Soul questions

Soul Questions

Nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. On the contrary, everything is sacred.

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The generally recognized founder of yoga philosophy is the legendary sage Maharishi Patanjali, whose life is shrouded in the mists of myth and history. According to one story, his mother, Gonnika, was praying for a child to Lord Vishnu, the god who maintains the universe.

Vishnu was so moved by her purity and devotion that he asked his beloved cosmic serpent, Ananta, to prepare for human incarnation. A tiny speck of Ananta’s celestial body fell into Gonnika’s upturned palms. She nurtured this cosmic seed with her love until it developed into a baby boy. She named her child Patanjali from the word pat, meaning “descended from heaven,” and anjali, the word for her praying posture. This being, whose life historians date back two centuries before the birth of Christ, elaborated the principles of yoga for the benefit of humanity.

In his classic work, the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali sets the goal of yoga as nothing short of total freedom from suffering.

To fulfill this worthy intention, Patanjali elaborated the eight branches of yoga. Each of these components of yoga helps you shift your internal reference point from constricted to expanded consciousness. As you move from local to nonlocal awareness, your internal reference point spontaneously transforms from ego to spirit, which enables you to see the bigger picture when facing any challenge.

According to Patanjali, whenever we are solely identified with our ego, we bind ourselves to things that do not have permanent reality. This may be an attachment to a relationship, a job, a body, or a material possession. It may be an attachment to a belief or an idea of the way things should be. Whatever the object of attachment is, the binding of your identity to something that resides in

the world of forms and phenomena is the seed cause of distress, unhappiness, and illness. Remembering that the real you is not trapped in the volume of a body for the span of a lifetime is the key to genuine freedom and joy.

Yoga is designed to give you a glimpse of your essential self by taking you from deep silence into dynamic action and back again to profound stillness. In the practice of the Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga program, you will experience this full range of yoga—stillness to activity and back to stillness.

Yoga philosophy begins with the spirit. Getting in touch with your spirit is the true goal of yoga. It occurs naturally when your mind quiets and you are able to access the inner wisdom that emerges from the deepest aspect of your being. One way to connect with your soul is by consciously asking yourself questions that go to the heart of the human experience. There are three key questions that help shift your internal reference point from ego to spirit. They are:

Who am I?

What do I want?

How can I serve?

Whether or not you are aware of it, these questions are directing your choices in life. Regularly bringing your current answers to conscious awareness enables you to be alert to the opportunities that resonate with the needs of your soul.

When asked the question, Who are you? most people usually identify themselves in terms of their positions and possessions. You might say, “I am the chief financial officer of a software company,” or “I am a high school math teacher.” You may identify with where you live, saying, “I am a New Yorker,” or “I’m Canadian.” You may identify yourself in terms of a relationship by responding, “I am the assistant to the president,” or “I am a mother.”

Although we all have the tendency to identify ourselves with roles, objects, and relationships in our lives, yoga encourages us to go deeper into our being and find the inner place that is beyond external anchors. This is the source of all energy and creativity in life. When you begin to recognize that your essential nature is 

S o u l Q u e s t  i o n s

unbounded and eternal, life becomes joyful, meaningful, and carefree. Try this simple exercise to become aware of your current internal reference point. Simply close your eyes, take a few slow, deep breaths, and settle your awareness in the area of your heart. Now silently ask yourself the question, Who am I? every fifteen seconds. Listen innocently to the answers that emerge from your deeper mind.

As you perform this process, you may recognize that you define yourself by the roles you play, answering the question, Who am I? with:

I am . . .

a computer programmer

the vice president of marketing

a pediatric nurse

You may define yourself by a group with which you identify.

I am . . .

an American

a New York Yankees fan

a Libertarian

You may define yourself in terms of a relationship.

I am . . .

a single parent

a loving spouse

a devoted daughter

You may see yourself in terms of certain practices you perform.

I am . . .

a vegetarian

a triathlete

a meditator

From the perspective of yoga, each of these identity points represents some aspect of you but not the ultimate essence of who you are. Asking the second question of the soul, What do I want? takes you deeper. In the Upanishads, one of the crown jewels in the Vedic body of literature, there is the expression, “You are what your deep, driving desire is. As is your desire, so is your will. As is your will, so is your deed. As is your deed, so is your destiny.” 

When you know what a person desires, you know the essence of that person. To become more aware of your deep desires, close your eyes and ask yourself every fifteen seconds the questions:

What do I want?

What do I really want?

Different levels of your being give rise to different desires. Your physical body has intrinsic needs for food, water, oxygen, and sexual gratification. Listening to the desires of your body and providing nourishing fulfillment ensure health and vitality. Your subtle body has needs for emotional connection, achievement, and recognition. Expressing your talents and honoring the contributions made by others ensure the health and well-being of your subtle body. Your causal body has the need for creative expression and renewal. It has the need for unity to predominate over diversity, for expansiveness over restriction.

S o u l Q u e s t i o n s 

The spiritual journey is one of fulfilling the needs of the flesh, the needs of the mind, and the needs of the spirit. When you are willing to pose the question to yourself, What do I really want? you are asking what level of your being is expressing a need. Listen to the answers that arise from within you and write them down. Watch how over time your desires become fulfilled or are transformed in different expressions. Whether they are satisfied or change, new desires will arise to fill the void. Become conscious of the forces that drive your choices and you will become more intimate with your essential nature.

This will deepen your connection to your soul, which is the goal of yoga.

As you become increasingly conscious of your identity and your desires, ask yourself the third soul question, How can I serve? Again, close your eyes, bring your attention into the area of your heart, and ask yourself these questions, listening to the responses that emerge from a deeper aspect of your being:

How can I serve?

How can I be of service?

How can I help?

How can I best serve?

The inner dialogue of the subtle body revolves around the questions, What do I get out of this? What’s in it for me? As your inner reference point expands to embrace your causal body, your inner dialogue shifts to, How can I help? As your sense of self-expands, your compassion proportionately increases and you naturally find yourself caring about how your choices influence those around you. Yogic sages would agree that the first-century Rabbi Hillel’s questions are worth asking:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?

The true purpose of yoga is to discover that aspect of your being that can never be lost. Your job may change, your relationships may change, your body may change, your beliefs may change, your desires may change, your ideas about your role in the world may change, but the essence of who you are is the continuity of awareness that has no beginning or end. Your thoughts, beliefs, expectations, goals, and experiences may come and go, but the one who is having the experiences—the experiencer—remains.

As you progress in your practice, you may find that the answers to the questions, Who am I? What do I want? and How can I serve? emerge from a deeper layer of your being. You may find your sense of identity changing, reflecting a more expanded view of your self. You may find your desires becoming less personal. As your concept of self-expands, your concern about others may simultaneously increase. You may discover a deepening aspiration to make a contribution to your community and your world. This expansion of self-awareness is the essence of yoga.

The Seven spirituals laws of yoga - Deepak Chopra, David Simon