Jai Bhagwan!
Yoga is union. We often consider this to mean just the unification of body, mind and spirit; all three working in unison and harmony. This is union but it is precisely not Yoga. Consider the United States of America. There are 50 individual states and these individual states come together as one union but they are still 50 individual states. Consider now a tray of ice cubes. If we dump that tray of ice cubes into a bowl, they now form a bowl of ice cubes just like the 50 United States. Wait for a time, however, and the ice cubes are transformed into a truly unifed puddle of water. This is true Yoga, when thought and action become inseperable, body and mind become one but there is even more, one and many become all.
Is was this second consideration that happened to me yesterday. We had begun some simply meditation exercises: Begin by focusing on a single point in the room and then allow the vision to expand to see everything within the field of vision. As I did this, suddenly the details of the entire room rushed toward me. For a brief instant I paniced thinking that the corners of the room were going to flatten me. We repeated this exercise with the intent to go outside and see if we could maintain this medatative awareness. I could not make it outside because I couldn’t be found in the room. I existed in the room, I was the room but I was nowhere to be found within the room. After 15 minutes of this, Kamini called everyone back to the room and I regained enough sense of self to function within the room again. After the session ended, I spoke with Kamini about my experience and how I could now understand the danger of becoming addicted to bliss, that state of being everywhere and nowhere at once. I also asked her how to be able to not become lost in this state, for some that is their goal but I have no desire to become a sentient vegetable, I enjoy being a husband, father, son . . . me, far too much. She explained that it is a matter of practice and learning to reverse the process used to enter this state in the first place. It’s like riding a bike for the first time without training wheels, exhilirating and, at the same time, terrifying to realize the road is flying by at such a high speed.
So, what good is this state of mind? I have not slept since 3:20 AM yesterday and I still have so much energy that I feel like I could stay awake another 24 hours with no ill effect. I have used meditation to help me organize my thoughts when dealing with situation before, I can see how this could become the ultimate think tank when presented with any situation that requires great study and thought. To these ends, I have been trying to practice willfully returning to this state and willfully leaving it. Entering this frame of mind has been disconcertingly easy for me. I say disconcerting because the level of energy that is has created within me is unstilling. I spoke with the Ayurveda man here, Jyotindir (John Mundahl—no, I do not think he was the inspiration for Mungdal but I could be wrong) and his recommendation was that I avoid the dance tonight—Rasa dancing and that I walk barefoot through the grass and practice headstand and plow. The moment my feet touched the sand, I felt the level of energy in my body slow, still incredibly potent but no longer racing around and around and around. That being said, I just cracked a huge yawn, so I will go publish this and call it a night.
Namasté