Samsara – a labyrinth, or a maze? To some this, to others that. The difference is simply that man is sure to find the way out of a labyrinth, while in a maze he is almost sure to get lost. Perhaps there are not two kinds of samsara at all, and it is only that for the novice soul-traveller it is still a trap, while for the one who strives it is perhaps already a springboard?
The journey through the world (samsara-gamanam) is no tourist's trip but rather a pilgrimage through worldly existence, and we may well ponder how much freedom man has if he must run a fixed course set by fate? Freedom too is like samsara itself: now a labyrinth, now a maze – at one moment it seems to be there, and at another not to exist at all. When you feel you have no freedom whatever and have lost your way in the maze, that is the true dead end. How strange that streets which do go through are sometimes given this very name: Dead End Street… It is pure illusion when the name and the thing named do not coincide, when every word conceals something other than what it means, when the multitude of opinions is endless, and none of the views founded on argument is decisive.
But a dead end is not only a term of traffic engineering. You yourself can be a dead end. When you have sold your mother's jewels and squandered your father's inheritance, when nothing is left of all the wealth lavished upon you without counting, and nothing has borne fruit. When you have no descendant whom you could serve, or who would carry on the family's bloodline, when everything ends with you – you cannot be so selfish! When you have become a bad person, one no longer worth trusting… a dead end.
But is there such a thing as a bad person? If you dig deep enough, there is no bad, only good. In its original state every being is good, for its source too is good. In its origin every road leads from somewhere to somewhere, every street goes through. In its origin every life leads from somewhere to somewhere. And yet in the roles the world assigns him, man may be questionable, may be the servant of the shadow, may be bad. You may be a dead end not worth wandering into, and whatever finds its way in, nothing comes out.
Grace! – cries the wicked one, and clings to the hope of purification. The ring of rotation (samsara-chakra) refers to the recurring cycles of the transmigration of souls, through which the system, by virtue of purification and a spiritual centrifugal force, flings out of itself those who long for liberation. Yet one must still walk the way of the world (samsara-marga), which depicts the flow of the world, but also means the womb, the birth canal through which the embodied soul comes into the world. Thus birth means not only a visit to the vale of tears and a soul-fall, but also a chance to rise, to find the way home. You know: to some a maze, to some a labyrinth, to some a passage, to some a dead end.
Perhaps you are not standing at the entrance of a labyrinth at all, but before open gates? Salvation from the world (samsara-moksha) radiates the certainty that material existence can be overcome, that there is a way out of the cycle of repeated births and deaths. Whoever finds the passage wins… If at sunrise you circle both outstretched arms before you, your palms trace two circles that intersect in the middle, in front of your chest. These two invisible circles that you draw in the air are the Vesica piscis, and their overlapping, almond-shaped segment is the Sun Gate. One of the arcs so cut symbolises finite, limited human consciousness, the other the cosmic, divine fullness-consciousness. Before the gate, in the middle, there you stand, and on the far side of the Sun Gate is the light itself. What comes from the source leads to the source, and if you follow the way of the light, you reach the source of the light. Instead of a maze a labyrinth, instead of a dead end a passage, every road leads somewhere, every life leads to something. If the invitation stands, it can also be answered. If you are already standing before the open Sun Gate, it means that you may also step through it.