Ever since watching Waking Life, the concept of the “Holy Moment” and the divisions we make in our lives as to what qualifies, or not, has threaded through my studies. As a Jivamukti teacher, the idea of everyone as a “Holy Being” is very close to my heart. Recently, it all came together in the Bhagavad Gita, as I was rereading my Stephen Mitchell translation.
Krishna says:
The man who sees me in everything
And everything within me
Will not be lost to me, nor
Will I ever be lost to him
BG 6.29
This is not actually referring to seeing Krishna running around everywhere (although some people marvelously do), but that you cultivate the ability to see everything as holy – every person, every moment, every being, every place.
There is a similar sentiment in yoga sutras where Patanjali asks us to cultivate vidya – the shift in perception to seeing things as they actually are, which is what lies beyond all the “stuff” of life (prakriti), to that spark within (purusa).
When you shift your perception in such a way, you are never not in a holy place. The division between your yoga studio, the room you’re in now, the bathroom, the elevator, or the subway car is seen as false – as avidya – and falls away.
Next time you come to your yoga mat, try it out. Let every placement of the hands be holy, every breath, every pose, every transition, every movement of the props- holy.
When he sees that the myriad
Beings emanate from the One
And have their source in the One
That man gains absolute freedom.
BG 13.30
This is the practice of coming into relationship with all beings: human, plant, animal, water, etc, and moving past the layer of form, the layer of personality, the layer of personal history, to the place where its all holy, all the spark within.
Lately I’ve been trying this when out in the world. I will look at one specific person, and notice how in just that moment of noticing, a thousand layers of “stuff” has come up – labels, judgments, predictions, etc. Once I notice, I let it all go, and since he or she is a stranger, and I have no entrenched attachments to that stuff, it’s easier to let go. Then, softening enough to actively see his or her spark, that person becomes beautiful and amazing. I am actually amazed and fascinated by how that spark has manifested. I fall a little bit more in love the whole world.
Then you move into a space where you are a spark, a holy being, in the presence of another holy being. Then you interact in whatever roles, games, or structures have been set up and are needed for that situation. Yet, at the same time, you are just two sparks. Then you see how all the other times you are just running through those roles, identifying as those roles. When really you are a holy being playing. The more you see others as holy beings, the more connected you are to yourself as one.
Then yoga practice, daily life, every moment is an opportunity to practice in a very unique way – not just to see everything as your teacher, but to see beyond ideas of teachers – and to see the holy moments and beings everywhere, every time.
When you’re on your mat, practice not as all your stuff, but as a holy being. As a spark relishing the play of a body in motion in asana.
“When the direction of our attention is fixed on divinity, we will arrive there eventually, but inevitably.” Sharon Gannon
Jennifer Whitney 