The thousands on all continents who have experienced Agnihotra can attest to the Fivefold Path being a bargain by most standards. It is a blueprint, however, not a formula. Why? Perhaps it is because FREE WILL and POWER OF DISCRIMINATION are ours to use—like it or not! Blueprints require construction.
Even the ultimate act we as humans can perform, TOTAL SURRENDER TO HIS WILL, is an action that manifests through OUR will, not His.
That some say without Grace of Almighty it would not be possible to do this, may be true. But Grace itself is something we ‘earn’ through our actions. If we were meant to be robots, we would go to mechanics instead of physicians for ‘servicing.’ Psychologists would be unemployed.
That computers can defeat us in chess is interesting, but nearly meaningless when it comes to life’s important aspects. Computers do not cuddle, do not love, do not lend emotional support. Some say MacIntosh computers do these things, but I am not sure.
The fact is that our job here is not to search out the ‘fountain of youth,’ the snake oil—or vitamin supplement or Camino Real that will keep us happy, healthy and holy. It’s just that it is not a McDonald’s Happy Meal, a nicely rolled joint, or the ‘soulmate’ whom we think will be our ticket to ride.
Our job may be to use the tools we have discovered and then dive in with intensity, persistence, devotion and perspective and grow into the loving, helping beings we were destined to become. That we may become happy while doing this is nice, but we might say not necessarily required or guaranteed.
We serve because that is why we are here. We are not here to be served.
If happiness is to accompany our trip, fine. If not, we must, nonetheless, carry on. It is for us to choose HOW we see, not necessarily WHAT we are to see, or experience.
We are not meant to use our planet and its atmosphere without replenishing what we take. That is Yajnya, a simple operation of the Law of Karma (Step 4 on the Fivefold Path). It balances the ledger.
If we have not found the formula for happiness, we can either continue searching or intuit that we have indeed already found it.
If the formula is right under our noses, we need simply to smell the roses—then be careful with the thorns and properly fertilize our minds and bodies so that the image of God in which we were created can manifest.
If the formula for happy living is a ‘state of mind,’ then let it be training our minds to react with love—or at least in positive ways— all the time (not just on weekends or at the easy times).
Love, no expectations, no judgments— ‘Not my will but Thy will be done.’
Come to think of it, Fivefold Path may be the ‘formula’ we seek.