Vichara Yoga
The yoga of knowing thyself...
For many, if not most, the physical practices of yoga are the first to be explored. Traditional hatha yoga postures prepare the body for conscious embodiment and meditation techniques prepare the mind to expand beyond that which it has ever known. Pranayama is the bridge between the physical and the non-physical - the conduit between body and mind and the source of life.
In the same way that various asana practices strengthen the body, the ancient yogic practise of vichara prepares the yogi to meet their Soul. Vichara is the practice of self-inquiry that opens the seeker up to the truth from within; of remembering who we are as an embodied Soul; it is a yoga that calls us to the shadow work necessary to burn away the karma and accumulated layers of maya in false identity, attachment and delusions of the “small self”.
The ultimate goal of any yoga is to self-realize, but what does that mean?..
“To realize" something is just another way of saying "to know". what did we come here, to the Blue Pearl, to know? to realize? to learn?... yoga teaches us that until we know the True Self we can never really know the truth of anything else.
However, in our world there exists the tangible societal “taboo" of knowing who we truly are - "normalization" is the program, which creates within us a painful state (frequency) known as "cognitive dissonance".
As Spirit calls us forth our entire lives to remember who we are, we may realize that we are always guided by our sacred intuition and unique Soul blueprint to remember. However, we are simultaneously entrained and manipulated by those seeking total control into ignoring and suppressing our true Nature. Instead of learning how to be true to our inherent Divine Nature, we are "schooled" into the status quo; taking on layers and layers of programming, projections and false identities. As we are trained to seek everything outside of ourselves and ignore the most sacred aspects of our being...we become the lost souls, clouded in perception and weak in will as we consistently struggle and tire to find the "motivation" (external force) to fulfill someone else's vision. It doesn't work. Or as I like to say, "no bueno".
The stress and anxiety that is created from living in constant internal conflict with no external solution that actually works to make us feel "whole", keeps us from knowing ourselves, from even caring to know ourselves... Think about that for a minute.. we have created a society where we are overwhelmingly stressed & depressed and we are not only asked to accept this as "normal", but we are told to shove a bunch of literally mind-numbing pills down our throats and push ourselves through because work, bills and the threat of "losing everything" eventually forces us to push harder. The biggest mistake we make is trying to fit into anything. We are master Creators and Manifestors - our Divine intelligence within knows exactly why we came here and it wasn't to destroy a planet and each while making the ruling elite even more wealthy and powerful.
However, eventually we realize that to resist who and what we are is to cause ourselves much pain and grief over things that cannot be changed. Whether it is a dark night of the soul, personal or collective crisis, or an awakening into surrender, the existential nature of our reality catches up to all of us eventually and we either face it and move through into an expanded conscious awareness of who we are, or we run further into darkness, into illusion and delusion to try and avoid the inevitable.
Everything is energy, everything is vibration and this is Universal Law.
Ancient Yogic practices and teachings show us that we live in a vibrational, quantum universe - everything is connected. Therefore, alignment and harmony are essential to any kind of success and happiness in life. If we point to the Source of this Divine Creation and call it God or Goddess, "IT" - at the quantum level - is energy; and, the consciousness of Source is become the everything and the nothing of the ALL that is. It begs the question, if God / Goddess / Source is everything, then is God not you too?
Could we be seeking ourselves in God because we are ONE in reflection of each other? In our search for 'a God' as an external, omnipresent force of the heavens, could we be missing the point? Could it be our Soul's light that calls us forth? A call so profound and deep from within that it sings through trillions cells inside us and echoes into every layer of our lives, beckoning us to pause & listen... for in the call of the Divine is the frequency most resonant with our Soul and we can ALL TUNE INTO IT.
It has become so normalized that truthfully we forget, but we do not have to accept anyone else's limited perspective of what it means to be who we are. We are on a journey of realizing we ARE the infinite potential of the entire cosmos - as above, so below, as within, so without - God made manifest in "form" (patterns of energy) held by the consciousness of our unique Soul and expression of Source.
Ultimately the goal of Vichāra Yoga is the same as all yoga - self-realization; however, yoga teaches us clearly that to come to know your true Self, you must release, shed and let go of everything you are not. Who am I? Is a question we keeping asking in Vichara practice until the one who asks has dissolved into the question itself. We keep asking until we realize we are not anything we thought we were - for in Truth we are all ONE.
The YOGA of the GITA
The Bhagavad Gita offers many wisdom teachings and insights into our True Divine Nature. In the Gita, Krishna explains that karma is not punishment or "sin" in the way humanity has often interpreted it from a fear-based perspective. However, from a love-based perspective, karma = the lessons and learning of collective evolution as everything is connected and within the web of this karma lies our own karma, made evident to us within our dharma (divine life purpose). The idea that suffering in this life is the direct result of causing suffering in the last life is too simplistic for the cosmic picture which the Bhagavad Gita paints.
Our karma is what binds us to the material realms and the wheel of 3d space and time; we create karma when we are unconscious or unaware of the consequences of our actions and choices. Karma is the result of "unconscious creation" - individually and collectively - therefore, we are taught by this wisdom and many others, that the way to free ourselves from this karmic wheel is to become more self-aware, conscious, present and realized. It begs the question, when did we become so unconscious in our actions as a humanity? When did we truly forget and why? and what really happened on Earth to spiral us into such a lost state?
Regardless of what conclusions one may come to, Krishna explains that truly there is no blame in karma - we cannot blame ourselves for that which we did not know (or was kept from us), but we can choose to take responsibility moving forward by becoming more conscious and aware of the cause + effect, cosmic nature of our reality. When we remember to observe and be present, we allow the Universe to once again reveal its true Nature, which is benevolent, kind and here to learn, discover, expand and realize.
ALL is Divine. Our karma is a guide to realizing one's Soul more intimately; and therefore, realizing the illusory false identities we have created in a state of ego, unconsciously creating more karma. Once we realize we have the power to change our path, we may begin the shadow soul work of alchemizing our karma along the path of awakening that every soul must eventually face.
We must go into the dark into order to know the light and in order to know the difference, for without that journey into our own shadows, we are easily duped into programming and fear-based living. Until we do the work of making our unconscious patterns and programming conscious, we are vulnerable to manipulation for we are completely unaware of what kind of programming operates our system. We are a system of Divine intelligence that operates at its best when it has the least interference from discordant energy, but it always remains and is ready to be reclaimed and embodied within each of us.
The spiritual journey asks us to leave many things behind in order to clear karma, including judgment, self-doubt, blame, "victimhood", but what we "leave behind" releases us from the bondage of what no longer serves us. And NOW is truly the time for humanity to LET GO of the old ways, systems, dogmas and decrees of "man" that seek to supersede Nature and Divine Order and return to living in harmony with the Nature within and around us.
If God is everything and nothing, and everything that is of God is Divine and and therefore, everything is Divine, which it is, then perhaps what needs to change is our consciousness around perceived suffering and pain. "Evil" must be reclaimed as Divine for as the Gita teaches us, "evil" is the creation of unconscious behaviour - of not knowing who we are, of surrendering our power to idols instead of Truth. This is an important lesson - a "Maha Karma" for all humanity: "evil" does not exist except for within the mind (and the mind makes it so).
The clearest definition of "evil" that I have found which is supported by the ancient texts and occult teachings, is that "evil is anything that restricts another's freedom or free will". This is a free will universe. Therefore, "evil" must be reclaimed in the name of the Divine (that is everything) for that is how we transmute the pain and suffering of karma instead of recycling it for eternity. Every time we claim something as "evil", it denies the Divine within those beings and therefore denies the Divine in everything including oneself.
It is ALL connected.
Essentially, we are the Divine remembering the truth of who we are as the Divine, returning to Source energy - one big cosmic breath, many long cosmic soul journeys, cycles within cycles within cosmic cycles of death, rebirth and evolution. When we claim another as "evil" for doing "wrong" (acting against true nature and universal laws), not only are we judging and creating more karma for ourselves, because we still need to learn to see past the illusion, but we are essentially calling forth more evil in order to learn the lesson that all is Divine.
For that which we damn, damns us back" and compassion provides the way for reclaiming the Divine in all of creation. Compassion for those who do not know what they do not know (yet). compassion for those who are so afraid of life that they cannot see they are claiming more fear into their reality with every thought. compassion for the souls so lost and disconnected from their Truth, from Love, from humanity that they are willing torture a child or drop a bomb on a city? This is not to say these actions are "condoned" and should not be stopped because that must happen, but is also a natural consequence of a collective that is becoming more conscious and self-aware again, connected and in touch with who we are and willing to take responsibility for our karma and our creations moving "forward". The more conscious we become as a humanity, the less these "evils" of the world will be tolerated. We have always had the power to end it, and we would not be here where we are now if others had not tried, which is why it is so important to shine the light of one's true divine self for others to see.
Who decides? Ultimately we always decide in a free will universe how we will be and do and create. We are making choices all the time - either by action or inaction - these are choices, but what matters is are they conscious?
Perhaps we want to know who will judge us because it allows us to continue to judge others. After all... how does one not judge a child molestor or "evil gates" (for example)? It's really hard until we realize that those kinds of thoughts only further pollute our world with negative energy and that is the opposite of what we want to do in Truth. This does not mean we approve of behaviour that wounds others, but we can move that energy to a level of discernment and wisdom, rather than judgment and fear. The results will be much more effective in eradicating the things we do want instead of perpetuating them through resistance and hatred.
If we become aligned with the laws of the universe, we will know the "weakness" of the laws of man and see how they fall before our eyes every day, but only by being present and aligning with our True Nature can the true revolution from within begin.
Humanity is not who we think we are - or should i say who we have been led to believe we are - warm blooded yes, but infinitely capable and powerful, self-aware and consciousness, magickal and mystical beyond our wildest thoughts, humanity is truly cosmic. We have been dumbed down to rely only on survival instinct - always "in fear" of "losing something" in our lives, including (supposedly) "our lives". But, this is all illusion and therefore yogis renunciate the material world, not because the material world "is bad", but because over-identification with it is delusional and attachment to it is "fatal" because it disconnects us from Spirit.
The seeker renunciates in order to find the Truth within. It is not the only way but is helpful for undoing years of indoctrination into the material world. It helps us to rapidly release karma and become more conscious and aware of which "tools" are truly necessary and of service to our Soul and its Divine purpose, as well as the collective harmony of the world in which we live. Some of us declutter, some of become minimalists, some of us renunciate everything material and unnecessary simply because they are trying to even out the imbalances on Earth, but whichever your strategy in becoming more clear on your Truth, it is the identification with the material and the ego's projected version of reality that prevents us from knowing our true Self. Yoga teaches us how to step outside of this "box" we, as humanity, have been put in so that we can choose to see ourselves clearly again and more importantly, live the lives that we intended, that feel good, spread joy, healing and laughter and use this spiritual clarity to ground the LIGHT into a Earth that so desperately needs it.
Why did human brains evolve or de-volve? If one were to watch the mainstream news, it may seem like humans are the "worst" creatures on Earth, but if that is ever going to change we need to have compassion for ourselves and each other for many reasons we simply cannot all know at once. The truth is coming out more every day, but we have a ways to go to bring Earth back into alignment with a Free will universe.... but if we are honest with ourselves, we know that the collective is "trapped" within an illusion, wheels of time, karma and unconscious patterns of programmed thought and conditioned behaviour, which during these polarizing times can be difficult to watch. Many people are getting hurt for they cannot yet break free from the literal spell they are under and it can seem impossible to communicate from a high level of Truth with a low level of fear, but the resonance of Truth can always be FELT even if the mind cannot yet accept it, the body, the intuition, the cells, the soul and spirit hear, feel and resonate with, amplifying its power to reconnect the consciousness of whomever is receiving it.
Fear works in a similar way. Fear is contagious; however, we either have to be completely unconscious and programmed to receive, or open to receiving it, essentially claiming it into our lives if we are going to "catch it". We live in a vibrational universe where everything IS ENERGY. A thought is an energy "in the room" that can be "caught" by any other person in the room within it. Be careful which spaces you occupy. Cleanse and clear your energy on regular basis and protect yourself always with energy shields and bubbles.
When we connect with our true Divine Selves we remember that humans are not evil. If anything is evil it is the power-hungry elite's desire for total dominance and control over humanity and Earth which results in humanity's state of disconnection from Source; however, everything is of our creation and we have been creating unconsciously for so long that we have allowed ourselves to become small. Human Nature has been overrun by an indoctrinated world view that manifests in industry, technology and a mechanical idea of life that is against Natural laws - this disorder creates more disconnection and limited beliefs about what the world is. This upside-down worldview that seeks to place humanity above Nature, instead of an integral part of an ecosystem, is destroying the Earth, making us sick, depressed and spiritually vacant. However, thought we may have created and perpetuated a great deal of this darkness with the judgmental and fearful mind, it cannot remain this way and the power structures on Earth are also rapdily changing.
As more and more people are tuning into who they truly are and seeing, with greater clarity, the reflections within society that reveal our current collective dark night of the soul, the energies are shifting and more Source light is anchoring into and through us to Earth. Humanity is awakening to the greatest of self-realizations ~ that we are capable of SO MUCH MORE than we have been taught to know and that questioning your reality and the world so many of us have taken for granted "as is" for FAR too long, is a great place to start your journey of self-inquiry and self-realization.
True alignment is creative, organic and representative of the quantum world in which we live, where everything is connected, entangled and infinite. True alignment is a resonance that echoes within and without. The more of us who find alignment and soul embodiment on the individual conscious level, the more the collective consciousness is influence to rise. In fact, many studies have been done to reveal just how powerful high, conscious vibrations are in comparison to lower mental states, such as mass hypnosis / psychosis / delusion.
Dr Wayne Dyer explored the level of the impact the higher vibrating people make on other people. Here are the results of his discovery:
• One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of optimism and a willingness to be nonjudgmental of others will counterbalance the negativity of 90,000 individuals who calibrate at the lower weakening levels.
A "weakening level" would be any state of consciousness that lowers our frequency into the lower realms of consciousness, such the fear-derived states of depression, anxiety, hate, greed, lack, and judgement; and anything that makes us less aware and unconsciousness.
• One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of pure love and reverence for all of life will counterbalance the negativity of 750,000 individuals who calibrate at the lower weakening levels.
• One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of illumination, bliss, and infinite peace will counterbalance the negativity of 10 million people who calibrate at the lower weakening levels.
• One individual who lives and vibrates to the energy of grace, pure spirit beyond the body, in a world of complete oneness, will counterbalance the negativity of 70 million people who calibrate at the lower weakening levels.
Truly the implications of Dr. Dyers research and observation while he was still here in the physical are profound, for they highlight the true vibrational quality and nature of our universe and world and "simple" it "could be" to rebalance our lives, society and the Earth as a whole.
Similar studies have been done with several large meditation groups in cities. These groups would meditate for long periods, focusing their consciousness on a particular area with the intention to raise the frequencies, create harmony and more peace for all. In every case there were clearly identifiable co-relations to the meditation event: crime dropped, emergencies dropped and there was a noticeable improvement to the energy of the city / space - for those who are able to tune in and really sense the differences on the subtler levels, it is palpable.
"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change." - wayne dyer (and many others)
Therefore, we learn above all, that our perception, our consciousness, our interpretation and connection to this Divine dance is what determines how we experience it for ourselves. We have an incredible opportunity right now to evolve and spiral upwards into the higher realms and frequencies of our Divine purpose, knowing and truth - to realize so much about ourselves that most of us have only begun to imagine could be true. Cosmic children, starseeds and light warriors blanket this Earth and we are ready to anchor in the light of ascension and awakening to help liberate Nature and reclaim the Divine in all. The collective is ready to move beyond the dualistic mindset, polarity and fear that dominate the 4th dimensional realms of consciousness and manipulate humanity into the illusion of separation and fear. Once we rediscover and accept our true multi-dimensional, cosmic nature, we are the unstoppable force of Creation that is LOVE.