The moment arrives quietly.
There is no thunder, no sudden revelation carved in light. Instead, it feels like waking from a dream long mistaken for reality.
The body is still present, breath moving gently, senses functioning as they always have—yet something fundamental has shifted. What once felt solid now appears fluid.
What once felt urgent now seems distant. The grip of illusion loosens, and clarity settles in its place.
This is the freedom yoga promises.
The Nature of Delusion
Delusion does not announce itself as falsehood. It arrives disguised as certainty. The body is assumed to be the self. Thoughts are believed without question. Emotions are mistaken for identity. Pleasure is chased as fulfillment, pain resisted as catastrophe.
In this state, life unfolds as a series of reactions. The senses pull attention outward, the mind constructs stories around experience, and the individual moves through the world believing these fragments to be the whole. Ancient yogic wisdom named this condition moha—a fog of misidentification that veils truth without destroying it.
Yoga does not argue with this illusion. It outgrows it.
The Subtle Cracks in the Illusion
In sustained practice, small disruptions appear. A moment of stillness between thoughts. A breath observed without interference. A sensation arising and dissolving without commentary. These moments are fleeting, but they leave an impression—like cracks forming in a wall once believed impenetrable.
The practitioner begins to notice that thoughts are events, not facts. Emotions move like weather. Sensations appear and vanish. The sense of “I” that once seemed fixed begins to feel surprisingly elusive.
Yoga works here, quietly and persistently.
Integration, Not Escape
Contrary to common misunderstanding, yoga does not reject the body or senses. It integrates them. The body becomes a field of awareness rather than identity. The senses become instruments rather than masters. The mind becomes transparent rather than tyrannical.
As this integration deepens, the struggle to control experience relaxes. Attention turns inward—not in withdrawal from life, but in intimacy with it. The practitioner no longer chases sensations for meaning. Meaning reveals itself in stillness.
This is where delusion begins to dissolve.
When Separation Fades
One morning, the practitioner sits in silence. Breath moves on its own. Awareness rests without effort. There is no need to label experience, no impulse to grasp or resist. The familiar sense of being a separate observer softens.
The boundary between “inside” and “outside” thins.
The sound of wind, the rhythm of breath, the pulse of awareness—all arise within the same field. There is no center to defend, no edge to protect. The illusion of separateness, once unquestioned, gently falls away.
This is not emotional intoxication. It is clarity.
Realizing the Self as Brahman
The yogic texts describe this realization simply: the Self is Brahman. Eternal. Infinite. Unconditioned.
This realization is not conceptual. It does not arrive as a belief added to the mind. It is recognized, the way one recognizes the sky after clouds disperse.
The practitioner does not become Brahman; they stop mistaking themselves for something smaller.
Time loosens its hold. Past and future lose their urgency.
Experience unfolds without the constant reference to “me” and “mine.” What remains is presence—steady, luminous, and complete.
In this state, freedom is not something achieved. It is what remains when delusion ends.
Yoga as the Culmination, Not the Beginning
Modern approaches often frame yoga as a tool—a method for health, productivity, or stress relief. While these benefits arise naturally, classical yoga points further. It is not preparation for awakening; it is awakening itself.
When yoga is fully established, nothing more needs to be added. The path and the destination converge.
Liberation in Ordinary Life
Liberation does not remove the practitioner from the world. It changes how the world is met.
Actions arise from clarity rather than compulsion. Compassion flows naturally, not as moral obligation but as recognition—there is no “other” to defend against.
This freedom is not dramatic. It is profoundly ordinary.
Showing Freedom Rather Than Explaining It
The liberated one still eats, walks, speaks, and sleeps. Yet there is a lightness in each movement. Decisions are made without inner conflict. Silence feels complete rather than empty.
These are the quiet signs of delusion undone.
Why This Teaching Endures
Across centuries, cultures, and languages, this understanding of yoga persists because it addresses the root of suffering. Not circumstances, not personality, not external conditions—but misidentification.
Yoga reveals that what is sought through effort has always been present beneath confusion. Liberation is not granted; it is uncovered.
Conclusion: When Delusion Falls Away
Yoga, in its highest expression, is freedom from delusion. It is the end of mistaking the transient for the eternal, the fragment for the whole. When integration is complete, illusion dissolves, and what remains is the Self—unchaken, boundless, and whole.
When yoga is realized.
Image, courtesy ChatGPT
No comments:
Post a Comment