By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

It’s not fireworks, not volcanoes firing off, no comets flying by – the moment of enlightenment is a letting go.  It’s not orgiastic. It’s not amping up.

It is – finally – standing down off red-alert. There’s no need to prove yourself anymore, nothing to get from others, no push to become more, learn more, go more, do more, have more, BE more.

You ease into the Beingness that you already BE.

The sage K.semaraaja, in his commentary on the Shiva Sutras describes it this way “…the yogi… [in] continuous repose and delight within himself…” You ease into your own Self, you settle deeper and deeper within, until you are so deep that inside — is outside.  It’s all you.

Just like your hair is part of you, as well as your fingernails and toenails. Your breath is part of you.  In this way, you discover that the universe is within you.

The first time I experienced this, I was doing an arati to my Guru’s Guru. We call it the Standing Arati, for you stand while chanting in Sanskrit for 30 minutes.  It starts with candle flames being waved to Nityananda, with bells, drums and gongs, while conches are being blown.

After several minutes of this, my body vibrates – the energy of Consciousness climbing my spine — Kundalini. Climbing my spine and spreading through my whole body.

After the conches and flames and bells and drums, then we chant: (singing) “Arati avadhuta, jaya jaya arati gurunatha…” Plus another 25 minutes of chanting.  Ending with cymbals and drums again.

Morning and night – every day. Great bookends on your day!

One day, when I was still learning the chant, still stumbling through the Sanskrit, I was looking at the page and then looking up at Nityananda’s murti, his life-size statue – then looking at the words, then at his murti again.

My eyes became riveted to his form – I couldn’t look down, so I couldn’t chant. My gaze became fixed on Nityananda. My gaze narrowed and strengthened, like a laser beam.  I was boring into his form.

Then my eyes closed and I was boring into my form – deeper and deeper, into my own form. Narrower and narrower, deeper and deeper, vast and black inside, like I was boring through time into the origin of the universe…