Seeing into the Screen

“sarva-bhutastham atmanam sarva-bhutani ca-atmani iksate yogayukta-atma sarva-tra sama-darsanah

The yogi sees the divine Self
in all beings at all times.
Bhagavad Gita VI.29 ”

I was reminiscing on the my early memories using the internet in the early 2000’s. I would come home from swim practice and immediately drop everything and start loading the noisy, slow dial-up internet. I remember those anticipation-filled moments waiting for everything to load, heart fluttering in excitement. Back then, my sole use of the internet was to connect with my friends that I hadn’t seen for a few hours via AIM - pinging each other messages back and forth until my mom needed to use the phone and booted me offline. 

Over the years, my internet use, and everyone else’s, shifted, changed. Our online presence became a polished representation of who we ‘are’ to the world and less a messy, personal way of connecting. We created beautiful websites and curated images to post on Instagram. And all of that is great… 

But now, as I go to log into ZOOM I feel that same anticipation I did all those years ago. Waiting with baited breath to get into our ZOOM room. There is something so innocent, intimate, vulnerable about these classes. Seeing bits and pieces of everyone’s spaces - living rooms, messy beds, pets and kids wandering over mats. The tech crackling and imperfect (ha). All of us sharing this instinctive desire to connect with, see, practice with like-minded people. In moments like these, we are able to see ourselves, our hopes, desires, suffering, pain, and love in others so clearly.

This month we’re exploring Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6, Verse 29, which reads “the yogi sees the divine Self in all beings at all times” or “the yogi sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self”.

The practices of yoga ask us to practice staying with this passing feeling of seeing ourself in others.  To continuously practice ‘putting ourselves in others shoes’. 

Sama means Same or equal and darsanah means vision. The yogi sees all beings with ‘same or equal vision’. Through these practices, we refine our ability to see in this way.  We practice seeing the unifying spirit that pulsates in ourself and all beings.