The breath is your life.

Through the breath you can reach into yourself. It is by the way of breathing that you will arrive at yourself. It is always with you. Without the breath you cannot exist in the body – and yet how unaware one remains of the breath through the day…

The breath is the way.

Being with the breath is to be with yourself, is to enter into yourself. Through the way of the breath, you can arrive at being present, arrive at being in meditation. To be present is to be in meditation. Meditation is life: meditation is not the denial of life. Rather life is then enraptured, enhanced – and reaches increasingly to divinity.

Meditation does not deny you your laughter, it does not deny you your tears. Rather in your every act, meditation can be the basis, the very foundation of existence. In your every expression lives the freedom of meditation.

Meditation is the reaching out to Reality.

Meditation is the fullness that abides at all times and in all places.

First one seeks meditation and through meditation one finds all things! First find the kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto thee. To be present is to arrive at meditation;  is to arrive at the freedom that knows no limitation; it is to soar in the infinite sky of one’s own being, to be one with and in harmony with all things and all beings. To be in harmony with one’s own self is to be in meditation. Therein is no conflict – even if you were to meet with conflict without.

Meditation is your life – make it so.

The breath is the way for breath is life. When the breath is in harmony, you will find yourself in harmony, you will find your life in harmony, you will have found meditation. When you breathe long – the longer it is the better it is – it will draw you in, centre you, bring you to a stop in yourself. Being stopped in one’s self brings you to being present. That is the gate, the door, the window to yourself. That is the moment of the awakening of the Force.

To be stopped in one’s self at any given moment is the supreme moment.

Meditation is to be at ease with one’s self. When you are at ease you are in harmony; when you are in harmony you are at ease.

Great secrets await oneself through meditation.

Let meditation reveal to you its secrets.

Meditation is both rest and motion.

Meditation is your Self.

To be in meditation is to have arrived at the ultimate freedom, wherein is all freedoms, all expressions, all of life. It is to be in harmony; it is to be in yoga. To be in harmony with oneself, to be in harmony with all things is yoga. That is supreme meditation.

Seek and you will find ways through the breath.

When you breathe in, you are breathing in the freshness, you are breathing in life, you are breathing in meditation. You are rejuvenating yourself. Breathe in the new, breathe out the old. Let each moment; let each breath reveal its newness, its freshness. Be refreshed every moment.

Through your meditation you will find both heaven and earth, through your meditation you will find both spirit and life.

So help yourself to meditation through your breathing, the longer the breath the better it is.  The way to meditation is through your breath, and the way to Reality is through your meditation – the whole of the Reality, the whole of the Truth, of what is yourself and all else – verily all of the Reality. So practise the way of the breathing, the way of the breath.

Your practise will bring you success. The way of the breath will bring back your youth, even reach you to immortality. It will make you immortal!

Keep with the breathing – when you keep with the breathing you keep with yourself. Stay with it – when you stay with the breathing you stay with yourself. Maybe you can manage only one moment or two now, to be with the breath, with yourself. But those moments will increase: therefore the practise, therefore the commitment.

Therefore the knowing of how important being with the breath is to your life. And to know how important it is to your life is to be easily committed, to be convinced. Having understood about its importance is to already have progressed much, for then your being is willing to commit itself wholly and completely.

Through your breathing remember this. Remember the breathing in-between your activities, in-between your laughter, in-between your interactions. For through the breathing, you will arrive at being present and to be present is to be in meditation.

Through being in meditation you gain in power, you gain in energy; you rejuvenate each moment while you yet live through your movements, your actions. Yoga is not the denial of life; meditation is not the denial of life. In a very special way, it opens you out to another dimension; it opens you out to new levels yet unimagined. Seek it, for it is your lifeblood.

So breathe, the longer the breath the better it is and yet strong enough to be able to hear it. That will bring you to being present. Then to arrive at a silence in yourself, a silent stop – untouched, unconditioned, complete and yet full.  You have arrived; it is from there that all begins. It is only the beginning!

So breathe for it is your life; so be present for it is your freedom – and freedom is food for your soul.

To have arrived at being present, at being stopped in oneself is to have arrived at blessedness, is to have arrived at the doors of the supreme temple and thenceforth to the supreme Reality, to the supreme Lord – it is all blessedness, The ultimate beatitude! And it is only the beginning for there is no end.

So breathe long, the longer the better; breathe deep and yet strong enough to be able to hear it, so you can stay with it and through the way of the breath to arrive at being present, to arrive at meditation.

To arrive at being present, the breath is the way. To arrive at meditation, the breath is the way and thenceforth to arrive at What Is, all That which is the Reality.

To be present is the way; meditation is the way. So breathe so you may be present, breathe so that you may arrive at meditation.

Arya Vihar

17 Oct 2000