attack, accepting what is being imposed.

Igor Mikhailovich: But then there is no attack. I understand that these are people who ask questions, you retell them. But this is where they get confused. A person who is not aware of himself as a Personality cannot experience attacks from an animal ( Zhanna: Yes). Understand?

Consciousness begins to divide, to single out one mental part of its thinking process, like a certain personality, one of its small “I” forms and begins to defend. These are the games of artists in your mind. One puts on the mask of your Personality, the other - a fierce beast ( Zhanna: Like a good and bad actor), and they start acting out in front of you, yes. And when you watch this process, you understand.

Here is a simple example for people how to distinguish this game. You see that two artists are acting out in your head. You are the one sitting in the hall—that is you, the Personality. It’s just that you have the same consciousness, it can be easily divided, just like a picture on a computer, right? That is, it can be divided into as many as you want, and so can consciousness - it can all be divided into anything and it simply, let’s say culturally, deceives you.

Zhanna: Well, yes. There is another question here: what about me, if I am a Personality, how should I react?

Igor Mikhailovich: For what?

Zhanna: That is, how should I act when...

Igor Mikhailovich: Yes, prohibit engaging in nonsense. First of all, this is how Personality or in order to understand Personality...

Zhanna: What is this action of the Personality?

Igor Mikhailovich: The action of the Personality is precisely at this moment to make thoughts about the beautiful, the wonderful , about the fact that your neighbor (oh, you have dark eyes) has beautiful dark eyes. What else do we have there? These dresses are beautiful. Look, what a beautiful color, both one and the other, right? This is a truly harmonious, beautiful color.

Here's to getting enough, enjoying it. Experience a feeling of joy and Love. That's all. You see, he says: “ As everybody?"And that's it. Understand?

Zhanna: But what about so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so?

Igor Mikhailovich: But this is a question from consciousness: “What about such and such?” And you close it here. And you will understand how it stalled and how it began to wag its tail. And it turns out that this is not a Personality, and it turns out that this is not consciousness, and not you, and who the hell are you... But if you listen to this little tail, it will begin to control you.

It's simple. You just stop it firmly, clearly - and in the position of beautiful, happy and good. But you know, at this time you need to do this, that, that, for example, go to the store, and build a couple of floors of the building, if you are a builder, for example. Well, I went to the store and built a couple of floors of the building. Well, you admire the beauty of the same stone, for example, from which you lay a building. Well why not?

Zhanna: What you need to do for your family, for your living there...

Igor Mikhailovich: You come to a family and are happy about what kind of family you have.

Zhanna: Yes, but that doesn't bother me.

Igor Mikhailovich:...even if they all hate you, they want to beat you. These are their animals who want to bite you. And they, as people, experience suffering. It is clear that you cannot help them, you should not force them to study what you practice, right? Well, you shouldn't.

This is freedom of choice, and you cannot impose your own. But you can understand them, you can sympathize with them, choosing your behavior correctly so as not to irritate their little animals. Well, why tease dogs? You'll be bitten less.

Hello dear reader, welcome to the reality of yoga.

In the spiritual world there is an unspoken rule - once again do not talk about difficulties along the way. After all, as you know, much greater success is achieved by those who are focused on the advantages and.

But, as one fairly well-known yogi in the modern world wrote in his book:

“Because people don’t talk about difficulties, when people encounter them, they either believe that something is wrong with themselves, or they think that the path is bad and they need to look for another.”

I agree with him, so I will touch on this topic in this article.

Is it possible to walk the spiritual path without difficulties?

Is it possible to climb a mountain without effort? The view from the top is amazing! And the higher, the more beautiful it will be, you just need to get to this level.

In general, I have seen hundreds of people seriously following the spiritual path, they have different ages, different nationalities, they are all different... But, if they are serious in their intention to know Their True Nature, they have to make efforts to overcome the difficulties that arise.

It is not suspicious when there are difficulties, it is suspicious when a person declares that he does not have and never had difficulties on the spiritual path.

Usually this is said by someone who is calmly sliding down and perhaps does not even suspect it.

Difficulties are not something bad - they are steps of spiritual growth, a reason for developing the will and a way.

Those who have everything in order with their will and intuition do not stop facing difficulties and trials, but for them... I have also met such people, they are worthy of admiration.

What causes difficulties on the spiritual path?

In a global sense, difficulties are part of our world. That's how he's built. It has a power that helps people realize their Higher Nature and get closer to Absolute Happiness. And there is a force that does not want a person to realize his limitless potential, I wrote about it in an article about (This force is called Satan). In this article I will give an excerpt from the book:

One day, addressing the audience, the Master said: “I used to think that Satan is just an invention of people, but now I know and confirm the testimony of those who lived before me that Satan is a reality. He is a worldwide conscious force whose sole purpose is to bind all people to the wheel of error.”

“A saint is a sinner who never gave up.”

If in a global sense Maya - Satan is a worldwide force, then in our personal sense it acts through our own subconscious habits and inclinations. That is why it is so important to strive to observe, it is these commandments of yoga and Christianity that are a panacea for Maya, which creates obstacles on the path to happiness.

How to overcome all difficulties on the spiritual path of life.

If the force creating difficulties is large and strong, and Maya, who does not want the spiritual progress of people, is very large and very strong, you cannot cope with it on your own (and you should not think that you could cope, I often have such self-confident comrades I meet them, and they pay dearly for their conceit and pride, if only because their conceit and pride only increase from this approach, here is a good video on this topic:). It is better to follow a well-tested method, tip five, and completely

And here I will say again: “Difficulties are potential steps on the ladder of spiritual development.” The main thing is to use your will and...

In fact, life creates difficulties anyway, people slowly overcome them and little by little, because everyone here is on the spiritual path, even those who do not realize it.

I will end the article with the words of the Great Christian teacher of the 7th century, St. John Climacus:

“If they knew what sorrows awaited monks, no one would ever go to monasteries, but if they knew what joys awaited monks in the Kingdom of Heaven, everyone would go to monasteries without hesitation.”

The Kingdom of Heaven is not necessarily something that comes after the death of the physical body... it is already here... . You just have to learn to go there, and it exists. Any effort put in is worth it.

This is an excerpt from a book about difficulties on the spiritual path:

Happiness to you, my dear reader, write comments, and see you in the reality of yoga.

The shortest path is the most difficult. Why do people go to church? Spiritual practice is real action. Does time exist in the spiritual world and how does it work there? What is the spiritual world? Why shouldn't people change? Can you answer WHY all this activity? Three states of consciousness. Material and spiritual desires. What to talk about with spiritual people?

Lecture for Practitioners from the section "Philosophy" with difficulty of perception: 5

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519 Selecting a target determines the destination

We gather by purpose. Therefore, when our goal matches the goals of the spiritual world, we enter the spiritual world. If our goal matches the goals of the prison, we go to prison. That is, whatever our goal is, that’s where we end up. Therefore, in general, we adjust our goals, develop them and find ourselves in the appropriate environment. Therefore, if our goal is to come to God, we come to God. If our goal is to become God ourselves, we come here to the material world, and here everyone has the same goal.

The shortest path is the most difficult

00:00:00 Who goes where is a matter of desire. Everyone ends up where they want. Whoever bought a ticket where gets there. But the path of the sages is a little different, this is a path not from our time. This is a path from other times, when the sages slowly progressed, moving on with their planets, their own path, that is, it is from other times, from other times. Not our way. Therefore, our path is laid a little differently. Even modern physics, modern science that studies space, says that the space is too large for there to be any possibility of moving around it. Therefore, there must be some simple solutions. Therefore, they put forward all sorts of tunnel phenomena and something else. That is, the idea is that from any point we can move along our own path to the next point we need. The idea is correct, they are just trying to express it in some material way, but it is unlikely to succeed. But they are thinking in the right direction, in fact, that it would look too long if we, so to speak, slowly moved in such a material way, so to speak, in a stepwise manner. Therefore, yes, there are these breakthroughs, and this long path is called. This is a long path, the path of wisdom, all this is gradual, long. And the fast path is a tunnel passage - this is the path that we are trying to study, that is, there is a transition point. Of course, whichever one we choose will be the same; it is in our hands to choose the speed of movement.

00:02:08 As we were driving now, we got to a traffic jam, that’s it, I got out and got on the subway, because by car I would have arrived just before the end of the lecture, or even later, probably. So I calmly went out to the first metro and got there. That is, along the tunnel, and in general, strictly speaking. There is this, there is a choice, there is a choice. Yes, it may be more comfortable in a car, no doubt, softer, more comfortable, but I need to go faster, so I got out calmly, even had a fight with someone along the way, but I got there joyfully, cheerfully. That is, the same thing happens in yoga. That is, there is a long way, there is varnasrama, a long method, so to speak, step-by-step, there is Ashtanga yoga, there are some very fast simple paths, so in general they have some nuances. There are some side effects, since the speed is high, so something happens more actively along the way. But in any case, the choice is ours. We make this choice and we, in general, are then responsible for the result, how it all ends. More questions.

00:03:24 [Question]: “ Patita Pavana, please tell me, these are such good, sincere representatives of other religious faiths, how can we assume their further development? For example, Christians, Muslims»

00:03:36 [Ruzov V.O.]: What do you see as the difference? That is, you are now trying to distinguish them

00:03:39 [Question]: “ No, I just want to combine them. Just different treatises and I would not say that further development would be described in Christianity. From the point of view of our Vaishnava worldview]»

00:03:59 [Ruzov V.O.]: That is, you see the difference in the fact that something is described and something is not described.

00:04:03 [Question]: “ Yes, I see the difference in that from the point of view of [inaudible] the Vaishnava path is more complex, there are too many rules prescribed there compared to...»

00:04:12 [Ruzov V.O.]: For example, what is more prescribed?

00:04:14 [Question]: “ For example, regulative principles».

00:04:17 [Ruzov V.O.]: They are the same everywhere. Do not lie. Absolutely the same everywhere. Yes, this is still the kindest tradition. The simplest principles.

00:04:30 [Question]: “ What about prayer practice?»

00:04:33 [Ruzov V.O.]: Prayer practice everywhere. Show me a spiritual tradition without prayer practice.

00:04:38 [Question]: “ There are a lot of people who have a good kind heart, but they develop much...»

Why do people go to church?

00:04:43 [Ruzov V.O.]: How do they develop?

00:04:45 [Question]: “ They develop once a week go to church at best».

00:04:47 [Ruzov V.O.]: This is not spiritual practice, it has nothing to do with spiritual practice. clearly listed on one's fingers. You just said - prayer practice. Therefore, if a person engages in prayer practice, he grows spiritually, but if he comes to church and stupidly leaves it, his development is zero. Just imagine that a person on the street walks into the institute, Moscow State University, every morning, comes out, and because of this he becomes an academician, yes or no? And then he will continue to drink beer. Does this make him an academician or not? Of course not. You got on the subway, got off back at the same stop, didn’t go inside, you went somewhere, no? We didn't go. In order for anything to actually begin, a process is necessary, a person must do something. A person should come to a temple, to a church, to be taught there how to properly perform spiritual practice. That is, there must be content within these walls. This must be the science of spiritual life. If there is no science of spiritual life, it is no different from a warehouse or a barn. There is no difference, so what, what is beautiful. There must be a science, therefore, if the process is given, and the question is always in the process: What is the process? What does a person do? Does he study at this institute or did he just go there to buy cigarettes? Why did he go there? What does he want? Do you understand? That's why, if there is no process, there is no development, if there is a process, there is development. Very simple.

00:06:21 [Question]: “ [inaudible] they remember, they have already taken the first step. Krishna says in one of the texts that...»

00:06:26 [Ruzov V.O.]: Who are they, let’s figure it out.

00:06:28 [Question]: “ Well, let's take the Marmons for example. These are the guys who...».

00:06:32 [Ruzov V.O.]: What difference does it make, wait, what is this person’s process. What is the first step, what specific first step in spiritual practice has been taken?

00:06:40 [Question]: “ Study of existing religious treatises».

00:06:42 [Ruzov V.O.]: So what? And what's the point? So a student comes into an institute, into the library, takes a book, studies it, does this make him a student of this institute? No, he must go to college, become a student and start taking exams. It must become a tradition. If a person does not enter the tradition and does not perform real spiritual practice, he is just a visitor, there are no steps. It's just such a Disneyland. A man came here, came here. You know, there is a sightseeing tour of Moscow churches. The man went everywhere, visited 30 churches in one day, lit a candle everywhere, put a scarf on him everywhere, everywhere he was a little scared, everywhere something happened, what was his step? Zero step. Nothing has been done, why? He was everywhere, but to no avail. This effect can be seen everywhere, no matter what the given tradition is called, only one thing is important - whether a person actually performs spiritual practice or not. There is absolutely no difference what it is called. The situation is the same in any tradition. Some perform spiritual practice, while others look at it all as a circus.

Spiritual practice is real action

00:08:02 [Question]: “ In percentage terms, it cannot be said that they are at least half compliant?»

00:08:05 [Ruzov V.O.]: No, I can only say one thing. In any tradition, one percent of the people who are in it actually follow spiritual practice. Just imagine that opposite your house is Moscow State University, and now you are looking at this Moscow State University. What is your tuition percentage in this institute? People live opposite Moscow State University, the windows look right there, they walk past, look at it, what is the percentage of their education? Zero. Until the person really began to act. Look, you come to the store, you walk around and look at all these things. What percentage of these things ended up in your home? None, understand? Therefore, until you actually take at least one step, nothing will happen. That's why it's called yoga. Yoga is real actions, steps towards when we have to do something real. That is, we must become part of some process. We must really become a participant in this process, there must be action, activity. You must act.

00:09:21 How, he appeared on the battlefield, he had an idea that maybe there was some other way: “Let me sit quietly and look at this whole thing. I’ll just look at this whole thing.” But what was he told? “Nothing will work out. You must be in the process, otherwise you will simply blame yourself all your life for missing this moment.” Life is exactly the same. A person lives as if he has such a kuntz camera, he walks around and wonders: “Oh, what’s happening here. Such a philosophy, such a theory, such and such a practice.” He walks, but does nothing. He looks, is surprised, criticizes, discusses, thinks, but does nothing. That is, until a person starts doing something, it is useless, there will be no process. That is a person must decide and start.

00:10:16 My mother pestered me for a whole year: “Should I start making repairs or not start?” And I pestered and pestered, I said: “Okay, it’s going to start, it’s going to be a nightmare.” And then everything rings: “It has begun. Nightmare." But the process has begun! Well, so is a person. He walks and looks: “Yes, really, I’ll start, it’s going to be a nightmare!” This is all called Theosophy, that's what you're talking about. These are some beautiful adventures, so to speak, reading books, reasoning. This is theosophy, this is not theology. That is, this is beautiful reasoning, this is literally wallowing, may all Theosophists forgive me. That is, no steps. You know, it’s like a club of architects who haven’t built even one barn. They know architecture so well that they haven’t even built one barn, ever, you know? We need to draw new projects, draw them, you know? But there is not enough time to build.

00:11:24 Therefore the problem is always that a person is too theoretical and does not have enough practice, or his practice is so categorical, so not based on at least something reasonable, that he takes a useless step forward, two steps back, that is, he is marking time , what we discussed yesterday. That's why, Having received some reasonable knowledge, a person must immediately apply it. Therefore, the law is very simple: learned - applied. If you find out and don’t apply it, there will be a problem - pride will come, there will be a reaction immediately. Therefore, what we study is practical knowledge. That is, real steps are needed. That is, as they call it, a person comes to the institute, real steps - assignments immediately appear. I must learn this, I must learn this, I must learn this, I must pass these exams, there will be a test tomorrow. If a person came on his own, took off his hat on his own, bowed on his own, left on his own, there was no point, why? No homework! Free entrance. Yes, it’s interesting, yes, it’s fun, but there will be no diploma, that is, steps are needed. No matter how much you look at the bus, you will not ride on it; you need to actually get on it, pay for the fare, hang out and go.

00:12:51 This is modern, that is, a person meditates, he needs, for example, to go to work to get money, and he lays out a rug in front of the bus stop, sits down and meditates on the bus as he goes to work on it. He will get ? He won't receive it. This is modern meditation. That is, real steps are needed. Therefore, modern meditation is a slightly different meditation. This is a mantra meditation.

00:14:08 In general, this is the principle. Time changes our awareness to a new speed of world perception, so as you noticed, in different areas, at different levels of the Universe, the speed of life is slightly different, slightly different. Even here we can see how time works in interesting ways. When we are happy, how does time fly? Very fast. When we suffer, how does time fly? It drags on for a very long time. Although, if we, so to speak, take some kind of chronometer, we will get the same time. For five minutes you were happy and for five minutes you were suffering, the feeling is different. Therefore, depending on the degree of suffering, such time is given to preserve our consciousness in a more or less adequate state. Therefore, too, for example, if you get on, it may not last there for billions of years, it may last for a few seconds, but it feels like billions of years.

00:15:43 But it is preserved, it is not destroyed. Imagine that you actually find yourself in terrible conditions for billions of years, nothing will remain with consciousness, it will be destroyed. You can immediately end up in a mental hospital on the planet, there’s no point. Therefore, suffering comes, but time regulates so that this opportunity for development is preserved. Therefore, time is such a regulating factor, such a nozzle, a valve, it regulates the flow of the situation so that we retain the possibility of choice, so that consciousness continues to work, still choosing some more or less favorable path for further steps. Therefore, in fact, this is an unconscious phenomenon. It is very difficult to realize this.

00:16:37 The spiritual energy, which here acquires this special version, is embodied as time, and has such a temporary nature, time has a temporary nature. Well, it sounds like that, despite the tautology, it is true. It is here, precisely for this place, created, such a local mechanism, controlled according to a special spiritual law, so as to keep our consciousness more or less in an active rhythm, in an active channel. Therefore, it is difficult to understand this phenomenon. Well, the only thing we can realize is that the speed of reality is expressed differently in different places on our planet. The speed of life is completely different, you even change the city and time flows differently. The year in one city is different from the year in another. You know, there are places available in about two years. It used to be like this, there are northern places, because it’s really so cold, there is nothing, and people experience so much suffering, mosquitoes, midges, all this there, no food, nothing, that really for two years, that is, absolute reality.

Does time exist in the spiritual world and how does it work there?

00:18:08 [Question]: “ Here in the material world there is time, it is linear, but I heard that there is some other time that is not linear, it is vertical, I don’t know which is correct. Is there time in the spiritual world?»

00:18:25 [Ruzov V.O.]: Yes, but as I said, it has a different nature. If we try to think about this topic, it will certainly be difficult. Here we have winter followed by spring, spring followed by summer, and summer followed by autumn. And there it is all at the same time, that is, different times pass in different places. Yes, imagine that you have four outputs from this library. If you go out to the left, it’s winter, go out to the right, it’s spring, go back, it’s summer, go out forward, it’s autumn. Choose for yourself where to go, where you like. Don't try to think too hard about this, but it's just how it works.

00:19:09 That is, there is a choice, here we cannot choose time, there we can choose it, therefore it has a different nature. And this makes life interesting, because the choice immediately increases by an order of magnitude. The choice here is simple, you can freeze, you can not freeze. You can be glad that winter has come, or you can be sad. You can, in principle, there is even a choice here. My wife just got on a plane, and in six hours it will be 30 degrees Celsius. That is, in principle, there is a choice, there is some choice, but it is a rather sad choice, that is, a very expensive choice, difficult, in general, not so simple. We cannot make this choice right now, so there is a choice, but it is difficult, that is, we need to sacrifice something. That is, it is unlikely that this choice is worth this distinction, hardly.

00:20:09 Therefore, in general, the level on this planet is very low, because there is no choice. We cannot choose what type of prosperity we should have, you know? For example, the same energy of prosperity also gives you a choice, you can choose any level of what you want, any level of prosperity. If you want to choose, say, a gold sofa, or if you want a wooden one, the choice is yours. That is, you don't have to work hard or work for it. You simply choose your level of prosperity. In principle, you can choose a body shape, you can choose a male one, or you can choose a female one, you have this choice. I won’t talk much about it, it’ll give me a headache too. The principle itself, you can choose. Moreover, now I’ll say it’s even worse. You can be in both bodies at the same time if you want. You will also be given this permission. Don't even try to think. Just the principle itself, you know? That is, the choice is global, it’s useless to even talk about it. Don't even ask me. We can simply describe it, I’m simply describing it, the principle itself. That is, the choice is maximum.

00:21:25 What is it when you have a good choice. When you can make a truly real choice according to your goal. Here we have as many goals as you want, but there is no choice. Well, we have a good goal, but what choice? We want to do a lot of good things. What are the possibilities? What can we choose from? What can we choose? We can't choose anything, right? We can walk along our own narrow corridor and be sad, you know, the glass corridor, now they make water parks, that is, you walk and there is peace. And this is the same person here within the framework of his own. Karma is like a glass corridor. We're walking, there's a lot of things, I want this, I want it, it's all floating around, but you can just barely see it, but you can't take it. If a person tries to get through there, that is, to steal, take away, then he breaks through this hole and is carried away by this flow, he ends up in prison somewhere, he is simply carried away by this flow. It’s the same here and we are here, everything is visible, but it’s impossible to use it, there’s no choice.

What is the spiritual world?

00:22:33 This is different from the spiritual world. The spiritual world is what you see, use it. But in order to obtain such opportunities, it is necessary that the goals be perfect. Why don’t we have such a choice here, because our goals are imperfect, our goals are suspicious, we are all a little terrorists. That's why we are not given these opportunities. Because we have a tradition of spoiling everything a little, a proven tradition, you know? Since childhood, we have all torn, broken and spoiled everything a little. Therefore, as soon as our consciousness becomes stronger, purified, this joyful transition into spiritual reality occurs, you will understand what real choice is. There is such an effect, a very interesting effect by the way. They are trying to make all kinds of films on this topic, like: “Where do dreams go” or something else. That is, such a moving reality is shown. But dreams... What is the path? Therefore, the path seems very sad. This is the path, the path of a good person, as we just said, but this is not the path, a good person remains here in this reality, he can just make the passage a little wider, but he still doesn’t have much choice. Well, a wider passage is still a tunnel, still no use. Well, a more interesting tunnel.

00:24:05 That’s why this is called the term, liberation from these closed spaces that we have here. A person looks at all this, even at this globe, it is closed, you cannot escape from it so easily, this is the attraction, it does not allow us to escape. We look, see billions of planets and understand that all this is not easy. There's something there, but we can't get out. Even if we break free, we won't be able to understand what's happening. The universe is structured in a very interesting way; it does not make it possible to comprehend reality. Imagine, at some point, so to speak, this ball of the Universe has a mirror nature. Well, imagine how we perceive all this. That is, we see these endless realities, but it is impossible to realize what is really happening. And scientists also guess, they also understand that something further there is not simple. That we can feel somewhere here, down to the level of the cloud, somehow check it, but then problems arise, it is no longer clear how it all works, how it all works. Because in fact we are in this flask, just in a flask, in this closed space that is closed and does not give us the opportunity to escape. But, so to speak, some kind of freedom is being created, but in reality it is not, so the saddest comparison for us is the comparison with prison.

Why shouldn't people change?

00:25:42 [Question]: “ Vyacheslav Olegovich, here’s the question. Somehow, from childhood, there was such an understanding, from the very beginning, that there is only one God. When I got married, my husband was a Christian, he convinced me to convert to Christianity, religion. He had the conviction that some kind of connection with God should be direct, some kind of religion must be accepted. Now he is also a Christian, but I started studying this philosophy, and we have some kind of misunderstanding, because he also listens to lectures and, in principle, he also likes it all, but when it comes to some kind of strict demands on me , but very strict requirements have appeared, but when it comes to the permissibility of some of his actions, then again, as in Christianity, that is, they consider eight out of ten, I specifically talked with people, they believe that it is necessary to observe some kind of fasts, repentance this is very important for them and communion and everything, and in principle you are clean. That is, the majority of Orthodox Christians believe that.... The question is how to find commonality?»

00:27:22 [Ruzov V.O.]: To find commonality, both one and the other person must have broad thinking. As long as there is no broad thinking, you will not find common ground, so we should not have any philosophical conversations on this topic at all, because we do not have broad thinking. This is how the general sector should be, you know? Here we have a circle of worldview, and he has a circle of worldview, and we can intersect in some way. Some area overlaps. And we can find it in this area and talk about it. Therefore, you need to try to find this common area that is of interest to everyone. But it may simply not exist in this area, you know? For example, a cyclist and a chemist, they may have a common area - the composition of bicycle tires, but they do not necessarily have to have everything in common, and they do not need to.

00:28:22 That is family is not an absolutely common platform for life. It is not that a husband and wife have absolutely common, absolutely common thoughts, an absolutely common philosophy; this does not happen in nature, at all. The problem is that we start to worry a lot about it, you know? For example, your husband loves borscht, and you like, I don’t know, cabbage soup or something else, you know? But do husband and wife really worry about this? Don't worry. But when it comes to theology, great excitement begins, what's the point? You see, there are no comrades according to taste and color. How can you find the commonality between borscht and cabbage soup? That is, what to do? Pea soup? How to find? Why look for it? Let him have borscht, you will have cabbage soup. That is There is no idea at all that a family has an absolutely common concept, there is no such thing, it cannot exist in nature, we are different. It’s just that for some reason we are starting to put emphasis on this point; there must be an absolutely identical philosophical worldview. This doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen. There's just no need to focus on it. Who cares? He thinks as he wants, what a problem, you know? Why should there be something common, that is, there shouldn’t be something like this, everything should be different!

00:29:55 Even within the framework of absolutely one tradition, two people still have different worldviews, because one is a man and the other is a woman, there will still be a slightly different worldview. And now I’ll tell you a professional thing: within one tradition, people swear more about philosophical topics than within different traditions. Therefore, rejoice, you have different traditions, you will swear less. A person thinks that if there is one tradition, then we will conflict less. We'll have more conflicts, you know? Therefore, usually this is a normal, peaceful, calm life, there are differences, thank God, very interesting. It's like a husband likes hockey and his wife likes a TV series, what's the problem? Well, buy two TVs. There is no problem. What should we do now, how to make a husband love a television series, and make a wife love hockey, and why? No need. How to find commonalities, like this picture in picture. But both will be unhappy.

00:31:08 Therefore, the problem is that we are trying to unite. No need to unite. We need to love each other and not interfere with each other. And changing each other is a sad concept. How will you change? Well then try to change his tastes, his preferences, his character, it’s impossible. Philosophy is the same, how can you change it? No way. Therefore, to some extent, time provides these points of intersection about which we can talk and communicate. But your husband will absolutely not be interested if you talk to him about hockey, because it will be stupid. And it will also be strange for your husband to talk to you about the television series. It will also look stupid. Therefore, also, if we have a completely different opinion on some matter, a different concept, well, we just don’t need to touch this topic and that’s it, let it be, you don’t worry about it. Does he have long hair like yours? How many times have you argued about this about what hair should be, tell me honestly. Not once, mind you, not once. You wear makeup and he doesn’t, you understand, but you don’t argue about this, although your behavior is completely different.

00:32:41 Therefore, there is something different and it’s good, we have a lot of different things, we just don’t need to focus on it. The problem is the accent. This is called digging in, you know, you don’t need to dig into each other, everything will be fine. Therefore, just live, watch and do not touch painful topics. The whole secret of family life is not to touch on sore topics. Some sore subject has come up, a person is nervous about it, just don’t touch it. Then it will pass, and another sore subject will appear. Life together is such a kaleidoscope of painful topics, something started here, everything seemed to be normal, then something started, that is, such a kaleidoscope of painful topics, such a merry-go-round. A new sore subject, that one is gone, they have completely forgotten about it, a new sore subject, you know, this one is gone, they forgot about it, a new sore subject. Now a religious topic has appeared, it will go away, they will forget about it, no one will ever remember it, a new topic will appear, you know? This is how your whole life is, in a kaleidoscope.

00:33:50 Therefore A woman’s task is to smooth out the emergence of painful topics, you know, and not to enter into some kind of polemic, some kind of struggle, it’s best to smooth out, because it’s natural. It’s not about spirituality or religion, it’s just time to have a conflict on this topic, but don’t conflict, you agree with everything, because any spiritual tradition talks about the same thing, just in different words, that’s all . It's like languages. That is, there is still no machine translation between languages, that is, it is impossible to unambiguously translate an idea into some other language, it is very difficult, and there is still no machine translation. Words can be translated, but ideas cannot be translated. You can be the bearer of this idea and somehow try to explain it to another person, that is, the translator must explain. It is impossible mechanically, the shade of the idea is different. And the same is true in spiritual traditions, they say the same thing, but a little bit in different languages, for different people, for different worldview systems, for different psychotypes, for, in general, different moods. They say the same thing, but in different languages, so it seems different, no.

00:35:25 Philologists know that the same thing is said, so theologians also know that the same thing is said everywhere. The language is different, the expressiveness is a little different. Somewhere there is more feeling, somewhere there is more feeling of joy, somewhere there is more sense of devotion, somewhere there is more asceticism, somewhere there is more self-sacrifice. This is a different atmosphere, how each family creates a different atmosphere, look. . Somewhere it’s like this, somewhere it’s different, but these are all families. And the same goes for theology. But in one tradition there is more than one emotion, in another there is more than another emotion, well, people need some kind of emotion. Therefore, we gather according to this emotion, it suits us and we feel unity with this emotion. We are suitable for this emotion, so it suits us, makes us happy. But the other person is not happy, so what? He takes on a different emotion, but what difference does it make, you know?

00:36:32 Like sweets, cake, pastries, everything is sweet, but one is sweet with sourness, the other is cloyingly sweet, look how big the sweets department is. And a person chooses some of his own sweetness, it’s all sweet, but he needs some kind of aftertaste, tint, with sourness. I like it with sourness, you know? Some people don't like it, others don't like it. I love cranberries in sugar, you know the kind with sourness, I can eat a mountain, it’s unhealthy, but I like it, it’s just this very sweet, cloyingly sweet, but with a very sour in the middle. But the other one doesn't. And it’s different for someone else, you know. And for some it’s like that, but it’s still sweet. And the same thing with spirituality. All these roads lead to God, it is a fact, but the taste of these roads is different. You can feel it. This atmosphere can be felt, it is clearly different from the atmosphere. Therefore, everyone finds themselves, there is no problem. But the main thing is not to drag others into your atmosphere by the hair, this would be too much, it will cause a conflict. Conflict is when we try to impose our taste, when we start arguing about tastes. The most delicious thing with sourness, you know, is just strawberry jam, there is no sourness in it, so it’s nonsense. Now this is an imposition. Yeah, more questions, yes.

00:38:16 [Question]: “[inaudible]”

00:38:45 [Ruzov V.O.]: Here we are covered by a material body, but there is no covering there. This is the soul, it is the soul. She is always at the center of the spiritual world. You always see it, as it is called: “And again the golden spire of the Admiralty appeared before us.” You see, that is, it is always in the center, and all roads go to this center. I remember this phrase tormented me as a child, yes. And this is the same thing in the spiritual world, that is, whenever you look, everywhere you will see this main point of the spiritual world, God, and the soul has its full form. That is, how to explain this, let’s say, somehow roughly. Now we are deflated, that is, we were deflated and placed inside a material body. Spiritual practice means we take a pump and pump ourselves up, inflate ourselves, that is, a spiritual body appears, do you understand? I explain very roughly, that is, we remove this body, it is not needed. This is a spacesuit. We need to be in an acid-base environment.

00:40:00 The material world is an acid-base environment, everything here corrodes, have you noticed, no? The pieces of iron rust, everything deteriorates, everything corrodes, everything is harmful, active, called an aggressive environment. Therefore, so that the soul does not suffer, it is put in a spacesuit, you understand. And the spacesuit is no less aggressive, that is, it’s also disgusting, you know. It’s all there, the bile, so to speak, all of it. It has the same aggressive nature and protects us. Here we are in this spacesuit. The most important thing is not to pierce it, not to pierce it, not to break it, that is, for it to work, that’s all. When we get there, we are now in an unnatural environment, like underwater in a spacesuit. When we go out into the natural environment into the spiritual world, what do we do? We take off the spacesuit and breathe deeply. This is something like this, if very roughly, this is exactly how it is.

00:40:55 Therefore, yes, you already say: “I am a soul,” now you say: “I am a soul in this body.” It's just like a diver. He says: “I am a diver in a diving suit.” He doesn’t say that. Why? Because he realizes that he is just a diver, but he is a diver in a diving suit. Since we do not realize that we are just divers, we need to learn this, we must repeat this to ourselves: “I am a soul in a material body.” Imagine that a class of divers is sitting and the chief diver-instructor tells them: “The main thing in life is not to forget that you are divers in a diving suit. If you forget this, that’s it, problems will start right away,” you know? Therefore, as soon as a diver forgets that he is in a diving suit, madness immediately begins, that is, he suffers, he incorrectly recognizes reality, he incorrectly assesses neither his condition nor his external condition. Therefore, our task is simply to come to our senses, we must remember our natural position, that we are divers, in a diving suit, that this is an aggressive environment, it is better not to joke with it, there will be big problems. Our task is to get to the surface as quickly as possible. And now we are a little crazy, we think: “I am the diving suit.” No, there are problems with oxygen at depth, so there are hallucinations and an incorrect worldview. But it passes. Yes, good question. Something else?

Can you answer WHY all this activity?

00:43:02 [Question]: “ There are at least three types of liberation, and three goals in the spiritual world that we can achieve. How to determine these goals that we should strive for?»

00:43:22 [Ruzov V.O.]: Very simple. And ask yourself: “Why?” and get an answer. How to define a goal? Ask: “Why?” Ask: “Where? Why and where? The goal is very simple to determine, ask yourself and give yourself the answer. Thinking about these questions is the first step in “Why do I need all this? Where am I actually going? Why do I live here? What will happen next? Where am I going? This is the first step. Correction of movement, we are moving where it is not clear, we need to correct the movement. So when we ask ourselves these questions, we begin to practice self-awareness. “Why am I living? Where am I going?".

00:44:15 And accordingly, as we said, as soon as we understand “why?”, the “how?” immediately becomes clear. That’s why we think about this topic, “why?” in fact, what is this all about? Because a person sees all these pitfalls of this material world. He sees, he thinks: “Why is all this necessary? For what?" I am constantly asked the question: “Why was all this necessary? Why did all this happen in my life and end so badly? Why did this all happen? Why did I study if I can’t work in my specialty? Why did I try to start a family if it fell apart? Why did I give birth to a child if he drank himself to death? For what? Why am I even doing all this if I’m going to die?” As soon as this “why?” appears, a person can adjust his growth. If he doesn’t ask “why?” by this, why else is it necessary for someone to give an answer? Therefore, if just “why” is thrown into the air and there is no answer, then it begins. That is depression is the inability to get an answer to the question “why?”. A person falls into depression, into a painful state.

00:45:33 Therefore, if a person knows who to get the answer from, his depression goes away. He receives answers, is puzzled, of course, other stages begin their development. Therefore, the question must be combined with, in general, a person who can answer this question. Therefore, as soon as we have this tendency to find out “why?”, we must immediately look for personality. Don’t bang your head against the wall, like our people just buy vodka and sit and ask each other this question, to each other or just to a glass. But what’s the point, no one can answer, a friend won’t answer, an alcoholic friend won’t answer. But even they know, there has to be someone, you can’t just suffer yourself and drink bitter things, you can’t. You need to drink with someone to talk about this topic at least a little. "For what? Why?".

00:46:34 They try to talk, philosophize, play smart, try to understand, but since the public is the same, the issue is not resolved at this level. The question arose in the mind, and with the help of the mind it is impossible to solve this question; reason is necessary. So you need to find someone who has intelligence, because the question arises in the mind. It has not yet arisen in the mind, it has arisen in the mind, you understand. The mind is the stage of misunderstanding. This is a mental platform. “I don’t understand why I need all this.” Reason is already understanding, this is already an explanation, reason is already the ability to find the answer. Therefore, most of our questions arise at the level of the mind and therefore we need to find a person at the level of the mind and she will immediately explain everything to us, show these connections, show where they are, we need to find this question, find out this question, where these connections are.

00:47:40 And the solution is always simple, it is not at our level, it is a step higher. Therefore, the question is good, but if we have not found someone who will give the answer, we have not completed our task. Therefore, it is our natural nature to ask questions, but it is our duty to find someone who can answer them. This is what we must do ourselves. This is our effort, this is where we must make our efforts and try to set ourselves the goal of sorting out all our questions and finding answers to them. That is, there must be someone from the outside who will show the way. This will be discussed in this chapter. This is what will be discussed, that someone should show the way. When a person leaves the subway, someone must show him the way. You just need to ask: “Where is the Pobeda cinema?” They will show you a finger, someone must show the way, otherwise you can go in a completely different direction, you will get lost, someone from the outside, someone who knows. More questions.

00:49:30 [Question]: “ Vyacheslav Olegovich, did I understand correctly that there should also be goals in the spiritual world?»

00:49:38 [Ruzov V.O.]: Yes, only there it is the same for everyone - to serve. That is we gather by purpose. Therefore, when our goal matches the goals of the spiritual world, we enter the spiritual world. If our goal matches the goals of the prison, we go to prison. That is, what is our goal, that’s where we end up, what are our tasks. Therefore, in general, we adjust our goals, develop them and find ourselves in the appropriate environment. Therefore, if our goal is to come to God, we come to God. If our goal is to become God ourselves, we come here to the material world, and here everyone has the same goal. This is the world of the gods, everyone here wants to become God, everyone has this goal. But one god interferes with another, that’s the problem. That’s why the gods argue, constantly get in the way, other gods constantly interfere with rest, interfere in every possible way, they took away all the money, so you have to work hard to get it back, something about the gods is so strange.

00:51:05 [Question]: “ [inaudible] here in the material world he will learn [inaudible] and in principle this is possible in reality [inaudible]»

00:51:17 [Ruzov V.O.]: If we talk about this path, then of course, now we are developing a desire, but we may not learn, because there is no object itself as such, right? That is, we do not have this direct contact. That's why the subtlety of returning to the spiritual world is that you will need to be born one more time in the material world, but on the planet where God is now present and learn to personally fulfill some of your mission in relation to God, but this is already considered not entirely material birth is, let's say, a vestibule through which we exit. But it’s impossible to just go out without knowing how to do anything, we will be sad and bored, so there is this transitional birth when we have to get qualifications. That is, like some kind of institution. That is, now while we are nurturing within ourselves the desire to get into this institute, and then we need the institute itself, and after the institute a thesis, please, is the way out.

00:52:21 [Question]: “ Can this institute be forgotten at birth?»

00:52:21 [Ruzov V.O.]: No, that’s all. It’s like if you went to college, you no longer forget that you are a student, they will remind you, don’t be afraid. No, this is already a meaningful birth, therefore it is not material in nature, although all this still happens in the material world, but already, so to speak, obtaining qualifications, there will be no freebies. [inaudible] No, I said where real events take place, called lila, events. Something is always happening somewhere. The world is full of action, we missed the mark a little, just 500 years ago there were joyful events, we missed a little, were born a little crookedly and therefore we must now develop our desire, then our qualifications. But we are very lucky, because there is an opportunity to at least develop a desire; not every time there is such an opportunity to develop a desire. Therefore, we try as much as we can. Therefore, this can no longer be called a material birth, it will be a preliminary spiritual birth. We'll all meet there. Welcome. This is, so to speak, free space travel.

00:54:11 [Question]: “ So this is another heavenly planet?»

00:54:17 [Ruzov V.O.]: No. Some kind of Earth. Earth level, another Earth. There are many Universes, there are many planets of our level. The Earth level is called where there is a process, where something happens. But, in any case, I am not a corrector of your path, so look at the principle itself. You won’t care in principle, because it will already be part of your spiritual life. It is also impossible to talk about this topic, because this is a spiritual reality, this is something that goes beyond our comprehension. We can comprehend what is happening in our reality, but we can theoretically understand the way out of reality as a vector, and then simply see how it happens. That is, it can be seen, but it is impossible to discuss it deeply. Well, I recommended reading the treatise “The Journey of Gop Kumar”, there are many different subtleties there, the planets are described, movements, up, down, left, right, such an interesting work.

00:55:57 Travel of Gop Kumar. Look, there are, I read and listened, and there are great seminars, find, listen, read. This is a very high topic, so I am not qualified to talk about this topic and it is better to listen to other authors who are well versed in this topic, I am not an expert in the spiritual worlds. Find it, listen, it’s not at hand right now, in general, just find it, it’s all there, put in a little effort, ask around, consult a philosophical book, find it. All this can be solved, the very principle.

Three states of consciousness

00:56:53 [Question]: “ You know, even just now [inaudible] I already have like this.... somehow I’m trying to do all this that I have [inaudible]. I already have this feeling, a slight madness is beginning. And it all seems so unreal that I just want to cry all the time. How can I calm myself [inaudible] with all this [inaudible]?»

00:57:24 [Ruzov V.O.]: There are three states. The first state, when the consciousness is materialist, spiritual life seems unreal and crazy to us. There is a second state when, having developed a spiritual vision in ourselves, material life seems absolutely crazy and unreal. And there is a third state, in the middle, when everything seems absolutely crazy, unreal to us, and it is not clear what to do at all and where to go. In the middle between them. So you just need to go through this transition part. You know, this is when you’re going somewhere far away and it seems unreal that I’m just going to get here at the airport and get off there. When you fly to India for the first time, this is an absolutely unrealistic situation. You sit down, you’re still here and already flying on the plane, you already feel something letting go, that reality, and this one is already approaching, did you feel it, no? And when you leave, this airport itself is a transitional place, it’s already some kind of.... already: “Where am I? Who am I? “I already went through customs here, I haven’t gone through customs there yet, and I already realized that everyone is already here, but not there yet, and so they saw everyone like that, walking around, disconnected, and not understanding anything: “Who are we, where, what?”

00:58:41 This is a state, you just need to go through it. This is the state of transition that exists, you just need not to worry and calmly continue walking, it’s stupid to go through all these customs, get your luggage, and then you go out, that’s it, Domodedovo: “Oh, it’s clear where I am,” or you go out into the spiritual world. That is, I want to spit on everything, it all takes so long, these queues are terrible, things are checked, this and that, a search: “Do you have any material desires left?” So once I was stopped there, I was trying to get through there with my wife, they said to me: “Do you have anything to declare?” I say: “It would be nice if it were.” And they laughed and let me through, didn’t check, that is, didn’t even bother to scan me or conduct a search, they walked right past all this x-ray, that is, the very principle.

00:59:38 Everything needs to be enlightened, and now we are in a state of such enlightenment. This X-ray of spiritual life reveals to us whether we really want to go here, whether we really need it, and whether we just want to joke about it all, to make fun of it all. Therefore, permission is given when we show our determination, when everyone goes through: “But this is not necessary, you can’t transport water,” you understand. “These scissors are not allowed, this lighter is not allowed,” that is, they begin to pull out. And we: “How can I be there without water?” “They’ll give it to you,” you know, they’ll torture you, they won’t let you sleep, they’ll only give you water. “What about without scissors?” “Buy it there,” you understand. “And without a lighter?” “You can’t smoke there anyway.” You know, and then they take a person through all this, they pull it all out. And God forbid the smuggling of material desires. It's not over yet, it's a little sad.

01:00:41 We pass, sit down, drive, take off, one last check, but what to do? Nothing comes for free. What comes easy is not appreciated, so you need to pay this price, go through all these. Everyone wants to travel, but any traveler will tell you that the main problem when traveling is the roads. A particularly scary word, that is, you become a traveler when the word “customs” begins to turn you inside out: “Customs again!” This is where everything is, here travelers all understand each other: “Customs!” This word just cuts the soul. That is, you need to pay something for all this. Therefore, we also need to go through this customs. But before spiritual realities are revealed to us, it is necessary to go through customs, get rid of some gross material desires, so as not to inherit, so to speak.

Material and spiritual desires

01:01:50 [Question]: “ These desires are so intertwined. Here's how you can completely free yourself from material desires? Let’s say I just caught myself thinking today that I don’t have any desires at all, thank God at least I have only one thing left to do: go to a lecture and read a book, but I understand that this is connected with an illusion... But these desires mean that they somehow force us, in order to take care of the whole family, we must desire this family, we must dress somewhere, go, something else, anyway, these desires are needed even in order for some to manifest spiritual desires, we need some material ones, they’re just somehow... I can’t just take them and separate them - these are material, but these are spiritual».

01:02:37 [Ruzov V.O.]: They are not separated. They are purified, they are transformed. Don't try to separate them. A person wants to eat, the question is what he wants to eat. A person wants to drink, the question is what he wants to drink. A person wants to work, the question is - why does he want to work, you understand? That is, for what, this is what determines the material or spiritual. If for yourself it is material, if for God it is spiritual, do you understand? That's all. Transformation, not division, there is no such division.

01:03:13 It’s like a cake, like a pie, over-baked, under-baked. What separates him? It’s just that some time separates it, but the pie is the same. Here it is still half-baked, here it is still raw, well, it stood for a while and then it’s already finished baking. So are desires. Here it is still material, but we waited a little, worked, and it has already become spiritual, do you understand? That is, there is no such thing as just individual unbaked pies, but baked pies. No, it's a condition. Therefore materialism is a state of desire, and spirituality is a state of desire. And now we see how it all happens. Therefore, at some point this materiality disappears, but spirituality has not yet appeared, so it seems that there is nothing. But no, then it’s just spirituality. You just need to go further and there will be spiritualization of desire. Very simple. It’s like this state on an airplane, you’ve already taken off from there, you haven’t arrived there yet, you’re sitting stupidly and waiting. No longer there, not here yet. You just have to wait and you’ll arrive, but on the plane itself it’s sad, it’s not clear what. In principle, nothing complicated. Got it? Have all the questions been answered?

What to talk about with spiritual people?

01:05:05 [Question]: “ Can I ask one more question? We talked about interaction, let’s say, when a person is on topic and not on topic. But when two people are on topic, you were just talking about... it’s permissible even in the same tradition, right? So today I caught myself thinking that when I just started studying something, then, unknowingly, I communicated with people in this tradition, and committed a huge number of insults, now I only understand that they were insults. . But what can you talk about with a person in the same tradition now? About philosophy? But, in any case, this is high and other than questions and answers, communication will not work on my part, right? Because there is nothing to say, and about material life it’s also like with a spiritual person... it’s just a waste of time to talk about it with him. And even at some festivals, you see people, they just read the mantra and somehow you don’t want to touch the natural thing at all. What is it like to communicate with such people? How to find this point of interaction and what can you talk about with a person like [inaudible]?»

01:06:27 [Ruzov V.O.]: The principle of communication, in general, at our level, is training. Therefore, we see what a person can do and we learn it from him. What a person can do, we take it from him, you know? If a person knows how to logically explain some knowledge to us, we receive it from him. If a person knows how to repeat a mantra with high quality, we take it from him. If a person can do something else, we take that other thing. That is, we take something from another person, and give him what we ourselves can do. We can do something anyway. This is an exchange. So we are changing. We take from him what he has, we give him what we have, an exchange occurs. Very simple

01:07:17 [Question]: “ Is it generally normal to ask a Vaishnava what teacher, what level? Or is it still, well, somehow I’ll be allowed to..., I don’t know what can be asked and what not, so as not to offend».

01:07:35 [Ruzov V.O.]: There is no such directly complex insult directly, that is, the question itself is not an insult, you understand? Therefore, in principle, it is generally impossible to offend anyone with a question. You're asking. So it implies that you don't know. Therefore, you get an answer, and having already received an answer, you can already offend, you know? For example, well, I’m just saying, you’re asking about the level, right? For example: “Is this person of an exalted level or not?” He says: “Exalted.” And you say: “What exalted level is he?” Now that's an insult. If you ask, it’s not an insult, but if you immediately try to belittle, for example, it’s already an insult, you know?

01:08:16 Therefore, the question itself is not offensive. There is no insult in the question, there can be no insult. Therefore, our path is very simple - it is a question and answer and on this path there are no insults as such. A very safe way. If we had spoken out, we could have made a mess here. Like, for example, we talked about theosophical societies, everyone takes turns speaking out, there are no questions and answers, that’s where you can generally listen to such nonsense, such insults, all that. Because the system itself is not secure. And here it is protected. The whole thing is questions and answers. And we also continue further. Very simple.

01:09:09 Therefore, even after receiving an answer and asking a new question, we again cannot commit an insult. Insult appears when we express our critical remark, that is, neither a question nor an answer, but express our critical remark. This is where things can get messy. Therefore, if we simply communicate with each other, even ordinary people communicate this way. “What’s going on with him?” That is, we do not speak out right away. We first ask: “What kind of relationship do you have there,” you know? And they say: “Well, we want to start a family,” you know? “How do you want to start a family?” Yes, you see, it’s more or less safe. And if you immediately come up and say: “Have you gotten involved with this poor fellow, what do you want to create there, and what will you succeed there, think for yourself.” This is immediately offensive, you see how. And if you come up and ask, it's not offensive. Yes, it may be cheeky, but it's not offensive. A person asks why not, he has the right to ask, do you understand? What's the problem? No problem. Therefore, it is a safe, proven method, there are no insults. Very simple.

01:10:22 This can actually be compared to silence. Questions and answers are a level of silence because in reality we do not say anything. We do not utter some disconnected idea of ​​our own. We ask a question, get an answer, but there is no real speech, no real conversation. There is a pure one hundred percent exchange of information, but there is no speech. Speech begins when a person begins to express his great point of view. This is where the problems begin immediately. “And I think,” and that’s it, that’s where it started. As soon as a person said: “I think,” you see, that’s when everything begins. If a person asks, then everything is safe here. Therefore, in general, the first 20 years are better at the level of questions and answers. It’s safe, ask whoever you want, absolutely safe, no one will be offended, no one will be offended. No one, even the greatest one, has the dumbest question, no one will be offended, no insult.

01:11:30 This is usually what happens. The dumbest things are asked of the greatest, you know? For some reason I want to. And it's not offensive. And the greatest one simply answers a stupid question and absolutely no one is offended, no one is offended and no one is offended. No problem, understand? You see, it’s not just that the system that was five thousand years ago still works. We just don’t think about how it works, but in fact the system is well thought out, that’s why we try, you see. And we learn this. What do we learn in lectures? Exactly this. Ask questions, listen to answers, and everything is safe. Now, if you just live like this, everything will be safe. Even material life based on questions and answers is absolutely safe. You can even go up to a policeman and ask. “Sorry, what should I do if I lost my license?” And they will help you, you know? They will help. This is the secret. Therefore, all treatises are all given by this method. Questions and answers, questions and answers, everything. There is no such monologue, questions and answers, questions and answers are everywhere. We figured it out. Thanks a lot.

There are many different Taoist schools, but, by and large, three Paths of Improvement can be distinguished: Low, Middle and High. This classification is very ancient and was used by the Great Immortal Patriarch Lu Dongbin, his disciple Wang Chongyang and other famous Masters. There is nothing unusual in the division into Three Paths of Improvement, and a similar classification system exists in other Eastern traditions, and simply in our everyday life, for example in education: school, technical school, university.

Lower Path

The lower, or Path of Righteousness, can be followed by almost all people without exception. In fact, the practice of this Path is as follows:

• Lead a righteous life in accordance with moral principles (do not kill, do not cheat, do not steal, do not curse, etc.).
• Develop virtuous qualities in yourself such as compassion, love, kindness, forgiveness, courage, calmness, nobility, etc.
• Do not do, say or think anything that could cause harm to humans or Nature as a whole.
• To help in thought, word and deed those who need it, be it a person, an animal or a plant.
• Treat with honor and respect not only those you love and value, but also all living things.

Of course, this Path is not limited to the above practices; here only the most general methods are given so that you can understand what their essence is.

Also, following this Path, it is very desirable to visit Wise people and Enlightened Masters in order to receive from them various instructions and recommendations that will help a person in his spiritual development. It will also be good if you have the opportunity to periodically attend and/or perform ritual actions yourself, the essence of which is to turn to the Higher World, in order to escape from worldly worries and problems, cleanse your Soul of everything base and spiritually get closer to the Tao.

Despite the fact that this Path is considered the Lowest, in reality it may turn out that it requires quite a bit of effort. The consciousness of an ordinary person is constantly under the influence of individual concepts and points of view, determined by his upbringing, environment, time and other various factors. And this, in essence, is a limitation formed from subjective erroneous opinions and views on a particular situation or person, and on the whole world in general. Moreover, often a person does not even have his own opinion on all aspects of our life. There are many questions that cause confusion or even fear.

For example, what is death and what happens after this body dies? Will I die with him or will I continue to exist in some other form? If the latter is true, then what is this other kind of existence? And so on ad infinitum. It is possible that each person may have his own answers to these questions, but they are not the result of personal experience and are based only on faith in one or another concept of the structure of the universe. And this is not of particular value. Only what has been experienced, felt and known through personal experience can be truly truly understood and accepted.

Therefore, we can say that a person, despite his developed mind and body, success in social life and prosperity, still remains in Ignorance and Darkness. This means that it will not be easy for him to lead a truly righteous life. But, one way or another, everyone, no matter how busy or not particularly gifted they consider themselves, can understand the meaning and methods of this Path and begin to practice them. And how much he can implement them in his life depends on his efforts and personal abilities.

This Path is called lower only in comparison with others (Middle and High), which provide the opportunity for more effective progress on the path of self-realization. At the same time, the person who realized it, even though he is a Saint, will not be able to exit the cycle of reincarnation, relying only on the Path of Righteousness. Therefore, to fully comprehend the Tao, he will need to be reborn in a human body and learn how to practice so that progress on the path of spiritual development will be more effective. Therefore, in general, the practice of this Path allows one to accumulate favorable karma, which means that a person will have all the necessary conditions and opportunities for deeper practice and successful self-improvement in the next incarnation.

Middle Path

The Middle Path includes the practice of the Lower Path, as well as various methods that speed up the process of human spiritual development. This in itself means that a person devotes more importance and, as a result, time to the process of his self-improvement than a practitioner of the Lower Path. The Middle Path can also be called Religious, in the best sense of the word. This is because the methods practiced on the Middle Path use various visualizations associated with the Deities and various methods of worshiping them.

These methods of worship and offerings, expressed in the fact that the practitioner offers all kinds of gifts (food or other objects with a certain symbolic meaning) to the Deity or Deities with a deep sense of gratitude, can pursue different purposes. For example, reducing the influence of one’s own Ego and understanding that not everything in this life depends only on a person. In addition, by performing a ritual or offering, the practitioner can tune in to those qualities that are inherent in the object of worship/reverence, and strive to awaken similar ones in himself (for example, higher compassion) or get rid of his negative properties.

Some more rituals are a certain symbolic reflection of certain internal transformations that must occur in the process of human improvement. Thus, one of the most striking characteristics and features of the Middle Path is that internal states are influenced through external actions, and after some time, with proper practice, this should lead to a certain result. Of course, a good practitioner of this Path understands that certain Deities are nothing more than manifestations of various aspects of Tao, its emanations.

Each Deity has a certain form and has certain qualities, characteristics and abilities. Therefore, in fact, the practitioner uses selected intermediate forms of manifestation of the Tao, expressed in the form of a specific Deity with a limited or predominant set of qualities and/or properties-capabilities. Also, for greater clarity and ease of perception, the Supreme is anthropomorphized, so almost all Deities look like people, only more perfect.

On the one hand, this makes the practice more understandable, but, on the other hand, a certain difficulty appears, which is that since the Highest Truth is placed in a specific form, this inevitably limits it and distorts it in one way or another. As it is said in the treatise “Tao Te Ching”: “The Tao that is expressed in words is not the True Tao.” Also, since these emanations and manifestations of Tao, i.e. Deities also have their own personal form of existence, it often happens that the practitioner forgets that the original meaning of this manifestation is to lead the practitioner to the Source (Tao), and takes the method for the result.

As they said in ancient times: “Take the finger that points to the Moon for the Moon itself.” And, consequently, a person will not be able to move further in his practice, because... stops at a certain level. Therefore, it is necessary to receive oral instructions from the Teacher in order to be able to distinguish true from false. It is also necessary to understand that since in some practices of the Middle Way certain internal transformations are brought about through external actions, i.e. a person again resorts to certain forms of manifestation of Tao (Deities), then, after some time, the essence of the actions performed may be forgotten and only empty repetitions will remain that will not lead to the desired result. And this mistake is not that uncommon.

But if, nevertheless, a practitioner of the Middle Path managed to avoid those mistakes that were mentioned here, and those that were not mentioned here, then he will be able to achieve a very good result. This means that a person will be able, at a minimum, to get out of the wheel of reincarnation (Samsara) and progress further in his spiritual development, but still will not be able to achieve the Highest Result. This is due to the fact that the methods used launch the processes of internal transformation at an “average/moderate” speed, and therefore the final transformation and acquisition of the Body of Light simply does not have time to happen. For this reason, the above-mentioned Path received its name - the Middle.

Higher Path

The Highest Path is the most difficult both to understand and to practice, but at the same time it is the one that allows you to achieve the maximum possible result in spiritual improvement within one life. For a very long time, the methods of this Path were kept in great secrecy and were passed on only to selected and very capable students. And only nowadays, since the “time of expansion of the Path” has come, some Masters of the Schools of the Higher Path began to openly teach the basic levels.

The advanced methods of these Schools are not transmitted to everyone, but only to those who have proven their sincere desire to comprehend the Truth, have a high level of De (virtuous qualities) and have well mastered the basic methods, thereby preparing a solid foundation for further alchemical transformations.

The Higher Path completely includes the Lower Path, and at the same time may not use at all the religious methods that are characteristic of the Middle Path. The peculiarity of the practices of the Higher Path is that a person tries to reach the original level of perception of the world and the manifestation of various aspects of Tao without confining them to a specific form. Thus, the student’s chance of becoming attached to an intermediate form or method of implementation is greatly reduced, because The Supreme Truth (Tao) is not limited to a specific form, but has the character of internal experience, transformation and understanding at the deepest primordial level, from where everything manifested flows and originates.

Using this principle, the practitioner can as quickly as possible (in comparison with other Paths) bypass the sphere of limited mind and consciousness (i.e., that which transforms the primordial boundless into the ordinary, even endowed with supernatural manifestations) and come closer to understanding the Tao. But in this advantage lies the complexity of the practice. A person is accustomed to the fact that there are specific forms or certain rules on which he relies, but here it is necessary to perceive the Supreme in its original state, i.e. bring together what may be in contradiction at the ordinary level of consciousness. And relying on something that you don’t fully understand with your ordinary mind and can’t see with your eyes, that sometimes you can’t even comprehend, is very difficult.

That is why in the Middle Path they use manifested forms - Deities - as a means of relative simplification and for a more specific understanding. Therefore, not many practitioners are capable of practicing the Higher Path, since not everyone is able to overcome the tendency of their mind to be concrete and unambiguous. Even if in the area of ​​higher spiritual matters, consciousness will still try to reduce the Truth to a set of familiar categories and concepts. And this is impossible by definition, since the Highest cannot be completely contained in the sphere of a limited mind and fully understood by it.

And since the Highest Path may not use practices with formalized manifestations of Tao (Deities), but preaches the principle of direct primordial perception of everything as it is, it cannot be called religious in the usual sense of the term. Instead of external practices and actions (rituals, etc.) characteristic of the Middle Path and designed to cause internal transformations, the methods of the Higher Path use direct work with internal states and energy in the process of immersion in a deep state of Peace. This allows you to achieve deeper internal transformations much faster at all levels - body, energy and consciousness/Soul/Spirit. This means that maximum results can be achieved in the shortest possible time.

The maximum result here is understood as the transformation of the body, energy and consciousness/soul/spirit and the merging of them all into one, which is called the acquisition of the Body of Light (Rainbow Body). This level is the highest not only in the Taoist tradition, but also in some Buddhist directions. This means that at this level a person exists in both manifested and unmanifested form, is one with Tao and at the same time individual, has gone beyond all possible limitations (for example, time and space).

When such a Master leaves this world, he dissolves in Pure Light with a rainbow radiance. With such a transformation, even the physical body is transformed into pure energy, which means that after the departure of such a Master, nothing remains. This Higher Path is also called “Nei Dan” or “Higher Path of Internal Alchemy”. It is the most complex, and only people with the highest abilities can study it, and, accordingly, implement it.

But, since there are not very many such people, for the majority the Middle Path is more suitable and understandable compared to the Higher Path of the practice of internal alchemy. People with average abilities, as a rule, combine religious practices with basic methods of internal alchemy. If a person's abilities are below average, then the methods of internal alchemy are not used at all, but only methods are studied that can prepare his body, energy and consciousness for higher transformations.

When a person begins the practice of improvement, it is very important that he choose the Path that matches his abilities, since then the most optimal result will be achieved during his life. It also happens that in the course of regular and correct training, abilities can increase, and then the practical program of one level can be replaced by another. This can only be done by a real Teacher who has the appropriate qualifications, since a beginning student does not have sufficient Wisdom and knowledge to assess his abilities and choose the most suitable methodology for him.

Once you have decided on the Path, you can...