Part 9 of “How do you Qualify Yoga?”
About a year ago, I was facilitating a workshop and met someone who is now a dear friend. Our connection was instant; he had been raised a devout Hindu and was very complementary about my ability to simplify teachings he had previously learned. We culminated our discussion with the idea that, assuming you subscribe to belief in Saṃsāra, how it took everything we had done up to that moment to even be in that workshop–to even be discussing teachings which were, at one time, only available to the chosen few.
According to Swami Rama, “…There is also the activity of grace. Grace is the impulse or the impetus of the energy to dispel darkness. There is the grace of the scriptures, from the wisdom that has passed down from others. There is the grace of the teacher, who imparts that wisdom and helps bring it to life in the student. There is the grace of God, or pure consciousness, that is alive and ever present in everyone’s life. Integral to these three graces is the grace of oneself, having the will to undertake a purposeful journey in life, to do the spiritual work of life, and to prepare oneself.”
What is the source of the impulse?
According to the mahavakyas:
- Brahma satyam jagan mithya–Brahman is real; the world is unreal
- Ekamevadvitiyambrahma–Brahman is one, without a second
- Prajnanambrahman–Brahman is the supreme knowledge
- Tat tvam asi–That is what you are
- Ayamatmabrahma–Atman and brahman are the same
- Aham brahmasmi–I am brahman
- Sarvam khalvidam brahma–All of this is brahman
If Brahman–which is an arbitrary word for the Center of Consciousness, the nameless apex, or whatever you wish to call it–and we are one and the same, the source of the impulse is from within. We heard it said before, “You are who you are seeking.” Ironically, the picture above says “to serve another”–there is no other. There is only one.
There is no need to anthropomorphize the Center, I am not suggesting “someone” is pulling strings. But, to paraphrase Ma Tri, when you done all the preparatory work, when you have gone deep enough in your meditation, eventually it is a surrender and grace that carries you the final distance.
Hence, meditation, affirmative prayer, contemplation, and gratitude–try to do some every day.
From the Gross to the Subtle 