My Journey in Yoga

[Lois]

My Journey in Yoga

I don't exactly remember at what age I learned about the existence of yoga in the world, but it was probably around 10-12 years old. I also don't remember where I learned that yogis possess special abilities, but I do remember my conclusion that yogis can do anything. And I distinctly remember my firm decision to become a yogi in the future. For some time, I cultivated qualities in myself that I believed a yogi should possess, qualities that I came up with from my own perspective. However, for many years, I had no information about who yogis really are, what they actually do, and what supernatural abilities they possess.

When I was studying at the institute, my friend told me that he had a book written by a genuine Indian yogi, an edition from pre-revolutionary times. I repeatedly asked him to let me read that book, but it was constantly traveling among his acquaintances, and I never had the opportunity to read it. One time, however, I managed to have it for about 10 minutes, but I didn't understand much from it. Another friend mentioned that a person can leave their body and see themselves from the outside. I spent hours meditating, trying to visualize how I would look from the outside, but I couldn't achieve any results.

Subsequently, I found myself working as an engineer in a remote place far from civilization. The work was very interesting and related to systems engineering. Its only drawback was the schedule: working 12 hours a day for a week and then having a week off. Since there was nothing to do during my week off and there were no books available, I started playing cards. Initially, it was just a small game for entertainment purposes. But gradually, it became more and more serious. After six months, my friends and I could play for three days straight without sleep. I was quite reckless in the game and ended up owing a significant sum of money. Without going into all the details, miraculously managing to settle my debts, I decided to quit playing cards. It's worth noting that the game was highly dynamic, filled with surprises. Now, finding myself in a week off without any occupation, I became extremely restless, unable to find peace. It was at that moment that I realized the card game had been a diabolical temptation, and I implored the Lord of the Universe for forgiveness. I spent three days repenting, lying on my back in bed. And then I felt my body relaxing profoundly. I knew a relaxation technique from autogenic training and applied it. Gradually, the practice of relaxation completely consumed me. And every week off, I dedicated all my time to it. It was a wonderful experience. I could spend three days without getting out of bed, focusing solely on relaxation and sleep. After some time, I realized the need to concentrate on breathing for further relaxation. For three weeks, I focused solely on breathing. One day, I suddenly felt an immensely powerful energy running along my spine. My entire body became intensely hot, and it was being thrown around on the bed. It was quite frightening, especially since I had no idea what would happen next. However, since all these transformations were accompanied by immense pleasure, I decided not to back down. Moreover, it was incredibly captivating and exciting.

 

One day, suddenly, I found myself in the spiritual realm. My consciousness expanded into infinity, and my breath exited through my heels, propelling me at tremendous speed. This process could last for hours. After a while, it ceased, and I began to feel, with astonishment, that my body was gradually disappearing. I continued to relax, and after a few days, I no longer felt my body at all. Only one point remained at the base of my tongue, which was difficult to relax, but I managed to do so. And then, when the base of my tongue fully relaxed, I suddenly saw myself flying at great speed above a surface, high above it. I could gaze infinitely into this surface, which contained a wealth of supernatural information. At my own will, I would return to my body, eat, drink, work, and spend the rest of my time bringing my body to complete relaxation and flying above this surface. After a certain period, I already knew everything about this otherworldly realm and asked myself, "What if I try flying upwards?" So I did. I exerted effort and tried to fly upwards. On the way, I had to pass through my own thoughts. It took great effort to fly upward. And suddenly, my thoughts ceased, and I saw a gigantic cube at a great height, with lightning running down the side facing me. I flew closer to the cube, and it turned to reveal another side to me, and I felt immense grace emanating from it. After that, everything suddenly disappeared, and I found myself in complete darkness, utterly silent and tranquil. I was terribly frightened by the thought that I might not be able to return to my body, so I concentrated mentally on returning to my body, and I did. Whenever I relaxed my body again, I immediately found myself in that black space. It turned out to be a very convenient place for thinking about any topic, and I could even create various things there. I decided to create a house for myself, which took a lot of time to develop. The ceiling and walls were very intricate, changing their configuration according to my mental command. When the house was fully designed, and I could swim through it, moving from room to room, I had the idea of making a television and seeing what it would show. I did create a television, but no matter how much I concentrated, the screen remained black. Unfortunately, this world's television didn't show anything. Then I developed a very ingenious device in the form of a cube, with rays of varying intensity passing through its surfaces into its interior. I managed to make the rays outline the shape of a person planting flowers. However, this construction was somewhat lifeless. Then I became interested in philosophical questions. And one of them I began to solve intensively. The question was: "How is the 'I' of a human being connected to the Absolute?" I had to work on this question for about a week, focusing to the maximum, and I actually saw the answer: "There is no 'I' in a human being. Instead of 'I,' there is the Absolute!"

 

Finally, I grew tired of delving into philosophy, and on another occasion, when I entered the black space, I simply hung there without any thoughts. After about three hours, I felt myself descending in this space. I was briefly detained by some subconscious streams of information, and then I continued to fly downward. In one place, a fleeting thought crossed my mind: "It's not worth diving further, it could be dangerous." However, I decided to continue until the end, and as I flew into a cylindrical tube, I saw vibrating letters along my path: "D-A-L-S-H-E P-O-G-R-U-Z-H-A-T-S-Y-A N-E S-T-O-I-T E-T-O M-O-Z-H-E-T B-Y-T O-P-A-S-N-O." (Translation: "Further diving is not worth it, it could be dangerous.") After these words, the tube ended, and I vanished. I don't know how much time passed before I regained the sense of myself. I saw that I was in a very subtle and pure light that passed through my soul. And I thought it was time to get out of there. I safely returned to my body and later went through that cylindrical tube once again. I never visited that black space again and stopped practicing relaxation.

A little over a year later, I began studying at the Philosophical Academy, specializing in the Eastern Faculty. There, I acquainted myself with Mantra Yoga, the primary text on classical yoga ("Yoga Sutras" by Patanjali), and various books on yoga. Later, I also had the opportunity to practice Hatha Yoga. These sessions took place at the center of Sai Baba, who is believed to be the incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva on Earth. He lives in India, performs miracles, and delivers sermons to his followers. Since the yoga classes took place at his center, he started appearing in my dreams, showing various wisdom related to yoga. Once, I was making music with a friend at my home. I was playing the piano, and my friend was playing the synthesizer. Suddenly, I saw Sai Baba flying towards me in the form of a hollow shape, fully enveloping my body, and we were playing together. Then Sai Baba flew away, but my friend didn't notice anything.