Page 51 - NAMAH-Jan-2022

Namah Insight

It is by being present with it that we feel or
witness its growth. Having experienced its
presence once, we have to offer ourselves
again and again to the flame.

It is one of the first experiences one comes
across in Integral Yoga. Do you recall when
your life was ignited by the Mother? It was
that moment. Suddenly we are summoned!
Previously we had found ourselves armed
with doubts and questions. Our existential Initially, our aspiration is powered by personal
foundation had been shaken and there was effort. Each is dependent on the other and
an aching disenchantment with the ordinary the thirst for the Divine is what brings our
life. Suddenly, in a glittering moment of practice forward. In the beginning it is all we
illumination, those clouds for a while have. This yearning has to be nurtured and,
disappeared. It was then we started looking initially at least, ring-fenced from negative
earnestly inside and the work began.
outside influences. There is so much that can
draw us to the surface and here there is only
So the Fire represents the yearning for a better, ignorance, clinging and grasping. The surface
truer and nobler life. We have to separate offers only a passport to misery. We have
ourselves from the pack. It is the aspiration to completely orient our life inside and we
for the Truth but we all live surrounded succeed in this by realigning and reinforcing
by falsehood, within and outside of us. It this process.
can be said that most people are in love
with their impurity. For instance who can As long as the ego is present we have to apply
envisage living without desire? The thought effort. So, at the beginning, we have to extract
is almost inconceivable. We must really want whatever is constructive in the ego to propel
it. This purity must almost become our life- ourselves forward. The elements that yearn
obsession. It is this aspiration which separates need to be extracted from those that recoil,
the false from the true and is the yardstick because it is the yearning which gives our
of our sincerity.
work a more tireless persistence. Gradually
we have to make this Fire the most important
The Fire is what makes us conscious and as thing in our life. As the sadhana unfolds, we
a
a
our consciousness rises and expands, its flame finally reach a stage where the ego has to
rises higher. The most important component surrender to the Fire itself.
of our integral health is the development of our
consciousness. We either grow and expand or Every false movement and blemish we
slide back and disintegrate; there are no in- offer from inside gives fuel to the Fire and
betweens. What propels us forward is always propagates it. No progress in Integral Yoga
this longing and this state releases us from is possible without surrender, so we offer
the victimhood of our conditioning. everything within ourselves to the Fire.

51