When
we begin to practice ishwara pranidhana and feel that we are like children held
in the protective and loving hand of God, or lying in the lap of the Universal
Mother, we can begin to let go, flow with the natural order of things, and put
our trust in the care of the divine will which knows what we need better than
we do ourselves. With this surrender we will no longer feel the need to
struggle and strain to amass wealth we do not actually need, because we will
have the faith that Ishwara will provide. Then, like the leaves of the tree in
autumn, our old patterns of thinking and behaving, which depend on our
insecurities, doubts and fears for their expression, will begin to fall away,
allowing new positive shoots of hope and acceptance to emerge and bloom into beautiful
flowers of love and compassion for our fellow travellers, and for the
environment. – Swami Vibhooti Saraswati
The
path of spiritual transformation cannot be purely intellectual. Reasoning is important to a point, but to open
to our true self-nature requires going beyond.
We have to be willing and able to go out our minds. We have to accept that there is a higher
power operating in and through this universe and us. We might call it Higher Mind or Universal
Intelligence. Reason cannot tell us where
we come from or why we are here. Despite
all of our scientific knowledge life is still a huge mystery. It is a wonderful gift and blessing which we
tend to take for granted.
The
Yoga path is about accepting, appreciating and utilizing this gift to its
maximum potential. There is more to life
than indulging our senses, worrying about finances, struggling to get ahead or
even raising families. There is a
possibility inherent within us of unfolding our spiritual potential, rising
above this world like lotus flowers above a muddy pond. As Wayne Dyer says, “We are not our bodies,
our possessions or our careers. Who we
are is Divine Love and that is infinite.”
The details of our lives are important.
They form a basis from which we can grow but we can’t regard them as
ends in themselves. They are temporary
manifestations of an infinite and eternal creative process.
Samadhi
is the essence of Yoga. It is a state of
higher awareness in which all aspects of our beings are both completely
integrated and transcended. In Samadhi our
ordinary consciousness is transformed into Unity consciousness, inner silent
knowing beyond thought. According to the
Yoga Sutras it has its own developmental stages which are cultivated through
consistent practice, abhyasa, and nonattachment, vairagya. Through this process we go from
identification with the mind and body to bliss and pure I-am-ness. Eventually even the awareness of “I am” is
transcended.
In
order to enter into these higher states Patanjali tells us that we need to
develop a firm intention through faith, determination, commitment and
intelligence. “To one with keen intent it
(Samadhi) comes quickly. The time necessary
to develop success depends on whether practice is mild, medium or intense.” The less we allow ourselves to be distracted
with extraneous concerns and the more willing we are to engage in practice the
sooner we can enter into Oneness. This
can be daunting for those of us caught up in our worldly responsibilities, with
our habituated to attending to other concerns.
Fortunately there is something else we can rely on to help out. As Patanjali states, “Success can also be
attained through surrender to the Supreme Consciousness, “Ishwara-pranidhana.”
Actually firm intent
and surrender are not exclusive but mutual aspects of practice. Without commitment there can be no progress
and without surrender there is a danger of intellectualizing the whole
process. Our egos can step in and hijack
our spiritual practice so that it simply becomes an exercise in “spiritual
materialism.” Surrender means
recognizing that there is a greater power inside of us which flows through
everything. It is God’s presence in
everything and everywhere. We ourselves
are contained within this infinite loving awareness. It is always here nurturing us, guiding us
and protecting us if we are willing to pay attention. According to the Yoga tradition this presence
is designated by and attuned to through the mantra “Om.” (You can learn more about this mantra is a
earlier post http://mindful-yoga.blogspot.com/2011/06/attuning-to-infinite.html)
