|  Final Exam: The Path to Enlightenment
The yogic path to enlightenment and self-realization is a life-long journey and cannot be achieved easily it is a long, gradual and difficult process where an individual achieves a sense of totality or wholeness. “Each of us is here to discover our higher self or our spiritual self. We must find for ourself that inside us is a God or Goddess in embryo that wants to be born so that we can express our divinity.” (Chopra 97-98) We all have this spiritual being within us and our goal is to achieve a state of unity with it, to become one with it. “The eight means of yoga are, self-restraint, law, proper postures, breath control, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation, and superconsciousness.” (Yoga Sutras 2, pg 3). The individual must let go of the physical world and become one with God and the supernatural world.The Enlightened being has achieved their full potential as a human being and are thus self-realized. Enlightenment “is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable, indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you.” (Tolle 10). Enlightenment is essentially achieving totality by becoming one with a part of yourself that has always been within you, but you have failed to acknowledge because you didn’t know it was there.
As individuals we face many obstacles created by Mayas that prevent us from achieving Enlightenment. Tolle mentions that one of the greatest obstacles to achieving Enlightenment is the inability of one to disidentify themselves from the mind; he urges us to believe that our minds is misleading and painful and until we realize this we are controlled by our mind, we are enslaved to it. “You are not your mind” (Tolle 11).. “The ego mind is composed of mind, intelligence and ego which makes up the illusory self. When one learns to retrain or subjugate the ego mind then pure soul awareness becomes possible or knowledge of the true self becomes possible.” (Yoga Sutras 1, pg1). To prevent Mayas and attain enlightenment “this new truth bearing light must be suppressed in order to achieve permanent seedless identity with the absolute supreme. By detaching from the supreme the Yogi drops away the remaining illusions of self and only the universal supreme soul blazes without form in pristine clarity.” (Yoga Sutras 1, pg 6). To become one with God one must first get rid of illusions (mayas) created by the mind. Mayas cause us pain and suffering, yet we are so accustomed to them they become a part of us, but the only way out of suffering and into the path of enlightenment is to free ourselves of these illusions. “The five afflictions that hinder one from achieving pure soul awareness are; spiritual ignorance, ego, attachment to desires and passions, hatred, and a fear of death.” (Yoga Sutras 2, pg 1).
Our goal as individuals is to reach our full potential as Enlightened beings. Atman is the piece of great spirit in us. It is eternal and timeless. It is our individual true self and our self-actualized soul. We much become one with this spirit within us, because it is what will ultimately bring of Enlightenment. “The soul is changeless and is lord of the consciousness. The soul always knows the movements within the consciousness.” (Yoga Sutras 4, page 2). Brahman is one God, and the idea that everything is interconnected. Atman connects one to the divine; we are connected with Brahman when we become in touch with our spiritual side. Atman doesn’t die, it only changes form. Brahman is the creator of life. We must seek to attain Purusha a state of pure consciousness, diminishing suffering, and connectedness with our original goodness. We must not fall into Mayas which are false realities and illusions which we believe will bring us happiness but only bring our sadness and pain.
Through Asanas we achieve a powerful unity of the mind, body, and spirit. We are wholly connected with ourselves and this unity will allow us to live in the Present. The only way out of the pain and suffering our mind creates is to live essentially in the Present moment, the Now. We can deal with the Now, but the past and the future are really out of our hands. As the Thai Buddhist monk from the temple I visited mentioned: “ We must live in the present, because we do have the ability to control it, we can’t change the past, and we don’t know what will become of the future.” “You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with a mind-projection” (Tolle 43). Our ideas of the past and future are truly mind-projections, and because we cannot anticipate what will happen or we remember situations in the misleading way our mind would like to, the only thing we can know for certain is the present moment. “If you embrace the present and become one with it, and merge with it, you will experience a fire, a sparkle of ecstasy throbbing in every living sentient being.” (Chopra 61). Our mind is tied to time and it is our duty and goal to remove time from the mind so that we can free ourselves of unnecessary pain caused by our fixation with time. “The restraint of thoughts develops a flow of peaceful tranquility and refines the former five-fold movements into pure soul awareness.” (Yoga Sutras 3, pg 2). When we control thoughts of past and future, by simply focusing on the present moment, we are blissful and truly living our lives to the fullest potential. We have complete control, because we are fully in charge or perfecting the present moment.
Through Yoga Asanas using breath control, concentration, and postures we become fully aware of the present moment. “When the right posture has been attained there should follow proper inspirations and expiration of the breath, with retention, which controls the vital energy” (Yoga Sutras 2, pg 4). Breath control is significant because it creates energy and develops concentration. “Withdrawal of the senses and consciousness from contact with the external world and then drawing them inwards towards the Yogi results in absolute control of the sense organs and the mind is ripe for the spiritual quest.” (Yoga Sutras 2, pg 5). Through Asanas an individual is able to control the present moment radiate energy while distancing themselves from the physical world and getting closer to the spiritual world. Asanas should be effortless and one should feel weightless, one should not be struggling. “Perfection in posture is achieved when the requirements to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is realized.” (Yoga Sutras 2, pg 4). Asanas, like everything else we do in life should be done with effortless ease. “Nature’s intelligence functions effortlessly, frictionlessly, spontaneously.” (Chopra 54)
Pranayama or Chi is the inner energy field of your body. “It is the bridge between the Outer you and the Source. It lies halfway between the manifested, the world of form and the unmanifested” (Tolle 131). When you become profoundly in touch with your inner self you emanate Chi or Pranayama. “You feel it as a deep sense of peace somewhere in the background, a stillness that never leaves you, no matter what happens out here. You become a bridge between God and the world. This is the state of connectedness with the Source we call Enlightenment.” (Tolle 132). Pranayama is the source of energy within ourselves which connects us to God and ultimately to Enlightenment. We radiate this life energy by sharing our talents with others, and showing compassion unto others. We share Pranayama only when we share our positive energy with others.
Meditation is another method to achieve unity with God. “A steady interrupted flow of attentive awareness singularly directed inward to the places of concentration containing belief and firm conviction is called meditation or profound contemplation.” (Yoga Sutras 3, pg1). In a successful meditative state of concentration and individual becomes fully aware of the present moment, thus is in a luminous, blissful state where there is no pain or suffering but actually achieves union with the world around them and most significantly with God. “When the Yogi is skilled in profound reflection without seeds, profound knowledge manifests as undisturbed pure flow of the union between the supreme awareness and individualized awareness, admitting maximum passage of clear bright light without diffusion or distortion, accompanied by serenity of disposition.” (Yoga Sutras 1, pg5) Meditation creates a state of clarity and peacefulness. We are the cloudy water, but our aim is to become the clear water. The purpose of Meditation is “to create a gap in the incessant stream of thought.”(Tolle 134). Our mind spends way too much time thinking, most of the thought is meaningless and misleading. Meditation helps shut of incessant and unnecessary thoughts in our mind and helps us get closer to God. “The carnal mind can be transcended into pure soul awareness by profound prayer and meditation upon God and total surrender to God.” (Yoga Sutras 1, pg 3). When we learn to distinguish between the spiritual world and the physical world, we become one with God, thus attaining Enlightenment. “Once the Yogi discriminates between ordinary awareness and pure soul awareness the Yogi attains the supreme state of all knowingness and all that it manifests.” (Yoga Sutras 3, pg 5). Through Meditation we are closer to our true self, and not the illusory entity created by the mind. We distance ourselves from the external world and we become closer with our internal self, our Soul. “Meditation is the most useful way of entering the domain of spirit.” (Chopra 99-100). “By being aware of the silent void moments pervading the emptiness between thoughts, one can glimpse and expand the skill of thought subjugation which leads to transformation.” (Yoga Sutras 3, pg 2).
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success- Deepak Chopra
The Power of Now- Eckhart Tolle
Yoga Sutras
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