What are we trying to remember?
To remember is to come back home to the loving, unconditioned authentic Self which is free of bondage of the mostly over-bearing and egoic unwatched mind.
How often will you walk or, even drive somewhere only to arrive and not remember how you got there? Too much I am sure you agree. It happens to me too.
We (humans) as a species have gone and evolved ourselves into a gigantic chasm of fear, worry and judgement. Judgement of ourselves and others. We are bound by our subconscious preferences, prejudices and desires, bound by what we love and what we hate, and then we attach ourselves to both as though our very life depends on it.
Consider love for a minute. When we feel romantic love from another, we are happy, complete, fulfilled. When we don’t have it, we are profoundly unhappy. We are so very attached to an external source of love that, for most of us, the idea of losing it is a fate worse than death. Very few of us know how to feel immersed in great love (prema) on our own.
We are so attached to the external notion of love (and the other stuff of life), that we have become detached from the blissful bounty of deep knowing that sits in the centre of the chest: the hridaya (heart). The ancient yogis said that the hridaya is home to the light of the soul (atman)… the part of us which is the same stuff of God (also referred to as Brahman, Isvara, Divinity, Universe, Supreme Being or Consciousness). Let’s, for the purpose of this blog, call it “Supreme Love”.
Underpinning yoga as an ancient wisdom practice is the religion of Hinduism, which the most widely practiced religion in India today. What I love most about the Hindu faith is the very notion that one does not need to aspire to Supreme Love, or renounce or confess anything so to be seen as good or worthy in its eyes. Rather, Hinduism teaches that we are already Supreme Love, that we already have the light of divine creation within us and that our daily spiritual practice (sadhana) is what helps us to remember what we already are.
And what we are is inherently peaceful state of joyful ecstasy. SUPREME LOVE. Also known as Yoga. So, yoga is not just a method, but also the state of being we are seeking. (Note, when I refer to this state, I use a capital Y).
Interestingly, the Jivamukti method of yoga defines Yoga as “to remember God.” This resonates with me.
We sometimes get mini glimpses of this Yoga state…perhaps at the end of a yoga class, while being guided in a potent meditation like yoga nidra or after just after 108 recitations of the maha mantra. It’s been my experience that the in this state you cease to feel your body relative to the space around you. The mind quiet and you lose a sense of where your body ends and everything else begins. You’ve reconnected with your Higher or Divine Self.
Sadly, our mind is not friends with this state of Yoga. In fact, the mind would rather us be anywhere else. Which only reaffirms why remembering to remember is an essential aspect of spiritual practice.
I remember years ago when one of my first yoga teachers explained to me the practice of meditation isn’t about clearing your mind of thought. What’s that I say? True! Rather, meditation is the tool by which we notice when the voice inside of your head is the loudest person in the room. The practice itself is about flexing your coming back muscle so to come back to the inherently peaceful, composed you.
Krishna Das says: “the moment you realise you’re not here, is the moment that you are.”
So, the point is to practice remembering so you get super good at remembering.
And to not be hard on yourself when you feel the mind stuff takeover. Because the point is to remember, so actually passing the microphone to the unwatched mind and coming back again is a massive win.
We keep practicing remembering so that rather than being a slave to the mind, you live more fully from the container of the heart. This is where Yoga resides.
That’s why I practice anyway.
Om Shanti (om, peace) xx
Image thanks to Maddie Turnball.