With mind free of thoughts, consider firmly one’s entire body or the entire universe, to be consciousness. Then – the Supreme Awakening.
Verse 63
How to do this technique
Our true nature is consciousness and joy. Yoga holds that all matter is nothing but energy. If you look deeper, you will find that behind energy, there is
consciousness.
How to do this technique
- This is a practice that can be done as sitting meditation, or as a thought or belief one holds throughout the day.
- As a sitting meditation, it should be done with eyes closed. Focus your attention on the body of the universe. Imagine that the body or the universe in its present form does not exist. There is only consciousness or awareness.
- With a mind free of thoughts, consider firmly. Continuously believe that there is nobody, only consciousness. That is the meaning of firmly in this verse.
- One has to believe continuously and one-pointedly. There should be no wavering of the mind.
- This meditation leads us to an important truth – we are not our body, we are consciousness. The body is an important part of our ego. It gives us our sense of separate identity. When we disconnect from our bodies, our ego dissolves, and we become free. This is also a meditation that can be practiced throughout the day.
We are required to change our beliefs. Most spiritual texts teach that our thoughts create our reality. What we think, we become. This is mentioned in the Upanishads, the Ashtavakra Gita, and the Buddhist Dhammapada. This also explains why Buddha used to teach that a wrongly directed mind would do us more harm than our worst enemy. Similarly, a well-directed mind would do us more good ‘than what our parents or our closest friends can. Therefore, it is more important to control our minds and change our beliefs, than to worry about our enemy or our best friend. Yet this is something very few people do. Most people would chase after some people, falsely believing that the key to their happiness lies in these other people, and what they can give them. People also worry about the harm their enemies can inflict on them. But the greatest harm inflicted on people is by themselves, not by others. This is done by their minds and their self-limiting beliefs and thoughts. Similarly, the greatest happiness a person can receive depends on them, not on others. It lies in controlling the mind and in correcting self-limiting beliefs. If you examine your own beliefs, you will find that they create your reality. If you believe people are dishonest or sinful, you will find dishonest and sinful people repeatedly coming into your life. To change one’s life and to improve it, it is important to change one’s beliefs. One has to reject negative thinking and replace it with positive beliefs. For example, sometimes people worry about the lack of money in their lives. To improve their financial situation, one should first realize that God. is within us. Therefore, the Source of all abundance is within us. How does one use this Source to create wealth in our· external life? This is done by setting the mind aside. The mind creates limits. It tells us that we cannot make money because we are too old, or we do not have enough contacts, or we do not work hard enough, or there just isn’t enough money out there for everyone. We have to reject and set aside these self-limiting beliefs created by the mind, and instead believe that anything is possible. One has to also stop thinking, and return to awareness. When we are aware and the mind is under control, all negative and self-limiting beliefs automatically disappear. One then creates results very fast. The greater one’s awareness, the faster one produces results. When we are fully aware, we create results instantaneously.
Verse 63 gives us a belief that opens the door to eternity. We are given a thought about True Reality. The body and the universe are nothing but consciousness. When we start believing that we are not the body but consciousness, we become a witness. We become detached from what the body is doing or what is happening in our lives. We simply become an observer of all the events unfolding before us. We are no longer the body, we are aware. Then the mind becomes still and we are liberated. When one lives in awareness, one becomes joyful. Awareness is like a light in a dark room. The light shows objects that were previously hidden in the dark. In the same way, awareness brings out the joy that has always been present in us.