I referenced samādhi previously, but want to elaborate here that the goal of yoga is to enter a state where you identify solely as consciousness itself. There is no separate identity outside of the one consciousness that exists in every living being. This is where past samskaras no longer have any effect on the individual because there is no “I” on which to have any effect. When you identify as “all that is,” nothing can shake you any longer because there is simply no “you” to be shaken. In my opening “Ode to Yoga,” I’d mentioned how yoga is about yoking (aka joining) one’s self to God, bring all facets of one’s being together so that all aspects of the individual are fully integrated. This joining to God, is what I am speaking of here… trading in the small “I” in favor of the big “I” and no longer identifying as this powerless little speck of individual consciousness with no real power, but with the big “I” who is limitless and eternal. Energy never dies, it simply transforms. You, being energy, are the same.
Jesus, too, spoke of being “in the world, but not of the world.” Patanjali taught the same. To evolve spiritually, it is critical that we take the stuff of the world (i.e. the physical stuff of nature aka prakṛti) understand it, work with it to integrate it, and then rise above it. In yogic belief, nature is the “school” that allows us to find liberation from this powerless identity of the little “I” if we use it as such.
Patanjali cites several methods by which to realize (make real – internalize – fully understand who you are) the big “I” (or the energy that has the power to create worlds):
- Faith: The belief that you are more than what you currently see yourself as
- Courage: The strength to go beyond what you currently know and explore the unknown
- Vigor: Effort, energy, and enthusiasm for the journey inward
- Memory: The ability to remember past mistakes and lessons so as not to go backward in the evolutionary process
- Contemplation: The ability to reflect on one’s life, one’s self.
- Discernment: The ability to determine the real from the fake. What is consistently true from what is false
- Surrender: Full surrender/devotion (praṇidhānāt) to God (Isvara)
So, previously, I also said that if you were atheist or agnostic to track with me and here you are most likely thinking, “Ok, didn’t sign up for this… she’s going to go on a tangent about God and faith and more dogma that I don’t buy into.” Stay with me here as the definition of God is pretty open… and has some logic to it. It basically means supreme consciousness, that which is unaffected by any afflictions, actions, fruits of actions, or by any impressions of desires. It is all-knowing and is knowledge itself. Sri Swami Satchidananda relates the concept by indicating that when we draw a circle, we see the finite space within the circle, but there also exists the outer “infinite” space. In other words, there is a union of opposites… left/right, man/woman, up/down, etc. This union of opposites is what insights true knowledge. I know who I am because of who you are aka “ubuntu.” The knowledge/energy (universal intelligence) that is out there relating one object/person to the next seems to be defined as “God” within the yogic texts. In essence, God is the seed of all knowledge… when we think about what came first, “the chicken or the egg” we can’t really answer. Its similar when we think about where our knowledge originated from… I learned this from person A, person A learned from person B, person B learned from person C, etc. There must be a start to knowledge itself and that “start” or “beginning” is defined as “God.” God is also referenced as the pure energy that exists in all living beings.
“If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.
– Yogi Bhajan
Devotion to God is, in a sense, an admittance that you don’t know it all and you surrender yourself to a force greater than yourself that does know. You accept that your ideas are not your own, but are granted to you by the experiences and people you have come into contact with, who have been gifted their experience and wisdom from others they have crossed paths with, and on and on and on until eventually you reach the end of the chain where inspired idea simply exists without any carrier of it. That force, that “one” is who we want to yoke ourselves to. Yoga is not a religion, but a path to greater understanding, acceptance, energy, love, and compassion.
I’ll stop here for today given that this is a deeper, heavier, portion of the sutras. I wanted to cover it early on in this series so you have a better understanding of what the practice of yoga was intended to achieve… union with God aka universal energetic intelligence… the root of all living beings. Yoga is an experiential method, which ultimately provides an answer to the inquiry most humans have, “Who am I?”
If you’re interested in being guided through the experience of yoga or exploring yourself in a more verbal format, I’d love to share a private yoga or coaching session with you.