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Why sit around talking about enlightenment when we can actually do something that will give an experience of it? And what is that? To be happy. Not just happy for the moment, or for a while, but for all time – in sickness and in health until death do us part, as they say. What do we mean by happy? Well, for starters, to be at peace with things as they are, no matter how they are. This does not mean passive or indifferent, like not sweeping the dirty sidewalk because we are happy with it just the way it is. We can be happy with the dirty sidewalk, we can be happy sweeping it, we can be happy with it when it is clean, and we can be happy with it when it is dirty again, and so on. We can be active in the world, no longer traveling the cycle from misery to happiness and back to misery again, which has been the common experience of people for so many centuries. For certain, the ups and downs of life will always be there, but we will suffer much less as our inner functioning and perception evolve toward a more enlightened view. We can be happy and act for the sake of acting, because the acting itself becomes a joy. But before we can do this, we must establish the connection with our inner nature, which is stillness and stirring ecstasy.
It should be added that we are talking about a twice-daily routine here – once before breakfast, and again before the evening meal.
It is just as we have mentioned before – asanas first (5-15 minutes), spinal breathing pranayama second (5-10 minutes), deep meditation third (15-20 minutes), and a period of rest at the end (5-10 minutes, lying down in corpse pose, if desired). That is an excellent routine that can be done before the morning and evening meal, taking from 30 minutes to an hour for each session, according to how long we are doing each practice. This is a routine that can make a huge difference in our everyday activities in the world, as we see ourselves moving steadily beyond relaxation to something much more – the steady rise of inner silence, peace, creativity and joy in all that we do. As we will see later on, mudras and bandhas add little to our time of practice, while adding a lot in results.
Enlightenment is not an arrival after all, but a natural and complete letting go of that which has been sought. It is not a decision or a revelation, but a state of being that gradually emerges in the yoga practitioner, bit by bit, as the neurobiology is purified. In the end, there is nothing but peace, joy, and serving for the benefit of others. It is our birthright.
AI Summary
Asanas, Mudras & Bandhas - Awakening Ecstatic Kundalini by Yogani presents key insights from the Yoga tradition. The 4 passages above capture the essential teachings.
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