Instead of a headline, the very first words in my very first Letter from the Publisher consisted of these words from the late American spiritual leader Ram Dass: “When all is said and done, we’re all just walking each other home.”

I can hardly say these words without a lump forming in my throat. I’ve never come across an explanation of what Ram Dass meant by his words, and I’m sure people interpret it differently. I see two meanings coexisting simultaneously. 

“When all is said and done,” of course, means “this is the most important thing,” but Ram Dass doesn’t say what “walking each other home” refers to. Still, it seems clear to me he’s talking about life. 

The word “just” can be misleading. In this context, I believe “just” means “simple but not easy.” I also see two meanings in the phrase “walking each other home.” The first I interpret to mean that we help each other die well. I interpret the second meaning to convey that we help each other attain self-realization, if not in a close and supportive manner, then as members of the same species striving for the same thing.

In that first Letter from the Publisher, I wrote of personal awakenings, including this line: “Awakenings of the soul speak to our desire to develop greater love and compassion for all living beings equally, and an increasing understanding of, and connection with whatever it is we believe lies beyond our small, individual human selves.” 

 

I am moved and motivated by mere moments. I have had three transcendental experiences, moments in which I completely lost the sense of being a human being, including having a physical body. Indeed, language fails; to use the word “I” to describe what I felt introduces error. “I” is inherently dualistic, but what I felt was only One—there was no “other.” I was simultaneously the only thing that existed and the tiniest part of the only thing that existed, like a leaf on a tree or a drop of water in the ocean. Also, time did not exist. 

Having experienced those moments decades ago for what couldn’t have been more than a total of five minutes, I knew then, as I know now, that no other moments have been more real; no other moments so directly revealed to me who we really are and the purpose of our short and precious lives. 

Paramahamsa Hariharananda, founder of Kriya Yoga International, said, “Conscious realization of humanity’s unity with the spirit is the goal of life and, consciously or unconsciously, every person tries to advance towards that end.” And Ryan Kurczak, founder of Kriya Yoga Online, says, “With thoughts and emotions silenced through spiritual practice, one can directly experience the truth of being pure infinite consciousness.” 

This magazine is all about awakening to the full potential of our bodies, minds, hearts and souls, and our three-part series on pranayama addresses all of these. But in particular, it addresses our capacity for self-realization. 

We have often pointed out that yoga in India is understood to be a spiritual science, not mere exercise. As expounded by the Indian sage Patanjali, pranayama is one of the eight limbs. It follows the yamas, niyamas and asanas and is followed by pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (focused concentration), dhyana (meditative absorption) and samadhi (bliss, enlightenment). In this month’s third and final article of our three-part series on pranayama, we address the meaning of the term in the context of the eight limbs. 

The purpose of kriya yoga, as introduced to the West by Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of Self-Realization Fellowship, “is to magnetize the spine by circulating life current lengthwise around it, and thereby withdrawing life current from the senses and involuntary organs and concentrating it in the spine.” Those are the words of Yogananda himself. He adds: “The real meaning of Pranayama, according to Patanjali… is the gradual cessation of breathing, the discontinuance of inhalation and exhalation.” In other words, pranayama leads to pratyahara. 

In addition to kriya yoga, this month’s article also highlights the pranayama techniques taught by two other Indian gurus and their organizations: Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation, which teaches Shambhavi Mahamudra, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, which teaches Sudarshan kriya. While I have taken Art of Living’s Happiness program, which imparts Sudarshan kriya, I am most familiar with kriya yoga. 

And, while all the kriya organizations I am aware of teach kriya via initiation, instructions for kriya techniques can also easily be found in books and on the web. That said, for reasons I won’t go into here, receiving initiation from a qualified master is highly recommended. 

As this issue marks my seventh full year as publisher, we offer our single, most significant article that may help you find your way home to discover who you truly are beyond the owner of the temporary abode you call “body.” I have always seen my job as walking you home. Allow me to close with the words that open Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras:

Yoga is settling of the mind into silence.

When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded consciousness. 

Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind. ❧

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Publisher of Natural Awakenings Atlanta since 2017, Paul Chen’s professional background includes strategic planning, marketing management and qualitative research. He practices Mahayana Buddhism and kriya yoga. Contact him at [email protected].