By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation

When it comes to a dimension beyond your present level of perception, the mind is a horrible guide because it says many things which make you believe things that do not exist, and it makes you miss things which are right there in front of you. This is the reason why yoga adopted a comprehensive way of approaching the spiritual process through the body, the energy, the breath, the emotion and, of course, the intelligence — but not depending upon the intellect, because intellect is always coming from whatever perspective it is in; that perspective looks like the absolute for the intellect.

There is a whole science and technology as to how to evolve this body from being just a heap of food, just an accumulation of what we have taken from the earth, into something beyond flesh and blood, beyond the compulsions of our chemistry. The body is the most sensitive and capable instrument on this planet — there is no other instrument like this. If you know how to use it, it can tell you everything that is here and beyond. That is why the fundamental yoga starts with the body.

The process of yoga is just towards realising and retrieving this machine for your use. Right now for most people, it is rusted and cobwebbed in such a way that they cannot use it the way they want to. It does its own things. You must keep this machine, this body, such that, it must be on for whatever it needs to do. If it has to stay for three days without food or sleep, it is just on. Then it is not a compulsive process, it has become a conscious process, it will just do what you want it to do.

One simple release that this body needs is, if you can simply sit here without being identified with the physical process that is on right now, not identifying this either as a man or a woman, as this or that and allow it to reverberate the way it should and can, it can become the very centre of the cosmos. If you reverberate with sufficient energy, you become the centre of the cosmos because there is no one centre for this cosmic manifestation. So the opportunity to become the very centre of the existence is always wide open to you.

This science of getting there, this dimension of making this happen to yourself is what we are referring to as yoga. But the reason why it looks so far away for many people is simply because                    they have tied their boat to one shore but are working hard to get to the other shore. It is a simple understanding, a simple intelligence that if you want  to go from this shore to that shore, if you want to make a journey from the physicality to a dimension beyond the physical, unless you cut this rope, you won’t get there.

So we are asking you to bend your body, hold your breath and do these things because slowly, it will cut the ropes of the physical and create a distance between you and the physical. You have to just keep a little distance from whatever enhances and reinforces the physicality in your life. You identify all those compulsive aspects of the physicality and stay away from them. In a small way, this is going beyond the limitations of the physical.

Once there is a distance, rowing your boat away is very simple; just the current or the breeze may take it. Even if you sleep, it may still make it to the other shore. If you row hard, you will definitely get there very quickly.

[Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and best-selling author. Sadhguru has been conferred the “Padma Vibhushan,” India’s highest annual civilian award, by the Government of India in 2017, for exceptional and distinguished service].