By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

At the beach, I revel in watching the waves rolling onto the shore. Each has its own personality. One wave is taller but another is wider.

One wave washes farther up the shore. Another gets swallowed up by one coming from behind. Yet they are all made of the same ocean water. They are all the same while they are all different.

Like this, Shiva is being everything in the universe. Every individual and every single thing is different from the others, yet all are made of Shiva. Shiva is having a glorious time being multifaceted, like a bride wearing three different wedding gowns at her wedding events. We love the play of the differences!

While Shiva is having a good time being you, you might not be enjoying it quite so much. Your focus on differences creates a “pushmi-pullyu” effect. Simply look at a serving platter full of cupcakes. You can get caught up in which of them will be most to your liking. But if someone beats you to it, you might have a few words to say or maybe a plan for payback. Unfortunately, things can escalate, even get out of control quickly.

Yoga says, “Look within. Find your own essence — see the One Divine Reality hidden in all.” Then you delight in the superficial differences. Your experience is like turning the wheel on a kaleidoscope, getting ever changing colors tumbling in the unchanging ray of light. And you get to eat your cupcake.

One way to work on your inner deepening is based on a sophisticated understanding of how energy becomes matter, including the physical matter of your own body.

You delve into your own experiences, exploring the cosmic process in reverse. You expand your awareness in a meticulously step-by-step process.

Sharire samhara kalanam. — Shiva Sutras 3.4

Dissolve the tattvas, each into the preceding, to realize the highest tattva, Shiva.

An easy example is vision. While you are seeing an object right now, perhaps words on a page, this is because you have the ability to see. This capacity of seeing is more subtle than any single object upon which you gaze. In this awareness, you have now expanded inward, dissolving from a single visual into your capacity for seeing. Each of these levels is a tattva (principle of Consciousness).

Delving into your ability to see, you realize that it is merely one type of perception, utilizing only one specific sensory capacity. Perception itself is greater than any single sensory pathway. Exploring into perception itself, you encounter…