I love to practice the Siddha Yoga teachings with my husband and children. Stories like this one bring us knowledge, and at the same time they offer us the opportunity to contemplate the teachings all together and apply them to daily life, by opening our minds and hearts.
These experiences give us strength, and all this knowledge is like an antidote to anger, laziness, pride, and jealousy. They help the virtues to flow more freely within our family and then to others.
The stories and all the teachings nourish us every day! We are also grateful for all the translations.
Barcelona, Spain
It feels like a great miracle to me how the teachings on the Siddha Yoga path website connect me to Gurumayi, and how they help me with each step I take in my
sadhana.
Yesterday I participated in a new yoga class. As we practiced one posture, I felt I was going beyond my body’s limits. When I told the teacher I couldn’t do that posture, she simply smiled happily and gave me another instruction.
The teacher then told the class that in earlier years she had pushed herself so much, but that had brought her nothing! As she said this, I felt she was talking about “the middle path” in Gurumayi’s story.
I feel so grateful to Gurumayi for this story.
Palzing, Germany
Reading this wonderful, deep story has touched me at a stressful time in my life, when it's been difficult for me to remain in a balanced state. However, with the love, protection, and precious teachings from Gurumayi, I know that I will be able to find that centered, loving place within myself.
The Siddha Yoga path website continues to be a connective lifeline for me.
New Mexico, USA
Living knowledge! These are the words that came to mind as I read this story this morning, not long after I was in the midst of regretting my weekend of overwork.
It is always so amazing to realize how close Gurumayi is, and how her guidance brings her teachings to life at just the right time.
I am so very grateful for this posting on the Siddha Yoga path website.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Although I remember reading this story before, when I found it again this morning, it came as a wake-up call to me. It's a reminder to me personally that no matter what situation I’m in, trying too hard or not trying at all does not work! What does work is maintaining balance and making a sustainable effort toward steadfastness.
This reminds me of hatha yoga, where we learn to balance in different postures. As in the practice of hatha yoga, I am learning to move through my life with balance.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for your constant guidance. You are my guiding star.
New Delhi, India
For me this story couldn't have come at a better time! Having followed the Siddha Yoga teachings since 1983, I see how much sense it makes that the “middle path” is the path that is easeful and natural. I think this path allows more space for the light.
California, USA
This story invites me to tune into the middle path where the heart sings easefully and joyfully—instead of swinging from one extreme to the other, like a pendulum. I am delighted to find that the breath is the doorway to the middle path.
Ganeshpuri, India
I am grateful to Gurumayi for what I found here to be a lesson in vigilance and equipoise. In these challenging times in our world, this story teaches me to practice constancy and focus.
Illinois, USA
When reading the story, I experienced a deep feeling of compassion for myself. The story struck a deep chord in me and reminded me that the middle path is the way for me to attain happiness.
California, USA
The story's analogy of the tamboura resonates deeply with me. The tamboura provides a constant, steady background drone sound, even as the music soars and quietens. In all my activities I feel most accomplished when I keep my attention on "the tamboura within," which lets me know when and how much to give, and when to allow events to flow without my interference. When I stay focused on this, I experience harmony in my day and I can fulfill my dharma easefully.
I have found that my activities in the outer and inner worlds cycle between periods of intense activity and periods of relative quiet. I have learned to be content in both, knowing that I need time to rejuvenate within in order to be able to offer in the world without.
I used to be driven by ambition to excel and outperform those around me. I now understand that true excellence is being anchored in the middle path, with a quiet knowing that everything will flow when the strings are at just the right tension—so that they resonate with the inner sound.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this beautiful and timely story.
Brossard, Canada
This morning I was forming a resolution about specific ways to pursue my
sadhana in my daily life. Then, when I opened the Siddha Yoga Path website and read this story, I felt that Shri Gurumayi's grace had answered my prayer.
I reflected on the story and realized that recently I have vacillated between the extremes of ardent self-effort and laziness. The story inspires me to follow a middle path of balance. This will allow me to have love and respect for my body, as well as to recognize the Guru's grace which blesses my actions and efforts. I feel rejuvenated and ready to attune myself according to the teaching of this story.
My heartfelt thanks, Gurumayi, for your compassionate and insightful guidance.
New York, USA
Seconds before reading this story, I had started to create a demanding schedule that would start at 3:00 a.m. This is not the first time that I have done this. But the truth is that demanding so much of myself and setting unrealistic goals have not worked well for me over the years.
One challenge for me is that I would like to have consistency in my spiritual practices, but I am a business owner and my work is quite demanding. However, I have noticed that I don't have to do the practices only in early morning. Just yesterday my husband and I meditated at the office late in the morning.
After reading this story, I decided that instead of working today, on a Sunday, I will take some time off and relax a bit. This will be one more step toward achieving the balance I would like to have.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for constantly guiding me.
Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this beautiful story. It has soothed my heart during a challenging time and given me much needed direction.
Virginia, USA
Earlier today my wife and I were speaking together about how each of us thought the other was doing too much, and that we needed to reduce our efforts a bit. Then tonight I saw the story "Follow the Middle Path." My first reaction was: "How in the world did Gurumayi know what we were saying?" My next reaction was to wonder, "What does this story have to do with Gurumayi's Message for 2017?"
Finally I realized that this story must be for me! So I read it again, with this awareness. And now all I can say is: I am so grateful to have a living Guru! Gurumayi consistently teaches me things that are so beneficial for me but that I may not be ready to hear at first.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for always looking out for my best interests.
Washington, USA
This is such an important teaching for me. More and more, in spiritual practices and daily tasks, I am learning that achieving moderation needs constant awareness. I've found that when I put too little energy into my spiritual practices and tasks, things are left incomplete and I feel agitated. When I put too much effort into things, I seem to experience increased resistance and tiredness, and, still, things are often incomplete. It's only when I focus on the middle path that I feel I am truly serving the Guru and opening my heart to my own goodness.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this divine teaching.
Pennsylvania, USA
This story speaks to my heart because, for many years, I have been focusing on following the middle path. As a result, I have been able to maintain my practices on a daily basis.
It has also helped me in other areas of my life, such as relationships and work. I have been able to offer my best according to my capacity. This, in turn, has helped me to expand.
Following the middle path has helped me to be kind to myself and respect myself, and to understand and respect others.
New Jersey, USA
This story came at the right time for me, a time in my life when many different tasks are calling for my attention. The equally important task of giving myself appropriate rest and time to rejuvenate has been so sweetly validated by this story. I smile inwardly and bow my head in gratitude to Gurumayi.
Wisconsin, USA
I read this story after a day spent in airports, on freeways, at restaurants, and with people I don't know well. Still, it was a day with my own heart, a day in which I did my best to remember and to manifest the Guru's love. It was enormously affirming at the end of such a day to read Gurumayi's story on the “middle path”—which I understand to mean that we are to do our best, without overstretching.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this compassionate reminder.
Washington, USA
This story reminds me of a situation that my third-grade daughter was facing last week. She was in tears on the way to her piano lesson because, with her new fall schedule, she didn't feel she had enough time to practice. She thought she would need to stop piano lessons although she didn't want to do that either. We talked to the piano teacher, who suggested some changes in the practice schedule and also reassured my daughter
that, however things unfolded, everything was okay.
The next morning, without any coaxing or reminders, my daughter began her practice. Enthusiasm and joy were back in her playing!
This was a powerful example for me of the fruitful effects of the "middle path." I realized that when challenges come up, rather than pushing harder in an effort to overcome them, or just giving up, there is another way—a way that draws grace—the "middle path.”
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this vivid reminder in the form of the story and the beautiful metaphor of the tamboura.
California, USA
I, too, have been pushing too hard, stretching my mind and body with many hours of work, and feeling exhausted at the end of the day. This story has inspired me to take short breaks, to give my body rest, and allow my mind to go deep within. I am reminded that I have to take care of my body so that I can experience the Self. I have to walk the path of moderation, “the middle path.”
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this wonderful story.
Basamathnagar, India
The teaching in this story—about the “middle path” that Lord Buddha followed to attain enlightenment—applies to every spiritual practice, including the practice of
seva, or selfless service. For a seeker to serve with excellence, and for the practice of
seva to bear the sweetest fruit, balance and moderation are key. The practice of selfless service requires a healthy level of effort along with the discipline of giving the body and mind time to rejuvenate and rest. Like a musician tuning a tamboura, a sevite must learn to offer service without overworking their body or, on the other hand, growing lazy or careless.
a Siddha Yoga Swami