2) When we say ‘the shortest route’, does it mean the path of Love and Bhakti for the Divine?
3) Does ‘longer route’ mean living an ordinary life like the majority of humans do these days, with no or little aspiration?
The path does not open without aspiration. Before aspiration there may be faith which prepares us for the path. Faith makes one a devotee which is the door through which the Divine Grace and Protection reach easily to the devotee. But the entry into the Divine doors begins with access code of aspiration. Aspiration is the initiation into the true spiritual life. Without aspiration one may visit all the temples, perform all the rituals, be a good human being and do good deeds, but yoga begins with aspiration. The ordinary person from the spiritual point of view is the person without aspiration regardless of outer achievements.
It is from here that the two paths diverge. One is the narrow path, the path where one focuses exclusively on one’s own spiritual progress unconcerned with the work in the world. It is naturally easier and shorter. The wider path is the path where one lives in the world amidst all its challenges and difficulties. The wider path takes longer and is more challenging because it accepts the difficulties and moulds them eventually into possibilities by the action of the Divine Grace. The narrower path is shorter, quicker easier but less fulfilling.
However the basics of the path that is aspiration, rejection and surrender do not change. It is somewhat like the distinction made in the Gita between the path of the Sannyasi shunning the world and the path of the Yogi paved by inner sacrifice and tyaga. This should not be confused with the northern and southern path of the devas and the asuras described in the puranas.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
