Heartfulness

Since the pandemic hit the world, many people, all over, have given serious thought to making yoga and spirituality the kernel of their life. Often, yoga is equated with physical postures but I have always felt that it is rather an all-encompassing term. It is the means, the path, the end. It includes the entire person’s body, mind (emotions), intellect, and consciousness within its purview.  Anyone who resonates with my perspective will find this documentary, produced by Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, an inspiring story. 

Practitioners at Brahma Kumaris practice Raja yoga for psychological evolution and spiritual ascent. Months and years into their practice, they encounter exhilarating experiences of the union of their heart with the supreme soul and these life-changing experiences are documented in the movie. 

The first posture is the first step- ‘seeking’ the god. Charlie Hogg was among the many who traveled the world in search of his answers but his yearning met no fulfillment. His soul always had deep and hidden grief which sought relief. Finally, in a state of self-absorbed thoughts, he discovered all of his answers. 

Similar is the story of Veronica McHugh. She describes how she went into the second yogic posture, ‘meeting’. She says, ‘My consciousness, my feelings, all of me was absorbed by the power. In that moment of meditation, I completely lost into the supreme energy and in the same instance, I found myself.’ 

Many of the readers will leave this thinking that spirituality is not their ‘cup of tea’, they don’t require it and it is only about magical and occult experiences. Well, they are in the same boat as I was a while back. For an audience like these, the documentary has been directed to include musical genres and dance forms from the countries like Brazil, Canada, Peru, etc expressing the various postures in all the artistic manners making it more engaging and comforting to eyes and ears as well. 

The most beautiful part of daily yogic practices is the ‘purifying’ part. Jayanti kriplani, regional co-ordinator of Brahma Kumaris in the Middle East and Libya, articulates how her love for the divine refined her character and made her a soul inundated with eternal and self-radiating love. She adds, ‘As I remove the negativity inside, everyone else would be impacted by this. The vibrations are changing the quality of interactions and relationships. The world will slowly move towards truth, joy, happiness, and harmony.’ 

How positive it is just to entertain such thoughts in the mind and how provoking is the question that loving someone passionately enough makes you imbibe all of their virtues, attract all of their characteristics, then, why not love the ever-loving divine father? 

I believe that just like physical fitness has become the fad in India, people should realize that it is mental fitness that is paramount. What calisthenics does for their body, meditation does for the mind. To develop such an outlook such pieces of art can be a great investment in terms of time and energy, each viewer will take his own valuable and life-changing lessons from it.

-Dilip Kumawat