We all begin somewhere on the path to enlightenment. It's a very personal journey and therefore we really can not compare our "progress" to another person's. But there is a place where all of us who practice yoga are headed. That place is Samadhi. 

Samadhi in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and all yogic traditions, including Kriya Yoga, is a higher level of meditation which transcends the realms of body, mind and intellect, and where the logical and analytical ability becomes silent. That does not mean that one loses the ability to be rational. On the contrary, the state of Samadhi is a completely balanced state of being.

Once a person passes through the other 7 stages of yoga and enters Samadhi, that person is no longer a student. That person is considered an initiate. 

The yogi is a scientist ever studying the mystery. Simply put, the mystery is the most important purpose of existence  - to understand life. Understanding life we recognize that we all live in a heaven or hell of our own making. The purpose of the practice of yoga is to attain a state of bliss. To understand that this day, this moment is part of your/our immortality. 

You are the result of all you have thought. I am the result of all that I have thought. The Universe supports every thought you/I/we choose to think and believe. When we practice living in the world in a balanced, feeling state, we naturally move toward that which is harmonious and peaceful. Surface perception does not reveal the true nature of the mind which is why, in yoga, we practice repeatedly to attain a deeper meditation, a deeper level of Samadhi. 

Samadhi is a soft, tranquil passivity which burns up our craving for things. In Samadhi you break the false attachment of "I" and come to understand that "I" is pure consciousness. This leads to unselfish love which is the ultimate discipline of yoga. Samadhi is not dependent on externals. To the lover, the World is the beloved. Love without grasping. And Truth is something that no one can give to you and no one can take away from you. It has no beginning and no end. It is always there. Waiting to be discovered.

Shanti, Prem and Namaste,
  S.

This evening we met @ the Rothko Chapel to hear the wisdom of Samani Sanmati Pragya and Samani Jayant Pragya, two revered Jain nuns. It was refreshing to listen to a presentation wherein the presenters didn't have any thing to sell. No books to sign. No business cards to hand out or pens with their names on them. They came with a simple message: ahimsa (nonviolence). 

To learn more about the Jains or, if you missed this evening's meditation, follow this link:

Jain Vishwa Bharti

They are located on the west side of town and have weekly meditation sessions and monthly meditation classes. 

Shanti,
  S.

Everything good in our lives is brought to us by another person. Every person is in our lives to teach us something about ourselves, about Life. I've spoken before about the Japanese practice of gratitude sometimes referred to as  okagesamade. Loosely, this is understood to mean "thanks to you." 

There is never a moment of our lives, no matter how seemingly impossible the  circumstance, wherein we can not find something to feel gratitude for. We can start where we are standing. Are we standing on a lawn someone else planted? Are we standing on a floor that someone else laid down or poured? We can say a silent "thank you" to them. Probably most of the food we eat was grown by someone else. (Thank you.) The clothes on our backs were probably made by someone else. (Thank you.) Or, for those folks that knit or sew, someone else sheared the sheep or harvested the cotton that created the fibers for the thread or the yarn. (Thank you, thank you, thank you.)

There are so many more reasons to feel gratitude on a deeper level. How many of us ever reflect on the miracle of being alive in a human body? Wow! Really, just sit and think about it for a moment. All of those cells are working away in our physical vehicles so that we can have this amazing experience and we are not even conscious that they are busy living and dying to keep the body going. The heart is beating, the lungs are breathing, on and on without our really paying much attention. But what if we did? What if we spent some time every day feeling grateful for the experience of living in a human body?

And what about the spirit living in the body? What if we were kind to ourselves and forgave ourselves for every perceived mis-step or imperfection? What would that be like? I am thinking that probably we would be feeling profound joy. 

And if we all recognized that every single person is having their own human experience, maybe we could find it in our hearts not to judge them. And in letting them be who they are we can do the same for ourselves. Just being. Present. Now.

Shanti,
  S.