Prepare

 

The final limb of yoga, samahdi, translated as “bliss”, is described as an integration of the self with the soul.  In samahdi, the ego disappears into to God and we become one with all of life.  According to the yoga sutras of Patanjali, we cannot make this experience of samhadi happen through our self-will and effort.  It comes to us as a grace. But through consistent practice of all the limbs of yoga, we can prepare the body/mind to receive this gift of integration, deep concentration, inner calm.

In some interpretations, this dissolving of the small, egoic, separate self into the soul is how death is described.  According so many wisdom traditions, nothing of the small self makes it past the gate of death.  But the part of us that is divine, the soul, does make it through to this homecoming back to the source.

The mystics of the wisdom traditions teach that we do not have to wait until death to catch a glimpse of this homecoming.  While most of us cannot function in this egoless state, we can find ourselves through grace dissolved into egolessness from time to time. Just a moment in this state can leave a powerful resonance in the body/mind of calm, ease, and love because it is in that state where we are fully integrated, whole, and held by the infinite source of love.

The contemplative teacher James Finley speaks beautifully of these “moments of spiritual awakening”, what in yoga we would call samadhi, as flashes of spiritual love where the small self dissolves into God and we experience a unity with something beyond ourselves as when we hold a newborn, watch a flock of birds descending in a field, fall into a sunset. These experiences prepare us for the ultimate samahdi and remind us that our lives extend beyond ego and material.

While we cannot will these spiritual awakenings to happen, we can prepare the way with practice.