Secrets of Manifestation

9. Divine Love Yoga

The term yoga is, in the present day, used almost exclusively to refer to the yoga-asana, set of body postures that were employed by some ancient spiritual sects for the novice spiritual aspirants for their preliminary preparations well before the beginning of serious spiritual workouts like meditation.

The Sanskrit root of the term yoga, yuj means 'to unite'. The term yoga refers to the union of our individuated Consciousness with all-pervading universal Consciousness. In that process our body, mind and heart are involved, but the definition itself has nothing to do with our body, mind or heart; it deals with Consciousness therein.

A spiritual aspirant undergoes three critical phases of realization during the process of spiritual enlightenment. They are separation of Consciousness, expansion of Consciousness and merger of Consciousness.

As soon as he separates Consciousness from his mind, body and heart one by one internally (sequence is perfect: not body-mind-heart but mind-body-heart), his brain and eyes are so sensitized that he can actually see the universal Consciousness that is pervading this entire material universe.

The material universe normally visible to our eyes and brain can be classified into two categories. They are sentient living beings and insentient nonliving things. The former category includes plants, birds, animals and human beings. The latter category includes mountain, ocean, fire, atmospheric air, space, planet and star. All these sentient living beings and insentient nonliving things are pervaded, supported and controlled by the universal Consciousness.

When we see a tree with our dull eyes and brain, we just see a tree. That's what we are seeing right from birth. But if we see the same tree after internal separation of Consciousness from our mind, body and heart, then we'll see the whole tree as lively and vibrant one with its leaves and stalks standing out of their surrounding space distinctly and sharply. We'll see all persons and things of this world in a similar fashion. This whole world will become an extra full HD 3-D video.

This is due to the fact that our brain and eyes have now been trained to perceive this material universe along with the universal Consciousness pervading it. We haven't discovered anything new. Now only we are able to perceive this world as it is.

In the second phase of realization, Consciousness of the spiritual aspirant expands beyond the boundary of his body. The principles of ego, mind and intellect are merged into his Consciousness. Soon his brain and eyes become capable of perceiving the universal Self pervading the universal Consciousness. The universal Self provides the I-sense to all sentient living beings of this universe.

When we say 'I talk' or 'I think' or 'I desire', we refer to our Self in our Consciousness by the word 'I'. Our I-sense arises from our Self. Whatever we experience through our body, mind and heart are experienced only by means of our Consciousness. Our Self cannot experience anything except through our Consciousness.

Our Self is an integral part of universal Self, just as our Consciousness is an integral part of universal Consciousness. The universal Self is sanctioning and witnessing each and every one of experiences of our Self through our Consciousness. We can't experience anything that is not sanctioned by the universal Self. We can't experience anything that is not witnessed by the universal Self. Yes, there is no privacy for us - not only for the experience of our body but for our mind and heart as well. The universal Self is the 24x7 witness of our words, thoughts and desires.

In the final phase of realization Self of the spiritual aspirant in the expanded Consciousness is completely merged into the Source of Self. Soon his brain and eyes become capable of perceiving the universal Source that is immersing the universal Self pervading the universal Consciousness.