The Lord Buddha spoke of the middle path and spoke of moderation and balancing your life. One of the stories associated with his process of illumination speaks of a time when he was meditating on the banks of a river, when a band of musicians was sailing by. The teacher amongst them, while instructing his students on the correct way to tune the veena stated “if you pull the strings too hard, they will break and if you leave them too loose, the instrument will never be capable of singing”. At this statement the meditating Buddha realized / intuited the meaning and importance of the middle path and based his teachings on the same.
ArhaticYoga class is the first major step one takes towards their spiritual development, it can be likened to the musical instrument (the soul) being strung and tightened probably for the first time, to create the right note of music (spiritually attuned). The instrument needs to be strung just right, not too loose but just a bit more tightly.
A simple understanding of the middle path is, that the spiritual disciple must balance his physical / material life and his spiritual growth. Not sacrifice one at the expense of the other. Borrowing from the teachings of Grand Master Choa Kok Sui, “Spirituality and materiality are like two wings of a bird. You need both to fly.”
To create the right tension, allowing the real purpose of the instrument to be achieved. To create music!!! As the string instrument is used, it looses some of its correct tension, the right tenacity is loosened. The Arhatic retreats held annually, can be likened to retuning, realigning, readjusting, rebalancing this instrument, so that it may sing the song of its soul again. It’s a time to remember the teachings, but more importantly realign the soul to its spiritual path.
The energy retreats bring down, help the participants recommit to their spiritual path. Just like a musician adjusts the tightening of the instruments strings, and checks each chord to create just the right note, retreats realign you to your path. Just the way an instrument must be repeatedly checked to ensure correct sound, the disciple on the path must repeatedly realign himself. Group practices serve as the avenue for this process, and retreats are akin to the grand overhauling.
The path for the warrior of light is not an easy one, but it is the only one that is acceptable to him, because it is the only real one.
Coutesy Shivani Hariharan