Do you ever have thoughts like these: Who am I? How did I get here? What am I doing with my life?! What is my purpose?
Perhaps, like many of us, you push them away, as just behind those thoughts is a tiredness, a lethargy, or overwhelm… there is so much to do, duties, lists, expectations. In that moment the glimmer of Self peeking through within the question, is once again caught in the illusion of your habitual behavior mask.
Many of us tend to stay behind the veil as it takes a monumental effort to pull back from the entanglements of life, habit, character, and personality to recognize and create a relationship with the source of life within.
The yogis say the path is long and only a few make it to the destination. This is because we are so easily distracted from the goal. Advertisers know it, they prey on this fickleness of attention.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it is stated: “Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha.” Meaning Yoga is the calming of the fluctuations of the mind. So that “Tada Drashtuh Svarupe Avasthanam,” the seer rests in his/her/their true nature.
The path to get there is to cultivate focus, to learn how to master our mind and emotions, to release our attachments, and the way we grip to the known rather than embrace the unknown. Through the process of yoga and meditation we learn how to release our attachment to form and identity, in the process we gain glimpses of eternity and may even laugh at how small we have been playing!
The yogis say this world is an illusion/maya/we get so caught int the Lila, the play, that we forget that we are part of a greater intelligence. The ‘me’ we think we are is just a character.
Our True identity is formless, it is a steady continuous presence, an awareness. The more we encounter this inner source of all knowing, the more we recognize we are not the doer, there is a far greater intelligence that is working though us.
This intelligence comes forth when we turn our attention inward, cultivating concentration with a mantra practice or similar. Our senses turn toward the source of our attention, bringing with them a sense of synchronization. We start to feel content, whole and absorbed in the object of our concentration. This allows us to glimpse beyond the veils of personality and access a deeper knowing.