Page 16 - All India Magazine Apr-2026

knowledge. The path of the seeker proceeds through this ig-
norance; for a long time he can find no light of solid experi-
ence or realisation, only the hopes and ideas and beliefs of
the mind which do not give the true spiritual seeing; or he
gets glimpses of light or periods of light but the light often
goes out and the luminous periods are followed by frequent
or long periods of darkness. There are constant fluctuations,
persistent disappointments, innumerable falls and failures.
No path of Yoga is really easy or free from these difficulties or
fluctuations; the way of bhakti is supposed to be the easiest, but
still we find constant complaints that one is always seeking but
never finding and even at the best there is a constant ebb and
tide, milana and viraha, joy and weeping, ecstasy and despair. If
one has the faith or in the absence of faith the will to go through,
one passes on and enters into the joy and light of the divine re-
alisation. If one gets some habit of true surrender, then all this
is not necessary; one can enter into the sunlit way. Or if one
can get some touch of what is called pure bhakti, 0uddh1 bhakti,
then whatever happens that is enough; the way becomes easy,
or if it does not, still this is a sufficient start to support us to the
end without the sufferings and falls that happen so often to
the ignorant seeker.

Three essential objects
In all Yoga there are three essential objects to be attained
by the seeker: union or abiding contact with the Divine, libera-
tion of the soul or the Self, the Spirit, and a certain change
of the consciousness, the spiritual change. It is this change,
which is necessary for reaching the other two objects, neces-
sary at least to a certain degree, that is the cause of most of
the struggles and difficulties; for it is not easy to accomplish it;
a change of the mind, a change of the heart, a change of the
habits of the will is called for and is obstinately resisted by our

16 All India Magazine, April 2026