
How can I achieve complete freedom and peace? This existential question and this longing that has driven spiritual seekers throughout the ages, brought me to discover the path of Yoga.
My journey with yoga began with the idea of finding the ‘best’ yoga practice. Nowadays there are so many different approaches of yoga out there, and I tried many different ‘styles’, philosophies, and teachers with the hope of coming to a greater understanding and mastery of this path. I thought that if I practiced one hour of particular body postures, one hour of particular breathing exercises, one hour of particular meditation techniques and diligently studied ancient scriptures every day, I could come closer to spiritual liberation. But as I persevered, I could not help but wonder: How can I make spirituality my life – do I need to sit every day for 24 hours in meditation, and how would that even function? Do I need to retreat from the world and live in a cave, to achieve that undisturbed tranquility? And what about all of life? Do I need to let go of everything that exists in order to sit and meditate? And why then has the world been created – to just go beyond it? I was puzzled…
Living with a spiritual community
In this quest I came across Divinya. I had heard that it was a space where people are exploring a yogic life. I was thrilled! I immediately applied for the volunteer program ‘Ecology & Spirituality’, with the plan to stay for at least 3 months in the community. However, when I finally came, this place was not at all what I thought it would be: I had imagined a group of people sitting in meditation and studying scriptures all day long, but everyone was very active in so many areas and projects. This usual picture of a monk, who calmly walks around, sits and meditates in nature, does yoga postures, studies and performs rituals, was not met. I was disappointed and started to wonder, “What am I doing here?”. But as time went by, I started to notice that there was a great sense of peace, joy and serenity all around, which I could more and more feel inside of me, too – a shift started to take place.
It took me some time to really understand what Divinya at its core is all about. In this process, my definition of yoga changed fundamentally. There is a unique yoga practiced in Divinya, called Inner Yoga, which is a profound technique that aims to reveal one’s natural state of being. However, what inspires me the most is that the yoga continues beyond the end of the yoga class: Yoga here is understood first and foremost as a spiritual path of rediscovering one’s true Self. The community’s way of living is inspired by the Teachings of the enlightened Master Guruji Sri Vast. The community explores how these spiritual Teachings can be brought into a practical living experience – a living spirituality – a living yoga.
It is a space for reflection, inner growth and self-transformation, a space to explore the fundamental questions of life: “Who am I – without my cultural and social identities, without my stories from the past?”, “What is my highest potential?”, “What is the meaning of life?” and “How can I bring union between me and this life?” These questions are inquired on an individual as well as on a collective level, in order to find answers for a new paradigm of perceiving and living this life.
Union with Life – the ultimate goal of Yoga
I had read and heard about ‘union with life’ as the ultimate goal of yoga, but only now it became actual, it became part of what I experienced, not only something that I understood mentally. Even though the community is so dynamic and active, creating a more and more self-sustainable life, the main goal of every action is not the result itself, but the inner experience. The intention behind every action is to serve beyond one’s individual self-interest and to bring forth love and sacredness in every thought, word and action.
The question is: Whatever I do, can I experience peace within me unconditionally, no matter what the situation? Can I experience love, no matter who stands in front of me? Is the boundary between what I experience as ‘me’ and ‘not me’, expanding? Every moment is approached as an opportunity to grow beyond this so-called ‘myself’. It is a new experience in which my spirituality is not separate from my life anymore. In this way, every daily action and interaction becomes a yoga practice.
It is not about ‘doing’ things for ‘others’ – it is about not perceiving anyone as ‘other’, as outside of me, as someone or something ‘else’. In Divinya, union is approached very practically. Can I experience union with the people around me? Or do I have to withdraw from everyone and everything that disturbs me, and meditate to experience a sense of peace and union? In the togetherness of the community I experience a level of union which I haven’t experienced before. Not much organisation or talk is needed, since everybody is sharing the same vision and is practicing to be aware of what needs to be done, at any given moment. It is a space free of judgement, comparison, fight, or performing. It is simply people living together, naturally, peacefully.
Sometimes it almost feels like a dream, a utopia, but then it strikes me that it is my new reality now. One of the most important realisations for me is that this peace, this human communion is actually achievable. One thing is to be in peace within myself, and another is that this peace radiates out from me to my surroundings and is reflected by everyone around me. This means I don’t need to protect my peace, since it is collectively explored by everyone. This is a very unique experience for me that brings hope for a new world.
What I have encountered in Divinya is a whole different way of living this life as a natural being on this planet. It is an exploration of the complete human being. The one who is living in natural harmony with their surroundings because they do not perceive anything as separate from themselves. ‘Natural living’ in Divinya does not mean rolling naked in the mud, or dancing around the fire, but being natural. Being natural here is understood as one’s ability to respond naturally to any given situation. It means exploring our human potential of expressing love beyond our boundaries of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. This collective approach leads to so much unconditional caring and sharing with everyone around, and this creates a very warm atmosphere in the day-to-day-life. Everyone is invited to take part in creating this dream. Divinya is not home to specific people, but to a thirst, the thirst to explore life in freedom, peace and union.
Self-reflection is at the heart of finding Peace
There is a core understanding shared by everyone, which is at the root of the peaceful togetherness: The clarity to meet confrontations within oneself. To meet that inner person who gets confronted, instead of projecting and acting out towards someone else. – What is more important – that my ideas and opinions are being valued and followed or that we are at peace? There is a great focus on inner reflection in Divinya: “Do my thoughts, words and actions lead me to the experience that I am wishing for? My ideas, my opinions – whatever my mind comments on – who is this person who is commenting? Is this thought coming from freedom, from love, from an experience of union? Or, if I look deeply, is it actually rooted in fear, in separation, in pain? Or is it just a habit, a repetition of how my parents, my grandparents and humanity have been thinking for a long, long time?”
Inner Transformation – A New Me is Born
I am witnessing many changes in me, both in my body and in my inner state. What I have noticed lately is that my breathing is much more aligned with my movements now – something that I previously knew only from my asana practice. By being more and more present, this synchronisation between movement and breath has started to occur naturally in my everyday life, giving me the same joy that I used to experience in a yoga class, during all acts and movements throughout the whole day. Yoga has transformed from being a one-hour practice to an ongoing experience in all aspects of life, where my body, my breathing and my mind are more and more aligned in every moment. I started my yoga journey on the mat, and it has become a living experience. I can see how every practice from all these years has helped me to reach this point, and I am deeply grateful for all of it. I believe that this transformation is possible for everyone, which inspires great hope in me.
My life has changed immensely. I find so much more meaning in my daily actions now. There is so much aliveness and passion in me. Life in Divinya is supporting me to look beyond ‘myself’, inviting me into a totally new experience of this life. The idea I had built about myself over the years is gradually dissolving. I am finding something new in me – a new me, full of peace, joy, love and freedom. I am beginning to see myself in everyone and everything, which creates a profound silence and a deep sense of completeness.
Life is sparkling freshly.