By Janet (Janaki) Murray

The first two sentences of Gurudevi’s January Teachings: You’re on Your Way summarize her article:

You’re working on enlightenment. This is true whether you are planning for it or not.

When I first read these sentences, it struck me that they are for me.  They describe my whole life!  I certainly did not plan to be working on enlightenment.  Yet I look back and see that I was and I am.  Each subsequent paragraph deals with things I’ve been through and am still going through.

As a teenager, I discarded religion and the spiritual course my family set me on.  It just didn’t resonate for me at the time.  I spent many years pursuing worldly accomplishments.  It was thrilling, as Gurudevi suggests it can be, yet was ultimately unfulfilling.  I had achieved what I wanted and had what I needed.  I was not unhappy, yet there was still an empty space inside me.  I became a seeker — well, I was probably that already.  I found yoga.  For a few years, I was still a seeker until I found Svaroopa^® yoga and Gurudevi (then known as Rama) .  Then I was a finder.

What did I find?  All the other things Gurudevi talks about in the article.  I am still working on these things.  Or they are just happening for me — whether I plan it or not.  I experience a deepening inner awareness.  I experience growing feelings of inner wholeness and fullness.  I experience who I am as well as a deeper understanding of who I am.  I experience a different way of being in the world.  I am increasingly freer of need, greed and fear.  Not always trying to satisfy my needs through others makes me able to serve others more effectively and compassionately.  Letting go of my agendas and objections, I find my ability to love grows.  My heart opens more to others.

I feel supported all the time.  I feel I have all the capacity to deal with whatever challenges life brings me.  Gurudevi puts it this way:

The inner openings give you the depth and dimensionality that support you through everything.

For this I am truly grateful.  In the first place, I feel overwhelming gratitude for finding Svaroopa^® yoga.  I’m grateful for Gurudevi guiding me on this path, as she says in the first paragraph:

The point of yoga and meditation is to get the lessons without having to go through life’s messy stuff.

Recalling life before yoga, I recognize things could have been messier than how they’ve turned out.  Something else that resonated for me is the piece about being a human:

The sages of India explain that human life is precious.  All life is to be cherished, one reason for the practice of vegetarianism, but especially human life is prized.  In the grand scheme of things, to be born as a human being gives you the opportunity to get enlightened…

Gurudevi doesn’t say don’t waste it, don’t fritter it away.  Instead, she makes us aware of our choice:

You can get enlightened should you so choose.

It is up to me.

I have been “working on enlightenment,” whether I am “planning for it or not.”  So I may as well cooperate with the process and do more yoga and meditation!