The Spiritual Foundations of The Path | Original Yoga, Sadhana and Fundamental Harmony

This satsang returns in a simple and direct way to the foundations of The Path and Original Yoga. It clarifies the meaning of sadhana, the Holy Name, service, Observance, and what some traditions associate with sahaja samadhi.

Home / The blog yoga-originel/The Révélation

The Spiritual Foundations of The Path

Summary: This satsang returns in a simple and direct way to the foundations of The Path and Original Yoga. It clarifies the meaning of sadhana, the Holy Name, service, Observance, and what some traditions associate with sahaja samadhi.

Through both a practical and spiritual approach, this text reminds us that The Path is not based merely on philosophical reflection, but on a living practice intended to cultivate a more stable awareness of the fundamental harmony at the heart of everyday life. Between mastery of the mind, free will, inner responsibility, and simplicity, this satsang offers a clarification intended both for disciples and for seekers wishing to better understand the spirit of Original Yoga.

Satsang

Returning to the Foundation

Today’s satsang will be more didactic than usual. Many disciples wish to better understand the spiritual framework within which they observe the sadhana, and many seekers want to better identify what Original Yoga truly is. It is therefore useful to return simply to the foundation of the teaching of The Path.

The Path is the name given to a spiritual practice rooted in Original Yoga. The name itself is relatively recent. It was chosen for our time and for modern means of communication, especially the internet. In Chinese, “The Path” would be called Tao, though this does not make The Path a Taoist movement in the way that term is commonly understood today, even if the teaching of Lao-Tseu remains important within this approach.

The most important thing to understand is that The Path is a practice before it is a theory.

It rests upon a sadhana composed of meditative practices, service, satsang, and certain recommendations intended to foster a more harmonious and conscious way of living. For those who wish to situate this teaching doctrinally, one could say that The Path is close to Qualified Nondualism, Viśiṣṭādvaita, whose central figure is Rāmānuja.

Original Yoga existed long before him, but Rāmānuja established the best-known doctrinal foundations of this vision. His teacher, Yādava Prakāśa, leaned more toward Advaita Vedānta, while Yāmunācārya deeply influenced his thought and Mahāpūrṇa played an essential role in his initiation.

I mention this so that you may understand that The Path is not a recent invention born from one man’s imagination. It belongs to a very ancient tradition. Yet it is also entirely of today, because it belongs to the present moment, and the present moment is eternal.

The Holy Name and Fundamental Harmony

The heart of this practice concerns the awareness of what we call the Holy Name.

The practice known as “the practice of the Holy Name” is not the Holy Name itself. The Holy Name, the Shabda-Brahman, refers to the living principle, this fundamental harmony present at the heart of existence. The practice of the Holy Name is a meditative technique intended to help the mind become more available to this awareness.

As this awareness becomes more stable, certain forms of agitation naturally diminish. The mind becomes less scattered, less confused, less dominated by immediate reactions. Another way of living gradually appears, more balanced, more peaceful, and capable of a happiness without any particular object.

Fundamental harmony is the virtue of the Holy Name. It is subtle, discreet, yet present in all life. To become conscious of it is to become part of it, and to become part of it is to live more deeply aligned with life itself.

By contrast, disharmony manifests as inner confusion, mental agitation, contradictions, excessive desires, dispersion, or what some traditions call avidyā, nescience. Human beings then become more identified with the fluctuations of the mind than with a deeper and more stable consciousness.

The purpose of Observance is precisely to help this awareness become more continuous in everyday life. In some traditions, this state is associated with sahaja samadhi, a more stable awareness of fundamental harmony within ordinary existence itself. Living in this awareness is the foundation of a more harmonious life and of an essential happiness.

Spirituality and Everyday Life

This does not mean that Observance can solve every human problem.

If you are ill, you should consult doctors. If you suffer from childhood trauma, psychotherapy may be necessary. If your lifestyle is unbalanced, it may be necessary to relearn very concrete things concerning sleep, nutrition, or psychological balance.

Spirituality is not meant to replace everything else.

Yet sincerely observing the sadhana, seeking to master the excessive activity of the mind, and living more consciously naturally produces effects upon the overall balance of existence. Much suffering is aggravated by inner chaos, by excess desire, fear, dispersion, or inertia. Observance will not solve everything, but it can already resolve many problems linked to a confused and unbalanced life.

That is why Observance requires constancy.

Free Will and the Guṇas

Human beings possess free will. They may listen more deeply to reason, or allow themselves to be carried away mainly by desires, impulses, and conditioning. Indian traditions sometimes speak of the three guṇas: sattva, rajas, and tamas.

Sattva fosters clarity, balance, and lucidity.

Rajas pushes toward agitation, desire, passion, and instability.

Tamas inclines toward inertia, confusion, laziness, and procrastination.

Every action has consequences. To live continually in confusion while hoping for a harmonious life naturally leads to contradiction and suffering. Acting inappropriately while expecting harmonious consequences is not reasonable.

Service and Non-Action

Service also occupies an important place within The Path.

Being in service does not mean forgetting oneself in an unhealthy way, nor remaining passive. Service is closer to what Lao-Tseu called wu wei, non-action. Non-action does not mean doing nothing, but acting without excessive inner agitation and without constant struggle against the movement of life.

To serve, in this sense, means acting in awareness of fundamental harmony. The more present this awareness becomes, the more actions tend to become just, simple, and appropriate to circumstances. Acting within this awareness naturally induces more harmonious reactions within existence.

Jésus de Nazareth is said to have taught: “Seek first the Kingdom, and all the rest shall be added unto you.” I could say it another way:

Seek first fundamental harmony, and the rest will more naturally find its rightful place.

This does not mean neglecting daily life, responsibilities, or material realities. It simply means that human beings often live upside down: placing desires, fears, ego, and passions before that which could truly bring inner balance.

Inner Simplicity

If you place awareness of fundamental harmony first in your life, if you sincerely observe the sadhana, meditation, service, and satsang, then your way of living will gradually begin to change.

You will listen more to lucidity than agitation.

More to sattva than rajas.

More to consciousness than to immediate reactions.

More to life itself than to the fluctuations of the mind.

And less to tamas, the inertia that endlessly pushes human beings to postpone what should be lived today.

Do not place your ego upon a pedestal. Do not make yourself the absolute center of your existence.

The priority of life is life itself.

When human beings stop placing themselves continually at the center of everything, they often become simpler, humbler, and more available to that discreet harmony already sustaining all existence.

If you are more interested in yourself than in the Holy Name, it naturally becomes more difficult to open yourself to the Holy Name. But as this simplicity grows, it becomes more natural to turn toward life itself rather than toward the constant agitation of the self.

madhyama.marga@gmail.com