Page 280 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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274 Mystic pathways through the bible
Which Path Will You Choose: The Pleasant or the Blessed?
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few nd it.
(KJV Matthew 7:13-14)
Lord Jesus encourages his disciples to tread the blessed path that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though that path is dif cult, it frees an aspirant from the trap of the world-process and its repeated cycles of birth and death.
The Upanishads speak of two paths: The path of preya (that which is pleasant) and the path of shreya (that which is blessed). The former is the movement of externalization, characterized by increasing dependence on the senses and worldly objects. The latter is the internalized movement characterized by growing detachment towards the objects of the world, and increasing attachment to God or the Divine Self. When you adopt the path of shreya (the path of blessedness), you enter the narrow gate. Though the path seems dif cult in the beginning, it becomes increasingly delightful as you experience inner peace and ful llment. Do not live for the ego-self, represented by Satan in the Bible, but live to discover the fact that you are the