Day 9: October 23
“God is not a being that sits on a high pedestal beyond the sun, moon, and stars; God is actually the state of Ultimate Reality. But due to the lack of direct experience, God has been personified and given various names and forms by religions throughout the ages. When one expands one's individual consciousness to the Universal Consciousness, it is called Self-realization, for the individual self has realized the unity of diversity, the very underlying principle, or Universal Self, beneath all forms and names.”
Swami Rama
Ishvara Pranidhana / Surrender to the Highest
Ishvara is the concept of a Higher Power and the field of unity or Oneness. While I would not attempt to speak definitively on the subject, and you will come across differences in translations and teachings, Ishvara is often synonymous with Brahman (or Absolute Reality), but can also refer to the Supreme Consciousness or to a personal god.
When we add Pranidhana we get the practice of being in the presence of that Highest and the dedication, devotion, and surrender of the fruits of our practice to That.
Through our Svadyaya, and if we are lucky throughout our lives, we have been led to, and hopefully had experiences of the Highest, Absolute Reality or Truth. Even just higher will do; the practice of acting for the good of community or any collective that is greater than its individual parts can be where our surrender is. The surrender of the individual, separate ego-self is a key step to Samadhi, as Patanjali points out more than once. We can also look at the Bodhisattva Vow here; the resolve to attain freedom only to come back to guide others to theirs, to achieve full Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. What a wonderful example of Ishvara Pranidhana.
Here are a couple of questions I will bring with me for this Sunday's Session ‘Do you have an expressed relationship with something higher? and ‘Have you been in That presence?’
See you soon, yogis!
Peace
Peter
