What is Reality? From a Yogic perspective
In this article, I am going to describe objective Reality, as explained in the way of Yoga. It is definitely a hard challenge to objectify something beyond my own comprehension, but I will try to do my best to explain this topic well-entrenched in the Eastern scriptures written by great thinkers and transferred over generations for us.
First, let us be clear: Reality is neither nor yours or mine. In our day to day lives, we are mostly living in our own minds and our own little worlds. Reality is the a more general framework which must allow independent existence of our mindsets.
Space and Time
Most people associate space and time as fundamentals that all must agree upon, but the mind-first philosophers deny the root of this idea, both in the West and in the East. Descartes’s, Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am), starts not from the physical but from the concept of the mind (the thought). As one who tries to uncover Reality through my own understanding and experiences, I would like to share that despite having experienced space and time all my life, I’ve been unable to fathom what they truly are (from a physical perspective), so I will stay in the middle ground between the monists and dualists.
The Mental Processes
From an evolutionary perspective, space and time are concepts built in our brains driven by millions of iterations of what works best for survival. I am not denying that they do not exist, but that our perception of the outer spatial world and time are limited in so far by our mental processes, the same processes which also gauge sensory measurements as well as provide us a fundamental instrument of our identity. Therefore, in order to to understand Reality, we will need to take a look our mental processes and learn more about the experiencer, or the “I” within us.
The States of Personal Consciousness
Broadly speaking, there are various kinds of ideas associated with the pronoun “I”; there is one “I” which I use talk about with other people like you. There is an another “I” when I am my myself, where I am hardly aware of the things I would generally speak to you about. Then there is a different kind of I that wakes up sometimes, when I transcend beyond my identity in daily life.
Understanding this latter form requires us to take the way of Yoga more than a philosophical tool and more of an experiential technique. This is step that I and most others find very hard to get by. In this step, we must prepare ourselves to be receptive of the knowledge about Reality if it ever dawns before us. You will not certainly be able to grasp the Truth in whole if you close your mind with prejudices, therefore you must rid yourself from these “sins”, purifying yourself over and over using the techniques of mindful meditation (Dhyana; ध्यान).
Through lots of Dhnayas, you will be preparing yourself, both physically and mentally.
After meditations, if you ever unlock yourself from our mental wall, you will see that the “I” is in the middle of existence, inside Reality.
As it manifests. As the universe sees you, as you already are.
What will you see in this realm?
The Indras and The Asuras
All kinds of things, including your struggle from birth. The birth of your thoughts and the change in your desires over time. Events happening on your life, all of which are insignificant to the cosmic events of far away in a world beyond comprehension. Life growing in each and every cell of your body; life growing inside of you and outside of you. Life, bigger than you and you: always living inside of your mental castle in an ever changing body.
You might see the beauty of a yellow sunflower that remains untold by any poems or stories; the love of a person in its purest form; the most magnificent thing and the ugliest thing in the universe within yourself; your limitless form which extends well beyond your body; the true nature of your thoughts and the nervous system that takes place in your brain and elsewhere on your body. Your eyes as the instruments of vision, yet the seer inside your brain, seeing it with mystery. The laws of physics governing every level of your body, and you, submerged deep with the ocean of fluid known as air, flying in a tiny cosmic lightbulb, known as planet Earth; the vastness of which, will stay undefined.
The Shiva and The Parvati
But let me tell you the secret: these are just illusions, and the many ways how the Reality will manifest before you. If you stick with them, you will be freed from this world, but you will still be stuck the realm of life and death. There’s something beyond life and death. There is something permanent, and the rest as a-permanent. The dualistic nature of Reality. Known by the Yogis of thousands of years ago as the Shiva (which stays) and the Parvati (which moves). If you let yourself absorb the fundamentals of the universe, and if you, when reaching this step, wanted to suck the marrow out of your life, by being the experiencer and the experience in itself, you will have conquered all that the universe has to offer you. If the previous paragraph took you to heaven, realization of the dualistic nature in all world will bring you on to something even beyond that.
I’d love to try to explain what Shiva to you, but I decided to rather not. First, it is of no use, since I can not tell you beyond my little mental castle. Second, once you realize the fragility of your mind, you will realize that you won’t really learn from anything about Shiva besides from your own experience. Third, the Gurus and the the Seers of the past secluded explaining the Shiva to anyone but a few of very close disciples. Even my Guru hasn’t shared it with me.
Bonus: The Formation of the word Yoga
In the fewest words, I can tell you that Shiva is absolute form of Reality. Once you see It (or Her or Him), your communion has happened. By the way, this communion is known in Sanskrit as Yuga, युज, which is also the root for the word Yoga.
