Page 36 - NAMAH-Apr-2021

The signpost to our destiny

James Anderson

Abstract
This article is about reversing our consciousness to the inside. It is the first step we attempt to
make in yoga. When the soul is ready it is always presented with a choice, which means to live
inwardly and reject the trappings of the outer life. Initially, this reversal seems unnatural to
our nature. Consequently it can be a long and painful process but it is the only way to acquire
authentic control of our complex being and our life.

Many people reach a specific juncture where to bear in life. So we have to learn to dig.
they cannot stay any longer with the surface
life. The realisation often comes in the form Our Truth is not found on the outside; it
of a breakdown. For some, the initiation can be embraced only by going inside. Due
will come through suffering and pain. It is to conditioning, man is tied to the surface
surprising how many of us have to go through but something dramatic often impels him
calamitous experiences before embarking on a to break free of these bonds. All our outer

truer life. Many of us need this ‘wake-up call’. props may collapse to the ground. We do not
Without it, there would only be an aimless know which way to turn; all the old solutions
drift. Very often a catastrophe will point disappear. We may feel abandoned and
to a calling. Sooner or later, there arises an isolated. We feel surrounded by darkness and
imperative need to make this shift. On many find no substance and meaning in our present
occasions, illness may precipitate this change. existence. We may be facing unbearable loss
At least that was my experience. A crisis of and grief. We may feel trapped and caged in
the body was the trigger which ultimately by stifling conditions surrounding us. But
drew me to the Divine. One also encounters they all only present a mirror into our empty
what can be termed an existential crisis. The inner world, “a kind of dull, lifeless greyness,
dilemma has implications for more than our a chaotic mixture of disorganised things, with
well-being; it shakes the whole foundation the faintest light… (1)”.
of our existence. The aspiration to live our
Truth is something innate in all of us but it In everyone, what impels is a state of deep-
is buried by the influences that we have had seated dissatisfaction. However it is not

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