The Yoga of consciousness (From Waking, Dream and Deep Sleep to Self Realization)

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The Yoga of Consciousness examines how our consciousness, identity and prana change through waking, dream and deep sleep- and more importantly how we can follow this process to higher levels of awareness behind the ordinary human state. The book proposes specific yogic insights and approaches to take us beyond these three ordinary states to the transcendent state of pure unity consciousness beyond both body and mind.

In this research, I have followed the views of traditional Yoga and Vedantic texts like the Yoga Sutras and Upanishads. Notably it focuses on the teaching of the Mandukya Upanishad, which explains the mystery of Om and guides us to the state of transcendence. The book does not focus on the physical ramifications of waking and sleep, but on how to use these ordinary states of mind to move beyond a physical and outer view of reality altogether.

The Yoga of Consciousness rests upon teachings that I have learned from Vedantic gurus, texts and traditions. These include the teachings of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Kavya- kantha Ganapati Muni, Swami Rama Tirtha, Adi Shankara, and Sadguru Sivananda Murty.

The Yoga of Consciousness covers some of the same ground as popular approaches to Yoga Nidra today, and can serve as an expansion of that teaching. Yet its purpose is deeper than most of what is called Yoga Nidra, aiming to deconstruct our sense of physical reality so that we can experience the reali- ty of Pure Consciousness. It includes Yoga Nidra as part of a greater approach to Self-realization going beyond body and mind. It is not aiming at Yoga Nidra as a technique of relax- ation or better sleep, which does have its preliminary value.

We live in a magical universe that transcends all boundaries and limitations, appearances and measurements - for which time and space, name and form are but mere masks and mir- rors. We knew this mysterious fact of our greater cosmic exis- tence when we were children, when every place and moment was an opportunity for play, fearless exploration and delight. Yet we lost this depth as we grew up in the outer world to eventually be taken in by social identities and material needs as our true work and purpose in life, forgetting our blissful origins and spontaneous expression.

We can still return to that primordial magic of awareness if we learn how the light of Consciousness moves through us every day and can transport us beyond all sorrow. Each day can be a new awakening to our deathless reality that embraces the whole of nature down to the very ground on which we stand. Every new thing we see glimmering in the wind can be an awakening to our greater Self that is one with all, as the space within space, the time beyond time.

There are dreams within our dreams veiled in mystery that can take us beyond all desire, if we pursue the deepest wishes and prayers of the heart, which is to embrace the entire universe within us like the flow of the river.

There is an eternal peace at the core of our being in which is the ultimate state of rest, renewal, surrender and transcendence - where no thought can enter, the calm depth of the cosmic night of boundless awareness.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages