yogic reflections
Cocooned amidst the sacred embrace of the Himalayas, another yoga teacher training journey is coming to a close. Another journal is nearly full of words grasping to collect the Divine wisdom received sitting near AnandJi - words which will always fail to capture the true essence of the darshan received, but still come through in a channel of divine vibration.
More than ever before I grasp deeply the profound significance of the true creative power of the word - each one a free will choice that will create what we call reality. Words forming sentences, which are the spells we cast daily and repeatedly that create the shape and form, the style and flow, the nature and experiences of our lives.
on the banks of Ma Ganga, Rishikesh, India
"The Experiencer is the Experience and the Experience is the Experiencer."
So much of life we are taught that words are descriptive, and this they can be, but before, and primary to their ability to describe things, words create. They create meaning, and they manifest energy from the boundless into the boundaries of shape and form we recognize as "the world". From the yogic perspective, each and every sentence may become a mantra ~ especially if we say it often enough.
A mantra is an expansion of the mind field and what is mind ultimately but energy channeled into thought?
Mantras are divine tools for refining one's mind and dropping into the heart field from which we may truly connect with atman (soul) and allow divine grace to flow through. From the Yog-Vedantic teachings we learn that mind is made of Buddhi (intellect), manas (memory) and Ahamkara (ego). With the assistance of the brain and our sense organs the ethereal nature of mind becomes manifest in what appears to the senses as shape and form.
We choose specific mantras and repeat them in Sadhana, japa and kirtan practices because of the divine vibrations and particular frequencies which they invoke in space. As within, so without; therefore, one cannot bypass the mind when looking to create a life they love, to heal and to evolve. These ancient practises having lived throughout many, many millennia (much longer than most people realize) because they work. These ancient teachings are the reason countless seekers, sages, saints and buddhas have pilgrimaged to the Himalayas seeking true wisdom and divine knowing. They are the spiritual heritage of humanity, not belonging to any culture but to everyone who seeks Divine truth and self-realization.
The action that arises out of the state of yoga (divine union / unity consciousness) is dharma. It is action that is in the flow of the Divine Creative Intelligence at the heart of all creation. Dharma is primary to all, without which we will live a life of karma, caught amidst the ever-repeating known and endlessly searching for meaning and purpose to existence.
However, action that arises out of the state of yoga becomes dharma in all its forms ~ whether it is fulfilling the need of hour or cultivating a deeper relationship with the divine in devoted, daily Sadhana, dharma becomes a source of action that is evolutionary in nature and therefore, always leads to positive and life-enhancing feedback from the universe.
"You are the Path and the Path is You."
This is yoga. This is the spiritual path of taking radical responsibility for one's life. No dogma, only dharma is offered as the way one may transcend the suffering and realize one's true nature beyond the body and mind. Within ALL THAT IS, the Divine Creative Intelligence organizes this whole cosmic dance we casually call "life". Divine Mother birthing all into existence with her primordial heartbeat. Jai Ma!
Shakti pulsates and draws from the infinite boundless field of Shiva that is stillness, and ALL that is known is revealed. From the unreal to the real; from the unknown to the known. This great, infinite, boundless field is Shiva, beyond all space and time; a void that is not empty but forever full of the infinite potential of ALL THAT IS. The conscious energy that through unimaginable Grace and intelligence becomes what we know, experience and share in this reality we appropriately term "relative".
Like the heart which beats in each of our chests, the Cosmic Mother's heart beats the multi-verse into existence. This universe but one, great, vast, deep exhale into expansion that eventually, as with all breath, will inhale and return home. The place where, deep within, we all long to return and know, for what is home but LOVE and what is God but LOVE and what is creation but LOVE expressing in infinite values of cosmic Self. Each of us an individuated point of consciousness interconnected with all other in the great, mysterious web of Life.
We are all connected. Ultimately, we are all ONE and within this great Truth and wisdom rests the liberation humanity seeks. This is awakening and self-realization that yoga promises to deliver to sincere seekers. The great secrets we so many seek to find are all hidden in plain sight. The real work is unveiling the eyes to see that which is everywhere Divine….