Grand and majestic though this process is, the principles behind it are very simple. Since the body is in fact concentrated light-energy, it can be worked on directly to astonishing effect by consciousness, using different techniques and forms of awareness of how the light operates. In this way, human beings awaken and attune to the all-pervading reality of divine light-energy, and we can learn to align with this subtle energy and transform our entire being.
Through our studies of the origins of yoga, we have found that yoga philosophy reveals that the transforming experience of embodying light-energy was known at the dawn of yoga. This confirmation has deepened our awe of the yoga tradition. At least four thousand years ago, the Vedic Rishis of India discovered what they called “the great passage,” mahas pathah (Rig Veda, II.24.6), the world of “the unbroken Light,” Svar. In the Vedas, we find these words: “Our fathers by their words broke the strong and stubborn places, the Angirasa seers shattered the mountain rock with their cry; they made in us a path to the Great Heaven, they discovered the Day and the sun-world.” (1.71.2)
The great evolutionary mystic, Sri Aurobindo, uncovered the key to these words. The “Day and sun-world” that these seers discovered is the divine solar energy released by the marriage of the transcendent and the immanent in the core of every cell. The release of this hidden divine energy acts to realize the potential we already have as “children of the light” to become consciously evolved servants of God in the world. The Vedic sages and Aurobindo understood that by this release of the body’s own inherent divine energy, we participate in the evolutionary dance of the divine and attain a new level of consciousness and radical embodied empowerment.
The Vedic Rishis and Aurobindo saw that this solar energy of the Day and sun-world is the fundamental energy of evolution. When we work with it consciously, as Heart Yoga supports, we co-create with the Divine the new level of strength, empowerment, and vision for which the Divine has always destined us. The Divine is at once absolute being and dynamic becoming. The infinite consciousness that we are given as a blessing unites us with the mystery of divine being. The energy of the Day and sun-world, uncovered through Heart Yoga, fuses us consciously with the dynamic evolutionary energy of the divine becoming. When, through the marriage of yoga and mysticism, we join the breadth and peace of the consciousness of infinite being with the experience of the all-transforming vibrant energy of infinite becoming, the full glory of what it means to be divine humans starts to be unveiled in us. The logic of divine transformation begins to birth us into our divine humanity.
The limitation of the ancient patriarchal mystical traditions has been their bias toward transcendence. The Vedic Rishis and Aurobindo, while honoring transcendence, were also aware of its feminine presence in the immanent, as the solar energy within matter. The Sacred Marriage heals the bias of ancient traditions by honoring the full power and majesty of the feminine, and so making available to the human race the complete empowerment of both being and becoming. As Bede Griffiths explains:
Body and soul are to be transfigured by the divine life and to participate in the divine consciousness. There is a descent of the spirit into matter and a corresponding ascent, by which matter is transformed by the indwelling power of the Spirit and the body is transfigured. In kundalini yoga this is represented as the union of
Shiva
and
Shakti
in the human body. The divine power is represented as coiled up like a serpent at the base of the spine. This divine energy has to be led through the seven
chakras
, or centers of psychic energy, until it reaches the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head. Then Shiva, who is pure consciousness, unites with Shakti, the divine energy in nature, and body and soul are transformed. This is very different from the yoga of Patanjali, where consciousness
(purusha)
is separated from nature
(prakriti)
and enjoys the bliss of isolation
(kaivalya)
. Yet both these yogas have their place. There must be a movement of ascent to pure consciousness, a detachment from all the moods of nature, a realization of the Self in its eternal Ground beyond space and time. But then there must also be a movement of descent, by which the Spirit enters into the depths of matter and raises it to a new mode of existence, in which it becomes the medium of a spiritual consciousness.
3
In this book you will discover the Heart Yoga practices that we find most effective in aligning the inherent light-energy of the body with the all-pervading divine light consciousness. By uniting the ancient practical instructions of yoga with mystical techniques and exercises that work directly with divine energy consciousness, a potent crucible is created for the divinization of the entire being. This fusion of the sacred technology of yoga with that of mystical transformation invokes and engenders a new evolutionary energy, which births a fully integrated and divinely empowered human being.
The language and imagery of mystical traditions and esoteric anatomy are often used in this book to convey the beauty and wonder of the asana practice. This will help you experience deeper levels of the subtlety of the mystery of the light-body. When yoga is experienced in this consciously divine and mystical way, even the simplest gestures become prayers, every breath is an act of love, and every asana helps us birth the divine in the human.
Here is one simple exercise you can use to celebrate the Sacred Marriage we are experiencing in Heart Yoga, and so, in the reality of your mystical body. Imagine sending roots down into the earth through your feet and legs. Find the axis in the center of your body joining your tailbone and the crown of your head. Align your spine, balancing the bones of your spine one by one lightly upon each other, so that your muscles do not have to overwork to support you.
When your body is precisely aligned, the core channel may feel empty, as if all of you had dispersed into shining space. As the Vastusutra Upanishad said, “Getting the limbs along proper lines is praised like the knowledge of Brahman.”4
Into this opening channel, breathe down into the depths of the earth, and when you exhale, let the exhalation dissolve slowly up and out through the crown of your head into infinite space. You may begin to experience your body as the mysteriously vibrating channel between earth and sky. This will awaken you to the experience of your body fusing the density of the earth with the luminosity of the light in a dynamic dance.
Now imagine matter and light dancing together in interlocking golden spirals all through your body. Gaze at every part of your body with compassion and wonder, the way you would look at a newborn baby.
Continue to visualize yourself as a light-body, surrounded by luminous fields of light. This will build a sense of wonder and infinite respect, both for you and for all other embodied beings. Experience your body as porous light matter, open to and dancing subtly with the entire cosmos.
The body
is like an ocean,
rich with hidden treasures.
Open its innermost chamber and light its lamp.
—MIRABAI
1
Many teachers and students in the yoga community are now searching for and discovering luminous new ways of deepening the body’s experience of spirit. They intuit that it is this experience of dynamic unity that will inspire, encourage, and strengthen people to meet the challenges of our time. Many mystical teachers and students also are aware that this moment in history demands not only spiritual knowledge but a divinely embodied strength and a capacity for compassionate action. They are turning toward yoga as a way of discovering the new grounding inspiration that they need.