What is Yoga really all about?

by Jai Maha Dev

Yoga is all about realizing who and what you really are.

You are a beautiful soul. . . . that is all you are. . . that is all you were. . . . that is all you will ever be.   You are indestructible divine spirit. There is no force in the Universe capable of changing what you really are.   All alterations to your being are imaginary only.  They are figments of the mind.  You are not the mind.   You have never been the mind.  You will never be the mind.  You are divine—and the divine is beyond the mind, it is beyond matter, it is beyond everything.   ‘Beyond’ means it cannot be changed or altered by anything, by something, by everything, by nothing.

THAT (which I have just now described). . . . which is beyond all of this (Samsara, the ‘world’). . . is YOU, is me, is everyone.   THAT is all we need to know. THAT is all that really matters.  THAT is what is really important. THAT is all you need to remember.

‘Remembering’ means bringing back into the mind that which has been forgotten.  Re-membering means bringing something back together which had become dismembered or pulled apart.  Now, THAT has never been remembered or dismembered because THAT is indivisible.  It is only the mind that has been broken apart and scattered.  Getting our self back together means pulling our energies together and becoming one-pointed.  It is a matter of collecting our thoughts and staying focused on what is real (THAT is real; everything else, which is duality, is unreal).  

When we have ‘got it together,’ the mind is peaceful and reflects our real nature (the nature of the Self, ATMAN).  When we do not ‘have it together,’ the mind is disturbed and the reflection of our real nature is distorted.   The distortion is in our mind.  The distortion is not in our real nature. 

Since our purpose is to express our real nature, we are compelled by our own real nature to remove the distortion.  The only way to remove the distortion is to reform the mind. The reformation of the mind brings about a transformation in our life (which is our ‘expression,’ that is, the expression of Consciousness).  The final transformation culminates in MOKSHA, which is complete and total freedom from all distortion—in other words, it is the absolutely clear reflection (expression) of ATMAN (the Self) through the medium of Prakriti  (Primordial Matter) and its evolutes (which includes the mind).

‘Getting it together’ constitutes the practice of Yoga.  This is what Yoga is really all about.  It is not just about stretches and breathing exercises.