You Have To Let It All Go, Neo.
BY URVIL JAMES VILLARUEL
Nov. 2, 2015, Toronto, ON - Fear, doubt and disbelief. Free your mind.
The traditional practice yoga, also known as meditation*, is the practice of complete absorption. Transcending past the deepest facets of the self, one is able to enter into a state of no-mind; a state of being, completely devoid of the self and fully absorbed into the Self. The problem, nowadays, is that most practitioners of yoga employ a form of yogasana, in which they actively seek to release the mind from mind, all while being completely engaged in-mind. How then, does one access a state of no-mind while being highly engaged in-mind? Yogasana, therefore, and yoga are not one; but simply seen as a means for realizing a deeper state of yoga.
Fig. 1.0 The five illusory layers known as the Koshas.
The human-vessel can be subdivided into 5 illusory layers devised to encapsulate the being for what we collectively call the "human experience."
Starting with the physical layer, we can expand our consciousness out further into what has come to be known as the breath. Our breath is what allows us to access what is beyond both the body and the breath - the mind - which is able to exist between the inhalations and exhalations necessary for our vessel to sustain animate life.
Following this, we can expand further out into what some have described as an 'awareness of mind’. Who then, is in charge of the mind if the mind is able to watch itself? Are we even still talking about the mind, or is this something completely different? How is the mind able to become aware of itself, and how much further can we stretch this awareness? By watching the breath and stretching our awareness, we can then fall into a state of 'absolute acceptance.'
Absolute acceptance, or bliss, is the highest state of letting go and letting be. Attached to nothing, the self is free to simply exist in a state of non-doing; all while still being completely aware. This kosha is seen as the final most layer before ‘what can only be experienced to be described’ can occur. A state of unconscious awareness; of being asleep, but not asleep; here, but not here; completely lost in non-separate, all while being beyond separation.
This, as Morpheus so eloquently described, is the true state of yoga. This is the essence of meditation.
Note: * [ Bhagavad Gita, 2.53-56. ]