Commenting on the name Yoga, The Unitive State, Easwaran takes us straight to the crux of spiritual endeavor:
“If yoga means union, the word implies that most of us are suffering from a kind of internal disunity. This division in consciousness is the central paradox of the human condition. We respond to what is beautiful, but on the other hand we feel attracted to things that bring ugliness. We admire somebody who is unselfish, but we have powerful urges to be selfish ourselves. We want abiding joy, but we cannot help going after fleeting, frustrating pleasure.
“All these are symptoms of a deeper split in our consciousness which tears us apart. And because we are being torn asunder inside, we express our pain in anger, fear, greed, competition, jealousy, and other negative emotions. It is this inner split that yoga heals – not on the surface but at the deepest levels of the unconscious, where most other methods only tinker with the problem on the surface.”
Meditation and the allied spiritual disciplines “are together called yoga because they give us a path we can follow to make this union permanent.” This week let’s read pages 56–62 in The Constant Companion, covering this name Yoga, along with Nanda, Happy.
If you have a particular issue you are struggling with right now, look into this reading for tips, and try them out this week.
Spiritual Reading is our current focus for practice extension. Through our study of The Constant Companion, Easwaran is guiding us to see the Lord in all. What do you notice about how that is applying to your interactions with the people in your life?
For bonus inspiration, here is a six-minute video in which Easwaran explains that by training our mind, “We can become part of the Sea of Love while living on Earth.”