Exploring the Depths of True Yoga Beyond Asanas

In this episode of The Bearded Mystic Podcast, host Rahul N Singh delves into the profound philosophy of yoga beyond the physical postures (asanas). He discusses the true meaning of yoga, which is to be in union with formless awareness or Brahman. Rahul explains key concepts from the Upanishads, including the yamas (ethical restraints) and niyamas (personal observances), and the significance of the four Mahavakyas (great sayings). The episode emphasizes integrating this wisdom into daily life to achieve a state of oneness and Jeevan Mukti (liberation while alive). Rahul also highlights the importance of true knowledge (jnana), meditation (dhyana), devotion (bhakti), and selfless action (karma) in realizing one's true nature. Listeners are invited to engage further through comments, individual spiritual discussions, and merchandise.

00:00 Introduction to Yoga Beyond Asanas
01:49 Exploring the Yamas and Niyamas
03:25 Understanding Formless Awareness
10:04 The Four Mahavakyas Explained
10:15 1st Mahavakya: Prajnanam Brahma
12:58 2nd Mahavakya: Tat Tvam Asi
17:32 3rd Mahavakya: AyamAtma Brahman
20:48 4th Mahavakya: Aham Brahmasmi
24:07 Integrating Yoga into Daily Life
27:57 Concluding remarks

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Transcript

Rahul N Singh: 0:00

Yoga is a word that we hear a lot about nowadays. A few weeks ago we celebrated we celebrated the International Day of Yoga and I'm sure many of us put on our comfortable clothes and did some yoga postures which is obviously wonderful and excellent for the body. This prepares us to sit in meditation and also enter Samadhi comfortably. Yet, yoga is much more than simply stretches or body maneuvering known as the asanas. Yoga means to yoke, it means to be in union, and what am I to be in the union of? What does this union consist of? This question was answered by the mystical sages, the rishis of the Upanishads, who declared through their aphorisms and discourses on what enlightenment is, simply knowing that there is nothing but consciousness or formless awareness. Knowing that the individual self is formless awareness is the first step, but yoga is realizing and integrating that formless awareness which is the true nature of not just myself, but of everything, in every aspect that exists and does not exist, is this formless awareness. There is nothing beyond it and nothing that does not consist of it. I have often felt that yoga is a word that has been overused yet mildly understood. For example, does every yoga studio in the country or world study the Patanjali Yoga Sutras as its main philosophy? How many of them know about dhyana, meditative absorption? How many have experienced samadhi? More importantly, before getting to the asanas, which are the yogic postures, how many know about the yamas and the niyamas, the social ethics and five personal practices? The yamas are Ahimsa, actions that cause the least amount of harm. Satya, truthfulness in intention, word and action. Asteya, not stealing what is not yours or not participating in corruption of any kind. Brahmacharya, meaning learning to moderate sensations, and then aparigraha, not being greedy and possessive, so sharing with all and not being attached to one's possessions or reducing one's taxes through tax evasion. The niyamas are saucha, which is to have purity of intention, thoughts and deed. Then Santosh, which is to have contentment. To have tapas, so there needs to be self discipline and training the senses. Then svadhyaya which is the inner exploration of the self. And then Ishvara Pranidhara, which is focusing and surrendering to formless awareness or your Isht Devta. As mentioned earlier, yoga is all about understanding one's true nature. So, let's do that today. Thank you for joining me at the Bearded Mystic Podcast. I'm your host, Rahul N Singh. The Bearded Mystic Podcast is about waking and growing in oneness. There are a number of sayings in the Upanishads which are not only to be recited, but they are to be felt, to be experienced. And to be remembered continuously throughout the day and to dispel any ignorance of what we truly are not. These aphorisms are to show us what our true nature is and how, with the mere knowing of these statements, depending on our karma, we may either instantaneously realise what we really are or start the journey of realising what we really are. Yoga is when we integrate this formless awareness into our daily life and it is sown into our daily thoughts and actions. Our whole existence is nothing but this formless awareness itself. And this is the living reality of the Jeevan Mukta, the realized being. Let's look into the sayings of Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahman. Now, Satyam here means to hold truth, which is very beautiful. There is one thing, you know the truth. But then to hold it close to our hearts, to remember it, to be aware of it, to be in awe of it, is when we allow it to penetrate into our being. We must experience this truth and withdraw back to it whenever we can. So here it is, talking about knowing the truth, which is Brahman, or formless awareness, and then holding onto this truth, which is holding onto Brahman, or formless awareness. So holding you very dear to ourselves and the more we withdraw back to this in our daily lives, the more aware we become of our natural state, which is bliss, contentment and peace It will help us especially when we have challenges too because we know what the truth is we can withdraw back into that awareness and actually remain there. This space gives us the opportunity to see the longer term impacts of anything we do or say. It allows us to see whether a response is necessary or not. It brings us to a natural place of expanse where our heart grows and allows compassion to thrive. Then Jnanam can be seen as knowledge or wisdom. The only way to dispel ignorance is through knowledge. With Gyan, the ignorance is pierced through. Ignorance is like a balloon that is inflated. And then you have a needle that pops the balloon. Likewise, Gyan, when it hits our heart, the ego is brought back to its natural state and it is no longer inflated. So gyan is that needle pricks through the ego. We inflate our ego with all the labels and social conditionings that's been built up over the years. When we inflate it with showing how rich we are by being greedy, or we show our wealth by donating to charity, we go to the temple, we do religious rituals. And then we are this nationality, this caste, this gender, etc, etc. It goes on and on. And therefore knowledge shows us that we are not any of that, but we are ultimately formless. The experience we have in this body is that we are conscious. So we go to to that space of consciousness and we investigate it. If we took all of existence away, including space, atoms, and energy, then what remains the answer is simply aliveness. This aliveness is full and formless. And when I do this simple exercise, the most important aspect is that even awareness remains. So this awareness is both fullness and formless. Once we have directly experienced it. We need to be able to fully integrate this Gyan into our daily lives. We know that we are Brahman and there is only this formless awareness. There is no second to this. I perceive it as the underlying reality in all of existence and I create a very personal and intimate relationship with it in the spirit of devotion. The absence of knowledge means ignorance, therefore if we do not have Gyan, then we will only be in ignorance and we will have the false understanding even to the point where we could get a glimpse of this truth and think we are now enlightened and therefore we grow a spiritual yet subtle ego as a result. We are not able to break free from it because we believe we have no ego, because we mistake the glimpse for enlightenment. And this is a big issue in the non dual and spiritual circles today. Anantam means infinite. This Brahman, this formless awareness, is infinite. It is boundless, spaceless, timeless, eternal, formless, imageless. There is no beginning and there is no end to this. Whatever I perceive is nothing but this one Brahman. To even say there is one is not needed, but it is the only thing in existence. Just like a crystal prism is able to reflect many colours in all directions, and Brahman is one and alone, one alone, and the whole universe is its many colours of manifestation. Brahman is this formless awareness that is changeless, omnipresent, boundless, permanent, existent and non existent, formless, shapeless, colourless, devoid of all attributes, nirgun, yet attributes can be manifested or reflected from this Brahman itself as Saguna Brahman or Ishvara. This Brahman is infinite and interconnected to all as this universe and its occupants are its manifestation. Brahman is the truth held closely in the enlightened one's heart as one's true nature. This Brahman is the knowledge of one's true nature and shows us that what causes ignorance, and misidentification. All these are blended together in the living reality of oneness. The true understanding of Brahman, truth, knowledge and infinite oneness is what yoga is about. Sometimes we need something more direct or steps to help us dive deeper and this is where the four Mahavakyas come in or the four great sayings of the Upanishads. Prajnanam Brahma is the first Mahavakya we look at. This simply means that consciousness is Brahman. If we had to recognize Brahman, how can we do this? It has to be conscious, it has to be alive in Vedanta. It is clearly understood to be awareness. So Brahman doesn't need to be a god that you worship. In fact, it is the very reality that you are. So an atheist or former atheist like me would be extremely comfortable with this. It is that awareness that is always there like the ever present screen. The screen has a movie playing on it. And awareness has the movie of life playing on it. Like the screen, nothing changes to it regardless of what the movie represents or shows. Likewise, this awareness is untouched by any of the impressions or conditioning that life presents. To simply understand this even further, if I see this camera in front of me, it is my eyes that see this camera. Due to the light reflecting, the camera is seen by my eyes. The eyes sends this information to the brain or to the mind and then mirrors the camera. This camera is seen through the lens of the mind and depending on the state of mind, it may describe the camera like ugly, beautiful, high quality or low quality. Now all this function has occurred, but what has remained? It is the sakshi, or the observer, the witness, that awareness. This is what is consciousness or formless awareness. Throughout the seeing, awareness is present. Throughout the mind processing and reflecting on what is seen, Awareness is present. Then one simply has to be aware of formless awareness, and this is something we can directly experience. Therefore, this formless awareness remains throughout all of our daily activities. Without this awareness, no camera would be seen through the eyes, nor can it be interpreted through the mind. Due to awareness, we can be the observer, and yet not identify our individuality with the mind, with the eyes, or even with the camera. We move from individuality to the all expansive consciousness of formless awareness. That expansive space of formlessness remains as it is, so it is here that we recognise that consciousness is Brahman, or Prajnanam Brahma, and that is Yoga. Then there is the famous Tat Tvam Asi, meaning that you are. So let's break this down even further. Before we understand what Tat or That is, let us understand who we are. Using our viveka or discernment, we understand that anything that changes is temporary and unreal, and whatever is changeless is permanent and real. Very simple. So, who am I? Well, am I this body? Well, I know for a fact that my body has changed and is continuously changing. It is said that the body cells regenerate every 7 years. But the point is, on a cellular level, we change, our facial features change, our skin changes. So, As we go from being a new born, to a child, to adolescence, to middle age, to elderly and then eventually meeting our demise, we see this body is temporary and constantly in flux, therefore, that cannot be who I am according to you. The Vedantic Understanding A simple way to explain this is if my hand is chopped off. As soon as the hand is chopped off, the missing hand is not associated with the body now. The hand does not have a permanent individual consciousness that remains after it's been chopped off. It is very temporary to the body and has allowed the body to change due to its removal. Now, the chopped hand will start to decay, yet have I, the awareness, depleted due to the removal of the hand? No, awareness remains as it is, hence it is the real, the permanent. So the key here is that I can observe and be aware of these changes and yet this awareness within me does not change. By default, if I am not the body, then I am not the mind, but this may need a little more investigation. My thoughts are constantly changing and I am thinking something new or something from the past every second. My feelings, my emotions, they change according to the situation or circumstances that I am in. My desires constantly adapt when I get what I want. Another desire arises and appears, when I don't get what I want, I'm emotional about it, I may get angry and frustrated, my beliefs change, one time I believed in God, now I don't, or I followed no religion, now I believe in a particular religion, all these ideas and concepts, of which there are many more, are constantly changing, and are never permanent. So, I cannot even be the mind. But yet again, all these thoughts, feelings, desires, beliefs all present themselves onto awareness, but none of them stick to awareness, hence awareness does not change. Awareness is not a belief system, nor an experience, but a living reality. So, what am I? Who am I? It has been established that I am not the body or mind as it is always changing. Well, I am that which is truly changeless permanent and that is awareness itself. There is nothing beyond awareness. If we think there is, then merely we are obscuring awareness with our ego. This awareness is what we are. This establishes the you are or Tvam Asi . Now, what is Tat or Thar? It is Brahman itself. Brahman is indivisible and non dual. It is beyond attributes like form, colour, space, time, boundary, life, death, odour, energy, essence, etc. This awareness is accessed by simply being aware of it. Once we do this, we must let go of anything that can be divided or multiplied by it. and rest in awareness that is ever present and partless. Then the fullness of that, or tat, is now our reality. Once that occurs, it becomes blatantly obvious that tat tvam asi, that Brahman, is what you are, and that understanding and realization is yoga. Then there is the third Mahavakya, which is AyamAtma Brahma. This simply means that Atma is Brahman or simply the Jeev is Brahman. We think we are an individual and separate being. The whole notion of ignorance is because we think we are different to consciousness and not for any wrong reason, it is more tangible to think we are the body and the same with our mind and its activities like sensations, feelings and thinking. We have fallen in love with the reflection of consciousness instead of directly seeing that it is us, meaning consciousness, that is being reflected. And we also create a different identity that the jiva or the atma or the soul is separate. So Adi Shankara Ji explains this very beautifully and I never tire of saying this because it truly explains everything so well. Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva naparah. Brahma Satyam means that awareness is the only reality, Brahman is the only truth, the only Real One. And due to that, Jagan Mithya means this universe is Mithya. Now Mithya means both existent and non existent or real or unreal. So when we realize we are awareness or Brahman, then this universe is non existent or unreal because the only truth is Brahman, the only reality is formless awareness. Now, when we are functioning in the world, in this relative reality or transactional reality, it is existent or real because in order for me to interact with everything around me it must have some semblance of reality, hence this universe is simply a reflection of Brahman. Maya is there because of Brahman and only because of Brahman. Our awareness doesn't diminish, especially when we function as the body and mind in the world, which appears to be separate and individual. It remains centred. The awareness remains in the centre of the heart, as Sri Ramana Maharshi would say. Then, this individual is none other than Brahman. Jivo Brahmaiva naparah, this jiva is the same as Brahman. So the apparent individual soul or atma or consciousness or awareness localised in the body and mind is actually one and the same as pure consciousness or supreme consciousness. You know, sometimes people say there's the Atma and the Supreme Atma. This is how we understand that the ultimate realization is oneness. With the individuality seen as false, once oneness is experienced, then all separation ceases. Then we know, As it is our own self that is Brahman alone, or that our Atma or Jeeva is one and the same as Brahman, we are nothing but this formless awareness, and this is the yoga of Jeeva and Brahman. Then the final one, is the very famous Aham Brahmasmi, which means, I am Brahman. As we have seen, With the examples above, that the I am can be attached to anything, for example, I am the body, I am the soul, I am the ego, I am the mind, I am rich, I am ill, I am poor and so on. Anything that can be identified with can be attached to the I am. This I am joins with everything and anything, but what is everything and anything contained in? This Pure Consciousness, this Brahman, you see, there is nothing prior to Brahman or Consciousness. All is contained in this Formless Awareness. Now, it is easy to conceptualise this, and if we utilise our discernment, and we understand that everything and anything of this world is changing and temporary, and will one day be destroyed, then we know what is left. Only that which is changeless and permanent. So where does the I am truly have its origin? The I am realises its true nature which is Brahman, therefore it is that very existence which says I am Brahman or Aham Brahmasmi and not the individual self or the ego, whether subtle or not. There is no ego that is attached to this formless awareness. There is no thought attached to this Brahman, to this I am. It is Boundless Partless Ceaseless Formless Attributeless. Objectless, Egoless, Thoughtless, Imageless, free without any beginning nor end, Timeless. It cannot be captured nor grasped, neither is it empty. It is Pure Fullness, the Absolute Nirguna and. Infinite. This is what Aham Brahmasmi is. A common misconception, and somewhat annoyingly so, is that people think that Aham Brahmasmi means that I am God. That is very immature understanding because it is not saying I am Ishwara. So to truly understand the Mahavakya, we need to understand that it is not talking about the personal God, but only about awareness or consciousness. Whether we get insulted or elevated, criticized or praised, whether we are happy or sad, we no longer bring that identification to the body or the mind, we go back to our understanding of our true nature and the realization that I am formless awareness and we are always in bliss and peace as a result. So once we understand this infinite existence is what I am and it is Brahman and we fully integrate our identity with It, then that is the yoga of Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahman. So this is the yoga of non duality and simply that Brahman is this ultimate reality, infinite knowledge. Once we understand these grand statements, these mahavakyas, and they become our very experience, our very living reality, and the ego is fully annihilated due to that, then that is Jeevan Mukti, which is the whole purpose of the spiritual journey.. With bhakti, devotion, we create the oneness between us and the lord. With love and affection, we have a relationship with the one. We worship things like our isht-devta, our guru, or anything we deeply love. It starts in duality, but when we immerse ourselves in devotional practices like naamjapa, we become one with the one we worship, then this whole existence is the Lord. Brahman is the only thing, yet everything, and that is true bhakti. And most of all, we can go straight to nirgun bhakti, where our devotion is only to the formless, and no other object or attribute or object of worship, whether statue, image or symbol is required. With Karma, we create oneness between the act and the action. When we do selfless action, where we do not want any of the fruits or rewards for the actions that we do, when we let go of non doership, this automatically gets rid of individuality. Also, when we are doing any action, we are observers rather than the doer. Therefore, we automatically become the Sakshi. The witness, we become aware of everything we do as if separated to the doing and that is yoga itself. With jnana, we create the oneness between the knower and the known. And what we have been discussing in this episode today is mostly about the jnana aspect. Once we understand that the knower, which is awareness or consciousness, And that is who we are. Oneness is very easily seen as the reality of life. The known is any object whilst the knower is the subject. Gyan allows all objects to cease as separate individuals and the knower is the one that brings light to all things known and is the underlying reality within them. Therefore, the yoga of gyan is where awareness alone remains. Then dhyana or raja yoga or meditation is when we create a oneness between the observer and the observed. In meditation, we may have an object to focus on or we may not. But say that we use an object that can be a light, it can be a murti of one's favourite deity, it can be a guru. We need to have a single pointed focus on this object and we observe it with complete attention and then we suddenly turn on itself and we see the observer then the observer becomes the object and that space in that moment is consciousness or pure awareness and then the observer becomes the observed or simply we become aware of awareness itself In this moment, there is a deep immersion in meditation and there is oneness with all that is and this is yoga when all individuality collapses into the ultimate reality and that is samadhi where there is no images, no forms, not even emptiness, just pure awareness or formless awareness alone. So as we continue to celebrate the International Day of Yoga. Remember, the asanas or postures are just one aspect of yoga, but there is much more to yoga as you have seen from today's episode. It is about knowing what you are, and realising it, integrating with it, becoming it, and simply just being it, because that is your true nature. As we celebrate these landmark days, we may use it as an opportunity for our liberation while we are alive and this is Yoga for aspiring Jivan Muktas. I do invite you to like this video and to write your comments and share your feelings openly about this topic of yoga. If you want to have a one on one meeting with me to have a spiritual discussion, there are free options and fee based options for you to check out. Please find more details in the show notes and video description below. If you want to buy some merch of the podcast, details are in the show notes and video description below. Thank you very much for listening, and until next time, may we keep waking and growing in oneness. I'm Rahul N Singh, the host of The Bearded Mystic Podcast. Namaste.