By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Yoga says you are seeking your own Self – your own Essence and Beingness. Your own Is-ness, the depth and wholeness inside. You start with your body, sitting easily upright, then you look within.
The Maitreya Upanishad, from about 300 CE, says:
Devo devaa-laya.h prokto sa jiva kevala.h “siva.h.[1]
— Maitreya Upanishad 2.1.1[2]
This body is the holiest temple because God abides in it as its Self.[3]
Delving into the multiple levels of your own dimensionality is a fascinating and fulfilling process. Yet it is the deepest dimensionality that you seek.
In our system, you are propelled deeper within by one who knows the way. Your inner experience is progressively more profound and expansive. It carries with you after your meditation, improving your life.
Yet there is a goal. This goal is the Knowingness of your own Beingness. Becoming enlightened is an inner recognition of something you already knew — your own Self. There’s no fireworks, no lightning bolts, no earthquake or shooting stars.
The feeling of recognition is like, “Oh. I know.” It’s like you had forgotten where you laid your keys and now you know. You had forgotten your essence, and now you know.
The good news is that you have experienced your own Divine Essence so many times. Your own Self is so familiar to you. You don’t have to be doing yoga to have this experience.
This is why people love to watch the sunset. If you give yourself the time to watch it lower in the sky, colors spreading and changing, you settle into a peaceful moment that tickles timelessness.
And when the sun dips below the horizon, the colors keep spreading and changing. You can stay and watch — and when you move again, when you breathe again, you are softened. You are settled.
A view from a mountaintop will do it, as will photos of galaxies.
We love the things that stop our mind. Why? Because, when your mind stops, you experience your own inner essence. You get a moment, a peek at who you really are. If you stay in that moment, you’re enlightened…
[1] https://vedantastudents.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/04-Maitreya-Upanishad.pdf pg 16
[2] https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/thirty-minor-upanishads/d/doc216989.html
[3] Nothing Exists That Is Not Shiva 66